QuestionQUESTION: Vehicle has ~118k miles, wont accelerate past 40 mph. Once the car reaches 40 mph, even with your foot on the gas, the rpm thing goes down but you can hear the engine rev up. Please help. I change the filter to the transmission but the problem is still happening. Thank you.
ANSWER: Hi, Christina. You have me a little confused here with conflicting information. You say you can hear the engine rev higher but the "rpm thing," which I presume refers to the tachometer, indicates the rpms get lower. The revving you hear, either greater or lesser, should be reflected in the position of the tachometer needle.
In general:
-- If the engine is revving abnormally high but not transmitting power to the wheels, the problem lies in the transmission.
-- If the engine speed (revving) becomes lower with additional throttle application, the problem typically lies with low fuel pressure or clogged exhaust.
Feel free to follow-up to clarify and add additional information as you feel is necessary.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thank U. I was refering to the tachometer. So, once the car reaches 40 mph, you can not accelerate any faster even if you have the gas pedal to the floor. But, you do hear the car engine get louder as if it is trying to make the vehicle move faster but it can't.
AnswerThanks. Just to try to understand better, I've asked two groups of questions below. The intent of the questions is to determine whether you have a transmission issue or an engine performance issue.
Does the tachometer reading increase toward the red line as the engine gets louder? If not, can you explain what occurs?
As you accelerate, can you feel the gear shifts? If so, can you tell me in which gears the transmission operates normally and in which gear (or with which shift) there's a problem? You have a four-speed automatic, so you have the potential to feel three shifts: first to second, second to third, and third to fourth.
