Poor acceleration

Tiny
MAX4
  • MEMBER
  • 1994 FORD TEMPO
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 135,000 MILES
My 1994 Tempo is very sluggish on acceleration from a dead stop. Matting the pedal does nothing and all of a sudden it downshifts to about 5000 rpm, very scary. I am also starting to hear a backfire from under the car. Attempted to merge onto highway the other night and car would not go over 90 KMH, I had the pedal matted and all of a sudden it was like it went from DRIVE to 1st, scared the crap out of me. Any ideas on the sluggish acceleration?
Saturday, December 4th, 2010 AT 7:53 PM

31 Replies

Tiny
RASMATAZ
  • MECHANIC
  • 75,992 POSTS
Do you have a check engine light and when was last tune-up? Start by checking the mass airflow and throttle position sensors-
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Saturday, December 4th, 2010 AT 8:13 PM
Tiny
MAX4
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
The CEL has been going on and off for a while now. Car was running fine up until about a week ago when the acceleration issue started. I replaced the fuel filter this afternoon with no effect. Really don't want to sink a lot of repair money into it, the car doesn't owe us anything, thought it might be something simple. In 1994 ford cars and trucks had an EIC (Engine information center) none of the parts stores I've been to have that system you have to go to a ford dealer and pay big bucks to have it scanned
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Saturday, December 4th, 2010 AT 9:13 PM
Tiny
RASMATAZ
  • MECHANIC
  • 75,992 POSTS
You can run the codes yourself by following this guide.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/ford-lincoln-mercury-obd1-1995-and-earlier-diagnostic-trouble-code-definition-and-retrieval

Please let us know what you find.

Cheers
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Saturday, December 4th, 2010 AT 9:15 PM
Tiny
FIXITMR
  • MECHANIC
  • 9,990 POSTS
TPS is also suspect it senses your throttle position and tells computer how much fuel to deliver. Check vacuum hoses for leaks also. Your EGR could be malfunctioning. You can try disconnecting vacuum line to it see if that helps. Plug line. And sounds like your downshift lever may be out of proper adjustment. But 4 cyl cars are known for revy downshifts.
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Sunday, December 5th, 2010 AT 10:27 PM
Tiny
GAIL1933
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
  • 1994 FORD TEMPO
  • 4 CYL
  • FWD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 72,500 MILES
Engine Mechanical problem
1994 Ford Tempo 4 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 72,500 miles

I hear a noise when started the car when it turns over. It is a scraping/ding that lasts for about 3 seconds. The engine idles smoothly. If I rev it up, I hear scraping sound close to rough sand paper and metal. I can back the car up and down the driveway and all seems normal.
With the door open the sound is a bit gravelly and loud.

I don't drive it because the last time that I did I nearly didn't make it home due to the power dying as if the engine could not breath, then the front end shook roughly as if the tires wanted to come off.

The engine light initially came on when accelerating up a hill, but didn't stay on for more than 15 minutes. I then drove on the expressway and had no problems going to my destination, but when I returned by another route on flat city streets for at least 45 minutes, I lost so much power I had to pull over for a time. The car never stalled, just seemed choked and vibrating. No odors, no smoke when at idle.

The transmission was fixed a few months before and all the plugs and wires less than a year. The Catalytic converted was new in 2006 and driven less that 3,000 miles.

After reading about the Emissions control systems, my question is---if the idle is good shouldn't the emissions systems be ok?

A friend suspects the Catalytic converter being loose, but haven't got the car up to look.

What else should I look into? Engine light not coming back on if idling in driveway.
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:57 AM (Merged)
Tiny
RASMATAZ
  • MECHANIC
  • 75,992 POSTS
Have the computer scanned for code/s-you have a problem within the engine management system that caused the CEL to turn on-This is your starting point of diagnosis, finding out what's going on.
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:57 AM (Merged)
Tiny
GAIL1933
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
I don't know what the CEL is.
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:57 AM (Merged)
Tiny
FIXITMR
  • MECHANIC
  • 9,990 POSTS
CEL is short for 'check engine' warning light.
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:57 AM (Merged)
Tiny
CURECF4BREE
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
  • 1994 FORD TEMPO
Engine Performance problem
1994 Ford Tempo 4 cyl Wheel Drive Type unknown Automatic 52000 miles

