HELP: major loss of power when engine is completely warmed up
 

I know power loss and engine compression has been discussed elsewhere on this board but need help; my situation appears to be a little different. The car runs fine most of the time and I have plenty of power however when the engine is sufficiently warmed up 20-30 minutes and the weather is warm I experience significant loss of power so much so that I can not maintain 65 mph on a moderate incline on the freeway. When this happens and I try to accelerate the engine starts to make a raspy noise from 4,000rpm + and produces hardly any power even on a flat road.

My 8 is 6 years old and has 90,000 miles on it. Original engine and had a compression test recently completed (the numbers were barely above Mazda minimum but the dealer said it was fine). The car has been properly maintained and the I have checked and cleaned my air filter.

Can anyone help? The dealer has no clue. Thanks!

80% chance Your CAT is going to heaven.

20% chance for others, and 90% in those 20% is your engine is dying.

thanks for your help NYC. I actually had the Cat replaced 10,000 miles ago. The dealership initially installed it incorrectly and there was debris in it that rattled. They fixed the rattling but do you think it is possible that the CAT is bad or is still not installed correctly? When an engine starts to fail does it not consistently lack power? Again, mine looses major power only when it is significantly warmed up.

thanks for the help.

with a clogged cat, your engine will have a hard time revving up.

Lack of power at even upper RPM range could be bad engine.

Hey man. I've been having the same problem.

There's a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) out for the lack of power issue.

If you have an '04-'08, you live in a hot climate, this is likely the case. the factory OMP doesn't inject the correct amount of oil. It could be as simple as taking it to the dealership, where they'd perform a reflash, spray some engine cleaner in your SSV, or replace your motor completely.

Hopefully you're under warranty... :(

GL man,
Erick

If your driving under load (going up a grade) and the engine is just loosing power, chances are it's the cat. If it looses power and misses at high rpm's, it's an ignition issue or a fuel issue. If it has problems idling after coming to a stop and hard starting then more than likely it's in need of a new engine.

And if we experience all of those...any chance that TSB would be a magic cure-all? :sad:

"warmed up 20-30 minutes and the weather is warm"

outside temperatures in the whats?

original post is almost two years old people.