Car won’t go uphill after service

[Gulfsailor]

I have a 2004 Toyota Sportrider 3.0 D4D, which is in a general great condition and drives great, but is sorely lacking regular maintenance. I recently had a long road trip and on the way back my front left brake was making noises. I went to the garage and yes, the pad was worn down, a bit had chipped off and also damaged the disc beyond repair. Anyway since parts and labor are cheap, I decided to go for a more or less full service, or at least the things I could think of which hadn’t been done recently or which I suspected were past due some attention;

-Brake pads front plus one disc

-brake things in the back cylinders

-engine oil and filter

-differential oil 

-all grease points on the drive train

-air filter

-transmission oil

-topped up all other fluids

 

The car now feels like new and drives great in all conditions except going up a steep hill. In the past it would just accelerate and rattle up, but now it very smoothly doesn’t. On a moderately steep hill I’m happy if I can get the car doing 40kmh, where before the service it could get up the same hill doing at least 70 or 80.

 

On a flat surface the car rolls easily in neutral, so it’s not the brakes. It also accelerates and shifts fine on flat roads. Much smoother actually then before the service. I haven’t checked top speed, as I have to leave the island for that. I checked the new air filter and all appears okay. So the only thing I can think of is that the new transmission fluid did something to my gearbox. I did check what the mechanic put in and it was as indicated in the manual. However the manual mentioned 2.8 liters (I think, it’s in Thai), whereas the mechanic kept filling up but by bit after that while checking the level and managed to get 4 liters in there. He was rather surprised. He didn’t change the filter or gasket though. Nothing is leaking or wet around the gearbox, and it doesn’t feel warmer than before from the inside. 

 

Any ideas? Overfilled transmission? The shift changes are much smoother now than before the service, so that is weird. 

 

 

[Kwasaki]

4 minutes ago, Gulfsailor said:

Any ideas? new transmission fluid did something to my gearbox. 

Well that wouldn't cause engine power loss, could be many other things did they do any valve adjustments.

Sounds like compression lost or fuel pump pressure leak to the common rail.

[DaRoadrunner]

This is an odd one. Presume you checked the transmission oil level?

 

Do the engine revs rise without the car moving much? If so, wrong grade or wrong type of transmission oil?

 

Have you any more detailed info?

[Gulfsailor]

15 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Well that wouldn't cause engine power loss, could be many other things did they do any valve adjustments.

Sounds like compression lost or fuel pump pressure leak to the common rail.

No adjustments were done. I’ll replace the fuel filter next, as I can’t remember when if ever that was done. But the coincidence for the problem arising immediately after the service is weird. 

Unless my gf put <deleted> diesel in the car shortly before the service, and I didn’t drive uphill until after the service. 

[Gulfsailor]

19 minutes ago, DaRoadrunner said:

This is an odd one. Presume you checked the transmission oil level?

 

Do the engine revs rise without the car moving much? If so, wrong grade or wrong type of transmission oil?

 

Have you any more detailed info?

The mechanic checked the level constantly while filling up bit by bit. I tried finding the level stick for it, but can’t seem to locate it. It’s buried somewhere deep. I’ll look for it again tomorrow. 

They used Dexron 3 I think, which was also listed in the manual (unless that’s for the manual gear transmission, not auto, I can’t read Thai).

the engine revs don’t go up, so it’s not like something is slipping. It feels more like I’m dragging a 2 ton trailer up the hill. 

 

I’ll put the car in 1st and second gear tomorrow while driving on a flat road to see how high the revs will go. The auto transmission shifts up to 3, 4 and OD at around 2000 rpm when driving normally. Going uphill it needs to be able to get a lot higher than that before shifting up of course. 

 

Ps. No black or blue smoke is billowing out when I crawl up the hill pedal to the metal. 

Edited September 14, 2019 by Gulfsailor

[Gulfsailor]

Ah, I’m just reading of the symptoms of a bad mass air flow sensor. That certainly sounds like a possibility. At one point the mechanic did remove the air filter cap and hose completely to get access underneath. Maybe a plug got undone, or the sensor or cable was damaged. I’ll look for visual damage tomorrow.

[flyingtlger]

Feed the mice....

 

 

[stubuzz]

Check the transmission oil. Also, brake disks should be replaced in pairs.

[transam]

The auto fluid stick is on the right of the engine, looking from the front, at the back. Be sure to start the engine, go through the gears whilst stationary then put in park still with the engine running, take the stick out, wipe it, then dip it.

 

Fluid should be pink/red (wipe on white tissue) with no burnt smell...

[Kwasaki]

8 hours ago, Gulfsailor said:

bad mass air flow sensor.

May well be that there's 10 other things too but if the motor was running OK before a spanner worked on the motor sounds like a simple fix, also Dexron 3 is trans fluid for auto transmission.

