2005 Vibe AWD Low Engine Power and Kick Down Problem

[rjstraightiv]

Hello. So, I have a weird problem going on with my 2005 AWD Vibe. It seems that from between about 45mph to 65mph I have very little power. And when I try to 'kick down' the gear to gain (more like maintain) speed or pass (it's an automatic) it taked about 1 second to engage. During this 1 second delay it's almost as if my gearing goes into neutral, although my car does nor rev up, but rather revs down (as if my throttle were disengaged). Even the slightest incline poses a serious challenge to my car when travelling between 45 and 65.Any ideas or advice?Thanks! RJ

[ou.grizzly]

Sounds normal to me... AWD does not have a lot of oomph I hear to pass as those speeds.

[rjstraightiv]

Thanks, we've had the car since 2005 and its only just started losing power and delay in kick down over the past year or so.

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by rjstraightiv »Thanks, we've had the car since 2005 and its only just started losing power and delay in kick down over the past year or so. How many miles? Hmm...

[rjstraightiv]

110,000 and just had a professional fuel injection/system cleaning done per recommendation of shop.

[ou.grizzly]

Quote, originally posted by rjstraightiv »110,000 and just had a professional fuel injection/system cleaning done per recommendation of shop.Have you ever experienced something like this:http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=1364Just curious...

[rjstraightiv]

Nope. When I floor the accelerator pedal to kick down the gear and gain speed and/or pass it's as if I had removed my foot from the accelerator instead, and the car simply starts to rev down. And then, after about 1 second, the transmission reengages in the lower gear and starts to accelerate...or attempt to.As for the loss of and/or low power...this only seems to happen between 40mph and about 65mph. Above or below and I do not notice any power drop. Often, I can get the car to accelerate to around 5mph, but I have it floored and it's reving hard (5500 rpm or so) and the engine is screaming just to hold it at 55. If I can get it over 60 or so it starts to cruise fine again.

[keithvibe]

try hitting the O/D button (take it off) when your trying to do this. The car is in overdrive at those speeds and will act like a dead dog when you try to get it to move. Hit the O/D button on the shift leaver and see if that help.

[star_deceiver]

Change the tranny fluid, something might be on the way out in the transmission!

[SinisterMind]

Quote, originally posted by star_deceiver »Change the tranny fluid, something might be on the way out in the transmission!And just change it. Don't do any flushes.

[Whelan]

You could be confusing the shifter. I experience it sometimes in my 05 Matrix XR AWD. Getting on the highway I go to gun it and floor the pedal at about that speed and instead of downshifting and going it drops seriously low and I lose speed and get into a pickle when trying to merge. Try using the O/D button. I do a lot in my AWD to get power when accelerating to avoid the hard downshift or when in traffic coasting to slow down a bit. Basically the engine is about to kick and changed gears and when you throttle it you are just lucky enough to catch it as it's about the change and it then gets confused and cannot decide to downshift or upshift for a second. It's nothing to be worried about, I would just be cautious about your speeds when ramping and be sure to be in a good range. The 4 speed automatic is a slushbox.