So I have an 85 GL wagon with the shitty three speed automatic. I love the car and have accepted it's normal slowness. I recently drove it from Colorado to Central Oregon. It did wonderful on the drive here but over the last few days it seems to have lost some of its ability to stay up to speed. It seems that even the slightest hill pushes it down from 60 to 45 mph. This is with my foot to the floor by the way. The low end torque seems to be the same but once you get past 35 the power really drops off. I rebuilt the carb with my gaskets and accelerator pump about 2 months ago. It has been running great up until now. It still idles great and sounds good. I would like to at least find out what could be causing this over wise the drive home is going to be pretty long haha. I have checked for vacuum leaks and such. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

Have you lost drag races to crack heads on 10 speed bikes yet? actually how about a normal person on a 10 speed bike,a crack head on a bike would be pretty fast.

 

Check you plugs and ignition system to see if your reliably hitting on all four cylinders.I had an Ea81 with crappy plug wires and it liked to run on 2.5 out its 4 cylinders,replacing the plug wires made it seem like I added a supercharger.

a crack head on a bike would be pretty fast.

 

I can't breathe. 

What is the altitude difference between Fort Collins and your location in Oregon?

When was the last time that the fuel filter(s) were changed?  You bought gas at unfamiliar stations. Did you buy  gas from places that start with 'A'?

you dont have enough rust.. these cars have a natural performance leveling system, they shed weight as they get older to keep performance acceptable...

obviously im joking.. i have the same problem on my 85 gl but i have the 5 speed and 30" tires.

+1 on check your gas.  my car was idling poorly and getting crappy gas mileage for about 2-3 weeks after a weber swap.  I was going to pull everything back off and redo gaskets and such till I put some different gas in it.  A couple of miles on the other gas and it smoothed out.  runs like a champ now for over a week.  mileage on the next 2 tanks improved by 3 mpg.  I was using a decent brand, but from the same location each fill.  My guess is they have a contaminated tank somehow.  actually makes me wish I hadn't swapped out the weber since Im getting the same mileage as the hitachi now that I'm using the good gas.  the throttle shafts were worn out, but it might have given some service still and gotten a couple extra MPG's for a while.

 

do they have different blends for high altitude?  might be worth 30 minutes with a screwdriver to recheck your mixure, you can always reset it to where it was very easily.

I think silverback nailed it. Ever had the car where you are now before? Sounds just like what happened to my gl when I drove across the country. Up in the mountains of the Midwest my car couldn't breathe and I had like no power.

You can get a vacume gauge and see if you have a clogged up cat or a collapsing exhaust system.

Nipper has an excellent point about cat failures.  Check that out as you can risk burning exhaust valves. Catalytic converters do not fail in the same manner.  Mine failed in the catastrophic mode:  sustained high speed driving then going onto surface streets with stop and go driving. I may have had a couple stoplights and then 'no power'.  Not driveable.  Try to check your cat asap.

 

BTW, AKghandi does not have ethanol in the Alaskan gas. He has a higher specific heat.  Not fair.

 

 

BTW, AKghandi does not have ethanol in the Alaskan gas. He has a higher specific heat.  Not fair.

 

No it is not FAIR, ETHANOL VERY BAD, I wish they didn't force the stuff on us.

Plugs and wires are new. Fuel filter is new. Fort collins is actually about 2,000 feet higher than where I am in Oregon so it should be running better. I have been messing with the idle mixture but I will continue to see if I can tune it a little better. I will try maybe medium grade fuel next time? 

 

As for the catalytic converter, that is something that I have never dealt with. How do you check it? I don't have emissions testing, so I have no problem removing the cat. Guess I could just replace it though.

easy look up how to use a vacum gauge on google. i would but i have a dog sleeping on my chest.

grade of fuel shouldn't matter, unless you are pinging like crazy and you would know it.  just try a reputable dealer, I prefer 76 or shell, from a fairly new store that is likely to have fresher tanks.

 

the mix is a ratio, it will run poorly no matter which direction you go out of spec.  denser air down here doesn't mean it will run better.

 

might be worth it to throw a timing light on it and check that as well.

Alrighty, thanks everyone. I'll let you know what happens.