Hi folks. I inherited my sister's 04 GT with 132,000 miles last month and I've been getting to know the car and some of it's quirks. I have some questions that I've found some answers to but I just wanted to get second opinions. I apologize ahead of time if some of these questions are redundant, having been posted and answered elsewhere on the forum.
1) I'm not used to the rev happy 2ZZ engine and though I have taken it to lift a few times, I don't feel comfortable doing so, normally shifting up at around 4,000 rpm. However, if it's bad to rev your engine high all the time then why give it lift at such a high rpm(6400 is my understanding for the 2004 year) unless it was safely engineered for that. I had read somewhere else on this forum, I believe, that it's actually good for the engine to rev up on occasion. I'd just like to get opinions on this since what I've read is all over the place, with some people saying it's bad to rev too much(does that mean to lift or short of it) and others that profess to revving high frequently with no detriments. What is the powerband for this engine anyway? What are the average shift points that some of you follow in daily driving?
2) I've gradually gone to lift on a couple of occasions and noticed that nothing kicked in. Does the engine have to be under hard load for the lift to work or does it mean I have to clean/inspect something. The other couple of times it kicked in when I wasn't being gradual.
3) When crusing along, I hear a faint whirring noise that goes away when I depress the clutch. What could be making the whirring sound and is it something to be alarmed at or am I being hypersensitive about every little noise. I'm going to go under the car and check the tranny fluid level. I assume there is a side filler plug somewhere for the C60 transmission. On another post the recommendation was for 1.9 liters of AC Delco 75w-90 full synthetic GL-4. (GM fluid 12346190), is this correct for this transmission? I have no owners manual or shop book for this car.
4) Maybe related to 3 above. When the car is cold, up or down shifting into 3rd causes a grind if you do so quickly. When warmed up, it doesn't do it anymore. Any ideas?
5) Final question/query. What is the true horsepower of the 2ZZ-GE for 2004? The wikipedia entries say that from 03 to 04, the hp went down to 173, because of the way the hp was measured. Does that mean the 04 GT and models beyond have 180 hp( at the crank) in reality and the lesser numbers are simply the result of new measuring systems, or do they really have less hp. In the case of the latter, why reduce the horsepower? I know, it's a nit pick, but 7 hp is 7hp and I'd like to have as much of it as possible.
Thanks for any responses and I'm really enjoying the car.