Q: Squealing when I push the gas won't go over 3000 rpm 30 mph at most.

asked by on December 07, 2016

Has no power when I accelerate. Squealing loudly while I'm accelerating. It won't go over 3000 rpms and pretty much stays at 30 mph. It kinda acts like it doesn't want to shift. My water pump is leaking so I was wondering if the water pump can create no power. Or if its possibly a converter issue.

My car has 130000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

Catalytic Converter Replacement $288.41 - $1959.69 Get a Quote

The lack of power you are describing may be related to a clogged catalytic converter. As you may already know, the catalytic converter converts toxic exhaust gases into less harmful pollutants that are suitable to be expelled into the atmosphere. When this is clogged, this causes these gases to be backed up into the exhaust system not allowing the engine to breathe properly (think of a backed up sink). When this happens, the engine is forced to work much harder to expel these gases. This often results in the engine bogging down, hesitating, shaking and causing very poor fuel economy. This should also cause a check engine light to come on as the O2 sensors should be reading the incorrect amounts of oxygen in the exhaust gases if this is your problem.

The coolant leaking may be related to a separate issue of the water pump beginning to fail. The water pump has a shaft that comes out of the center of it and attaches to the pulley that is turned by the motor. When the pump itself is beginning to wear out, you may notice a squealing or whining sound that is often times accompanied by the pump shaft leaking as well. I would recommend having an expert from YourMechanic come to your location to diagnose your coolant and catalytic converter issues.

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