split second cutoff during daily redline

[WIL84911]

Experienced what appeared to be loss of power for a split second around 5500 rpm while accelerating this morning. Thought I blew the motor. But it was fine afterwards even after redlining once again. Could it be related to the wheel spin on the takeoff in 1st gear? I drive this car very hard when the opportunity knocks.

[john walker's workshop]

new style head temp sensor? charging rate 14V? original 24 YO plug wires?

[WIL84911]

sorry not well versed on technicals... just a handy person here. and I apologize... my car is an 84 with a 3.2 (6 month old Bosch 4 plugs, cap/rotor, old plug wires).

[ischmitz]

This can be caused by a various inputs to the DME such as power and sensors. Things like the DME relay, O2 sensor, loose GND, one of the sensors being on its way out, loose connector on the air flow meter, etc. come to mind.

Intermittent problems like these are the hardest to troubleshoot. You need to keep monitoring. Chances are it will happen more often in the future. Driving hard and having wheel spin and the rear end hop in 1st gear causes additional chasis vibrations that can trigger the event.

I once had a similar issue on my 3.6 - complete power loss for seconds at a time. It turned out to be a loose connector on the O2 sensor. You can use a screwdriver handle and gently tap components and connectors in question with the engine idling. Sometimes that way you can track it down. Try the DME relay - just don't bang the sh|t out of it. Gentle taps.

Some recommend always having a spare DME relay in the glove box since they are notorious for failing. And they don't fail completely. Usually, they first show intermittent issues such as you describe. Some say to just replace it and keep the old one as a spare. That way you have a new one and piece of mind while still having a backup solution in case the new one will fail one day.

Ingo

[PatrickB]

CHT sensor