I guess I'm used to cars that throw a good whenever they feel like it. I had a Mitsubishi Eclipse that started throwing codes as soon as the fuel injectors got a little dirty. That is one thing i didn't think of, I will check everything tomorrow. I changed the plugs last month, but i never looked at the Fuel Injectors. That would be nice to drop the RPMs down.

 

A little off-topic but in the realm of: "How it works." Last night I sat for a long time in a drive-thru line at a local restaurant (McDonalds) that was backed up. Sitting there with the A/C, lights on and radio on listening to some people on NPR yapping about whatever it is they were talking about, the car was in EV mode the whole time, and the A/C compressor was running with the engine off. The Information screen on the SYNC/NAV showed the little battery lozenges dropping off, they usually stay around 5-6 and occasionally go to 7 or 8, but last night during this long soak while waiting for an overpriced Quarter Pounder Deluxe and medium fry, it got down briefly to just three lozenges.

At that point the ICE came on and the display showed one of its relatively rare modes: "Idle While Charging" - in which the ICE is running JUST the motor/generator in the transaxle to directly charge the HV battery. The little green marching ants were marching from the ICE to the "Electric Motor" (the display does not differentiate the two motors) and straight to the HV battery. Which is where we would hope they would go, since the car cannot regen. brake while you are sitting still draining the HV battery with the A/C.

Anyway, the interesting thing is that the *sound* was a little different. I hadn't noticed this before. In this mode, the M/G and transaxle make a distinctive sound. Not "loud", it didn't sound "evil" or anything, just a different timbre to use a musical term. It stayed in "Idle While Charging" for about two minutes and then the line moved, bringing me closer to my overpriced Quarter Pounder (which at least was put together with some care, not mushed up). I wanted to take a picture of it with my phone but had to shuffle the car up the line. Next time I'll be ready for it, so I can note the tachometer reading as well, to gauge how hard the ICE works in IWC mode.

 

I put in some Seafoam and drove around. The RPMs were staying down, unfortunately i didn't pay attention after i changed the transmission fluid so i don't know what made the RPMs go down. I was able to drive at about 45-50mph at 1500 rpm, 65 required about 2200rpm and 75 was close to 3k rpm. I still have to change the fuel filter and clean the fuel injectors, it still goes past 6k rpm but not as easily as before. Since it works better at lower rpms, i think it could be a clogged Fuel injector or dirty fuel filter since it would need more pressure to give power at higher rpms and if every cylinder isn't getting enough fuel i can see it jumping up.

 

So i drove around some more and watched the calculated load (LOAD.OBDII,%) kept going to 100%, not sure what that one is, but the regular LOAD,% was getting pretty high too.

 

Here is how it's calculated: https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/...oad-determined

Your car is pushing air and fuel as if it was as wot. That's where you're supposed to see a 100%.

The theory they did something to the transmission towing is pretty sound. They say 1000lbs because of hills but realistic flat towing is somewhere around 1500. So if someone did those 9% grades with a huge 2500lb load and never changed the fluid, this might be the result. I guess we'll see if it works itself out. You didn't have shavings or anything in the fluid? They could also have overheated the electric motors if it didn't cause mechanical damage.

More info on someone who towed here: https://electricvehicleforums.com/fo...82/index3.html

So it looks like too much weight and you'll get stuck. He's even more generous at 2k lbs, no grade. Also, electric only reverse. You're getting stuck with 0 lbs.

You could skate though if there is some issue on the engine that's causing the 25mpg. I just calculated 32 last night after a fuel up so in the summer you should be beating or meeting epa, I generally do on every car. Unless you're constantly up/down on those hills. Did you ever check compression (mine were all even) and LT-FT (should be under 5). And standard stuff like having a clean air filter, clean MAF, etc.

 

I unplugged my MAF last night and it didn't pop any codes which is strange. This morning i had to move the car and now i have 2 pending codes, P0102 and P0113. I don't know if its a delayed reaction or what, but maybe i have finally found something wrong. I am going to clean the MAF and check the AIT today. I will say, every time i work on the Vehicle it works a little better.

 

Codes sometimes go to pending the first time. I had that experience too, every little thing I fixed made it better. Now I'm almost out of stuff.

 

Be persistent getting to the root causes of the problems and keep in mind that the 2.3L (and the 2.5 to a lesser extent) engine on this car was never the most powerful engine in the world, or even close to it, even when new. It's a good engine but it was made to integrate with the rest of the car, so you have to think of this vehicle "holistically." That's why all the towing warnings and cautionary tales. It's Atkinson-cycle and with the eCVT it develops very little/none "engine braking" effect - and that's on purpose, unlike a lot of other vehicles. So it's a bit of a rare bird. Whether you find the bird charming or not is a matter of taste and budget.

It sounds like you have a good car that is older and maybe had some sketchy times during prior ownership without enough attention paid to maintenance.

What it seems like we're seeing now on the forum are more cars that have been auctioned / bought used perhaps with several owners without good maintenance histories, and they are still being auctioned right at this moment (see my post here) - so I expect to see more of this. They're not really "beaters" but some are getting close. Thus they have multiple overlapping problems, and the only way to straighten those out is to take it one thing at a time. It's like older folks who haven't seen a doctor in 15 years and find out: Well, they've got multiple issues that have to be identified and disentangled so they can be treated.

I think the effort is worth it, it's fun to think about them, but I was also fortunate to find one with relatively low mileage that had been really well-maintained, so I have a good "baseline car." Keep going!

Just asking: What's the odometer mileage?

 

Odometer is 180k. Took it down to San Luis Obispo and it didn't like it there, too many hills. Now i have to pending codes that come back everytime i erase them, so i have a place to look. It seems like its the right direction too, because they deal with the air intake and and it seems like thats where the problem is. Right now there isn't any MAF cleaner to be found anywhere, i;m trying Amazon next. Actually, i just checked and the codes are not pending, but they didn't set off the check engine light either, weird. They are P0102 Mass or Volume Air Flow Circuit Low Input, and P0013 Intake Air Temperature Circuit High Input. This weekend i will be looking into it.

 

I have an update, sort of. I was checking out some other forums and they seem to agree that most likely one or all of my catalytic converters are partially clogged. There were a few people that said it happened to them and they cleaned or replaced them and it runs like new again. I am not sure what i am going to do yet, i guess it depends on whether its one cat or all of them.