Engine idles and revs beautifully but makes no power!

bikewhorderbikewhorder New Wagonist
in Engine & Drivetrain
So I finished my auto to manual swap a few weeks ago and replaced the engine with a ZC. While it was out I replaced the timing belt and the clutch and all the major gaskets and seals except the head gasket, I also switched out the ECU for the manual unit. It fired up after a few cranks and ran like a champ. I thought I was all set until I took it it out for its first test drive recently and discovered that when going up any sort of incline I have NO POWER! Even in the super low gear it can't get out of its own way. On the flats and down hill it feels fairly normal. It kind of feels like some kind of turbo lag (there is no turbo on the car) because once you get in the higher Rpms it takes off. I was hoping it was bad gas and drained the tank and ran some injector cleaner, as well as replacing the fuel filter but it made no difference. I also replaced the spark plugs and I'm running fresh wires, cap and rotor. I took it over to my local mechanic to check over my work but so far they seem stumped as well. Any ideas?

Comments

  • superhatchsuperhatch Moderator
    ECU is clear of codes? Checked compression? Timing ok?

    Those are my first 3 thoughts.
  • bikewhorderbikewhorder New Wagonist
    The compression was good before I installed the engine. I don't actually know how to check the other two possibilities you mention that's why I took it to a professional. I'll update when I get some info. Thanks.
  • superhatchsuperhatch Moderator
    If you look at the ECU there is a little clear window with an LED. It blinks the codes:

    http://www.evans-tuning.com/tech-articles/obd1-codes
  • bikewhorderbikewhorder New Wagonist
    Well according the the shop they found the problem, I didn't get to talk to the mechanic but the person behind the counter said the distributor wiring was off 180 degrees. He said the way I had it set up was correct for some years but not others??? I don't know, but I did take the cap with the wires attached off the original engine and put it on the new engine's distributor so maybe that's where i ran into trouble. He said it runs great now. My only other issue is that my coolant fan has yet to kick on and the engine feels hot after a test run thought the gauge shows it to be normal. I'm hoping the wiring changes I had to make didn't somehow take the fan out of commission. The shop started talking about running an auxiliary switch for the fan but I really don't want to go there. I won't get the car back till next week but I'll try to find out exactly what the problem was.
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