Gutless 97 Legacy

We have a 97 legacy that is gutless but no check engine lights. It will only go 20 mph up hill. When you throttle it from a stop the engine sounds hollow and slow. You get up to speed and it seems ok until you hit a hill and it downshifts and it sounds hollow again. Kinda like it’s running retarded. We changed the fuel filter but not the fuel pump?

 

Is there any ideas? Is there anything that would cause it to run retarded? Failing fuel pump?

 

The hard thing is that it passes emissions and has no check engine lights.

 

I do know the previous owner blew a head gasket and had it replaced with the cat (which had a CEL).

 

Any issues that could cause this problem but not throw a CEL?

Pull the timing cover off and check the timing marks, sounds like it's off a couple teeth (which it can do without triggering a CEL) Also might not hurt to do a compression test.

+1 to Brighton. Mine was jumped and ran like you describe.

IF it is not the timing might be the cats. If those come loose and turn they clog your exhaust. And under hard throttle your car is gutless. We had this problem on a 97 Ranger. It couldn't get to 60 mph no matter how hard and long you tried.

 

A sign I would check for is tapping 5he cats and see if they rattle inside. If they rattle there is a chance they loose.

 

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