vbb

Here's the issue. Twice now, right after getting in my car to drive, I've gotten about a quartermile down the street and then my car will just stop accelerating entirely. I'll be pushing on the gas, and I can see the tach going up and hear revving, but I'm just coasting along with absolutely 0 power. It feels kind of like it would if you were in an automatic and someone threw your gear lever into neutral while you were driving down the street, except my stickshift is still in gear. It has done this in both 1st gear and in 2nd gear. Then, after letting it coast for a second, I'll try the gas again and everything is fine. It'll hiccup like this a couple of times, and then everything will smooth out and work as if nothing is wrong. After the last time, I drove for another 30 miles (staying close to areas where I could pull over if needed) but didn't have a problem. It is almost as if the car "corrected" itself and was okay.

I am getting two CELs p122 and p1121. Both relate to the TPS sensor. I don't even know if this is what is causing the issue or not though, because again, it almost feels as if the car is thrown into neutral momentarily, and I'm just revving with no power to the wheels. Is this what it feels like to have your clutch give out, or could this be TPS related? I've always noticed that my clutch engagement point is pretty high... after pressing it down to shift gears, I have to let it way out, almost to the top before it grabs. I don't want to buy a whole new clutch though without knowing for sure that's the problem. I've never had a clutch give out on me, so I don't know if these symptoms match up or if it is related to my TPS CELs.

My car is a MY05 with 41,xxx miles on it. I didn't have the weird problem or the CEL until just a couple of days ago when my Greddy kit and emanage was installed and tuned. I'm running very conservatively with 271whp on 8lbs. The kit has been on the car for less than 50mi though, and I've been driving manual for 16 years and know how to not ride the clutch, so I'm reluctant to think this is due to running too much power through the drivetrain for too long.

IheartOEM

Maybe the clutch is stuck in the disengaged position? Any funny noises? If you can hear the clutch engage and disengage, maybe it is your diff?

vbb

No, there are no funny noises. I can feel the clutch engage. When it isn't acting right, it really does feel as if I'm in neutral, because I'm getting absolutely NOTHING to the wheels and a lot of empty revving. That would seem like a blown clutch I guess, but then the car just starts acting fine a minute later, as if nothing were wrong at all. If my clutch or diff were blown, I would think it would be impossible to just start working fine out of nowhere like that. And the CELs that I'm getting are throwing me off too.

I'm not a mechanic, but I would guess that tempermental problems like this, where something works one minute, stops the next, then starts working again are related to something electrical. If it were mechanical (blown diff, blown clutch, etc) I would think the part would fail and then not work anymore, right?

ColbyAttackJurgensen

Wait till Billman gets into the thread, resident S2Ki s2000 master. = )

vbb

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the responses from people who know this car far better than I do. I've been able to troubleshoot a lot of issues over the years, but this has me completely stumped.

vbb

Bump. I took it out for another 10 mile test drive yesterday... no problems. So far the problem hasn't repeated itself again, but of course I'm paranoid that the moment I go any farther away from home, I'll get stranded. Also, the CEL is still on.

soon2bspooled

Im going to state the obvious, pull the cel.

when this problem happends and the car is in gear. is it able to pop out of gear or does it act like its under a load. any throw out bearing noise.

IheartOEM

I still think something is going on with the clutch. Here is my theory: You say the car revs normally but will not go, and you have a TPS CEL.

I think the clutch is intermittently getting "stuck" right before engaging. I may be wrong, but I think the CEL light is due to the ECU "seeing" that you are in gear and clutch is engaged and throttle imput is sensed but does not correlate with speed sensed. This would make the ECU think there is something wrong with the TPS. This is just my theory based on several assumptions.

You could also confirm with a friend when the car is in this condition by having someone look under the car to see if the driveshaft is moving while the clutch is "engaged". MAKE SURE NOT TO BE UNDER THE CAR WHEN CHECKING JUST IN CASE THE CAR LURCHES FORWARD!!

vbb

I appreciate the thoughts, and that is a good theory, but the only issue I have with that is the fact that the TPS cel stays on and keeps coming back after I clear it no matter how the car is behaving. I had the TPS cel on for close to 40 miles before I ever had the first experience with the car not moving, and I've probably driven it another 30mi or so since the last incident where it happend and the cel just keeps coming back.

I need to figure out of the two problems (the TPS cel and the non-accelerating thing) are related, or just two totally different issues entirely. Then I need to figure out what is causing each of them. The car seems to operate normally with the CEL on, except for those two times I described in my original post.

Billman250

Your clutch disc is shot.