After driving car for a short period of time I can remove my foot from the gas pedal and car will keep going and not slow down. Sometimes after a little bit it will start to slow down and other times it will not. Once I stop and place it in park the engine races. If I turn the car off and restart, it is no longer racing. Please help!
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:57 AM (Merged)
Tiny
RASMATAZ
  • MECHANIC
  • 75,992 POSTS
Have the idle air control speed motor and throttle position sensor/MAP/MAF sensor checked-also for vacuum leak.
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:57 AM (Merged)
Tiny
NICHOLASANGEL19
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
  • 1993 FORD TEMPO
I have a 1993 ford tempo and it has about 170000 mileage on it and its a good looking car and it runs good for a 1993. The engine size is 2.3 L HSC but i'm sorta having a problem with it. It seems when I drive it, it doesn't shift right or it loses power going up hills. I had the motor mount fixed on it because I thought maybe it was that and it was fine after it got looked at but it started losing power or it wasn't shifting right again.I don't think its the transmission doing it can it? Because the transmission in the car seems to be okay. It doesn't stall or anything like that so what could be causing it to do that if its not the motor mount?
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:58 AM (Merged)
Tiny
SERVICE WRITER
  • MECHANIC
  • 9,123 POSTS
Can you clarify "losing power"?

Press on the gas, it revs, but doesn't move faster?

This may need to be diagnosed when the problem is happening.
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:58 AM (Merged)
Tiny
NICHOLASANGEL19
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
I mean it slows down going up hills and it doesn't shift right
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:58 AM (Merged)
Tiny
SERVICE WRITER
  • MECHANIC
  • 9,123 POSTS
A motor mount is just a component that holds the engine and transmission in place preventing it from moving around, nothing to do with performance. The shifting problem may be the transmission trying to adjust to the speed theregore is probably a symptom of the lack of power.

It sounds like a performance problem that may be related to a weakened part. The fuel pump may not be able to put out the power the car needs under the extra stress of going uphill.

The car needs to be diagnosed by a capable shop that can monitor what is going on when the problem is happening. They may attach a fuel gauge and run it up to the windsheild so they can watch to see if the PSI drops off.
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:58 AM (Merged)
Tiny
JDUB925
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
  • 1992 FORD TEMPO
I have a 1992 Ford Tempo and all of the sudden it feels like I can't push the accelerator down, it feels like its stuck on something. This is causing my car to not accelerate or change gears until high rpm's. My car tops out at 75 now and when I go up hills it loses almost 25 mph. What can I do?
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:58 AM (Merged)
Tiny
CARUNDELL
  • MECHANIC
  • 602 POSTS
Hey jdub,
Pretty sure that model has mechanical linkage from the accelerator that goes down to the transmission( for the passing gear) lube that up w/ pb blaster or something similar and work the linkage till its free and that should do it for ya.

Chris
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:58 AM (Merged)
Tiny
2CP-ARCHIVES
  • MEMBER
  • 4,540 POSTS
  • 1993 FORD TEMPO
  • 4 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 104,000 MILES
1993 Ford Tempo mileage: 104,000. My car will slow down like it's coasting and you can press on the gas and nothing happens. Sometimes it will clang and quit while you drive. Other times you can hear it caught up and the engine will rev up if you press the gas. I have had it put on a machine one time and nothing showed. I'm afraid it will quit on the interstate. It does sometimes quit.
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:58 AM (Merged)
Tiny
2CP-ARCHIVES
  • MEMBER
  • 4,540 POSTS
If a major tune-up has not been done recently, this could be the cause of your problem. Replace the spark plugs, plug wires, fuel and air filters, etc. Also, replace the oxygen sensor and multi-rib belt. In addition, service the fuel injection system. Clean the carbon deposits from the throttle bore and idle passages. If the problem still exists, scan computer for trouble codes.
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:58 AM (Merged)
Tiny
MRSHIGGY
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
It is also my understanding that a sensor is on those cars that will cause the car to die if the oil is low so as not to let that do damage to the engine. Check your oil when it happens again and see if it is low
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:58 AM (Merged)
Tiny
ASKRENS1991
  • MEMBER
  • 3 POSTS
  • 1993 FORD TEMPO
  • 200,000 MILES
Hi I have a 1993 ford tempo four cylinder it starts fine but once the engine is on it lopes really bad and trys to die sounds like its choking when I push on the gas it sounds like somethings blocking it from a smooth rev in the engine I have to really put my foot into it to make it rev up and when I drive it down the road it wont go over 10 mph acting like its trying to pull its self but wont ive replaced the spark pluged gaped them right sprayed the throttle body cleaned it im lost I dont know what to do it was a good car intil this
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2018 AT 9:58 AM (Merged)

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