Here's a another read 

https://cartreatments.com/car-losing-power-when-accelerating/

[IraqRon]

sounds like dirt in the gas line and fullish fuel filter, going uphill causes the fuel pump to increase the pressure of pumping more fuel and draws more of the dirt, or sediment, in the line to the filter and clogs it to some extent,  I had the same thing happen to me in two vehicles while climbing hills and it was the clogging of the filter.

[transam]

4 minutes ago, IraqRon said:

sounds like dirt in the gas line and fullish fuel filter, going uphill causes the fuel pump to increase the pressure of pumping more fuel and draws more of the dirt, or sediment, in the line to the filter and clogs it to some extent,  I had the same thing happen to me in two vehicles while climbing hills and it was the clogging of the filter.

The Vigo has a yellow dash warning light for that..

[IraqRon]

1 minute ago, transam said:

The Vigo has a yellow dash warning light for that..

good idea on toyota's part, wonder if his 2004 sportrider has same?

[transam]

8 minutes ago, IraqRon said:

good idea on toyota's part, wonder if his 2004 sportrider has same?

Probably, my 2007 did, same engine and induction...

[tifino]

if you still thought the ATransmission was at fault?

 

I have found the following 2 blokes running

 the Youtube Channels below, to be goldmine for information on all about ATs and CVTs ... not surprising the names of the Channels:

"Automatic Transmission"

and 

"WeberAuto" 

 

quite a significant Libarary of Models worked on!

[transam]

Is the turbo making a nice whizzing noise, you must open the window to hear it. Work the gas pedal up and down to hear different whizz tones..

[Gulfsailor]

1 minute ago, transam said:

Is the turbo making a nice whizzing noise, you must open the window to hear it. Work the gas pedal up and down to hear different whizz tones..

It does on the flats and moderate inclines when accelerating, buy it didn’t do it up the steeper hills I think. I’ll check some things today. 

[NE1]

I had a small hole in my intercooler hose , that resulted in a power loss when I needed more.

But a light on the dash came on to warn me.

Edited September 15, 2019 by NE1

[Gulfsailor]

Update. 

When going up a steep hill from a standstill the car accelerates normally up to 2250 rpm and then just won’t go faster and revs don’t go up. Tried it in gears D, 2 & 1. 

However, if the engine is revving over 2250 rpm while driving up, it accelerates easily and revs go up. 

Somehow there is a dead spot at 2250 rpm.

This is not happening on flat road or medium steep hills. 

 

I checked the the level and color of the transmission oil, perfect. 

I cleaned the mass air flow sensor, but the wires were pretty clean to begin with.

 

i guess a trip (over some mountains) to the Toyota garage is in order ????

[Gulfsailor]

17 minutes ago, FredGallaher said:

Sound like to me a hose from the turbo came off or leaking. The mechanic might have had to remove one to do service and it came loose. In California, I had a couple of Volvo Turbos but the hoses were easy to see. Once when my son and I were returning from a Volvo event we stopped at a rest stop. A guy in a Dodge Ram Diesel truck had his hood up. My son asked if he had a problem and he did. My son look and felt around and found a loose hose. He managed to get it clamped good and the guy was very happy. He was pulling a big trailer so it was a problem. We latter stopped to eat and the guy pulled up. He was very happy and insisted on buying our meal. The truck ran fine but no boost. 

If you had a boost gauge it would show. 

We used to race the Volvos and spent a lot of time making sure everything was good and tight.

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll have a proper look around in the engine bay. 

[jvs]

Does your kickdown work?

Easy to check,i had that problem once with a Toyota Tiger.

[steven100]

 ' Car won’t go uphill after service '

will it go downhill    ?

 

 

 

Edited September 15, 2019 by steven100

[rodknock]

check air intake hoses for cracks

[Topcroc]

As OP said the vehicle has not regularly been serviced. If I read the thread correctly the fuel filter has not been changed.

For heaven sake change it and then you can cross that off the list and it must need changing anyway if everything else was O/due.

[steve187]

have you been back to the shop

 

[Crossy]

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

 ' Car won’t go uphill after service '

will it go downhill    ?

 

Can't tell, it won't go up in the first place 

[DaRoadrunner]

12 hours ago, transam said:

take the stick out, wipe it, then dip it.

Sounds like good advice... though I would put a condom on the stick.

 

As for the car not pulling up hills. I would go with the mechanic having disturbed something by accident, as it appears it was alright before he serviced it. Under 2250 rpm may be a clue.... as this is below the point where the turbo boost kicks in.

Edited September 15, 2019 by DaRoadrunner

[wombat]

is it the indicator oil level to low?

[phantomfiddler]

Check the air into carborettor filter !  (damn that spelling !)

[transam]

47 minutes ago, phantomfiddler said:

Check the air into carborettor filter !  (damn that spelling !)

It don't have a carburetor...

But, it has a very large filter, over engineered to not cause a breathing problem unless one constantly goes for the stop light drags..