Imagine that you have taken the weekend off to go on a road trip. You get in the car excited; you take it slow for the first few miles and pick up soon. On a clear highway, you think it’s the perfect time and place to do what everyone does on highways: accelerate.
You accelerate and hope to zoom past, but for some reason, you are unable to accelerate beyond a certain point, your car wont go over 3000 rpm. This can be rather frustrating and heartbreaking, but do not worry; we are here to help you understand and troubleshoot why your car isn’t going past 3000 RPM or cannot accelerate properly.
This issue is usually observed in high mileage cars; the driver might not notice or pay attention to these signs in daily life. Still, they can feel the effect when driving up a steep hill or while trying to accelerate past moving traffic.
You would notice and feel the slow and impeded acceleration and the fact that the engine of the car has a hard time keeping up.
Your car can have troubles with acceleration due to various reasons such as malfunctioned MAF, malfunctioned oxygen sensor, malfunctioned TPS, dirty air filters, clogged fuel filter, and faulty timing belt.
As we mentioned above, this issue usually occurs in high mileage cars but does not raise any severely immediate concerns over the car’s safety and engine. However, it should not be neglected for too long as it could lead to further damage. Usually, the causes are minor and can be inspected and fixed by you before reaching out to the mechanic.
Let’s walk through the possible causes and their solutions!
Table of Contents
6 Main Reasons Your Car Wont Go Over 3000 RPM
Reason #1 – Malfunctioned mass airflow sensor (MAF)
The mass airflow sensor is located and attached securely to the inlet air cleaner. Since the fundamental role of the airflow sensor is to measure and monitor air mass that is flowing into the air intake, a bad or clogged airflow sensor can lead to inaccurate data being sent to the engine ECU for calculating and measuring the air-fuel mixture.
Solution: To repair a malfunctioned airflow sensor, you would need to remove it from the intake, which can be a rather tedious procedure and is best suited for your mechanic to handle. You should take your car in and get it checked out.
Reason #2 – Malfunctioned oxygen sensor
The oxygen sensor is a device whose primary function is to monitor the car’s exhaust emissions to calculate and analyze the air-fuel ratio circulating throughout the vehicle’s engine.
To sum it up briefly, a car requires a certain amount of fuel to burn correctly within the combustion cylinders to run smoothly and accelerate as needed on demand.
The oxygen sensor sends information about the amount of fuel being utilized to the computer unit of the engine, and in case the sensor gets damaged, the engine of the car will have no idea about the exact ratio of air-fuel mixture to use and may result in a highly fuel-rich combination.
This leads to slow acceleration of the car even when the accelerator pedal is wholly pressed upon.
Solution: You can simply locate and replace the oxygen sensor. The sensors are usually mounted and located onto the exhaust pipe on either side of the catalytic converter. You can remove the sensor by unbolting it with a socket set and replacing it with a sensor that suits your car’s model and make.
Reason #3 – Malfunctioned TPS
This fundamental role and principle of the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) is to detect the throttle valve opening angle controlled and influenced by the accelerator pedal. The accelerator pedal leads to the TPS sending data to the ECU.
If the TPS stops working correctly, then the engine speed cannot be controlled by the accelerator pedal, and the engine speed will decrease or increase without any pressure on the pedal.
Solution: Repairing the TPS can be a complex procedure; hence it is best advised to contact your local mechanic to get the issue resolved.
Reason #4 – Clogged or dirty fuel filter
A clogged or dirty fuel filter is another main cause for your car not accelerating as it needs to on-demand.
When your fuel filter gets clogged, the engine can not receive an adequate amount of fuel which means that the car will not provide the acceleration performance that it ideally should.
Solution: Replacing the fuel filter can be a somewhat complex procedure; hence it is best advised to acquire the help of your local mechanic to replace it. You would need to purchase a new fuel filter according to your car’s model and make.
Reason #5 – Dirty or clogged air filter
Just as a fuel filter provides the engine with clean fuel, the air filter provides the car’s engine with pure air to be utilized in the air-fuel mixture, sent to the combustion chambers to burn.
If an air filter gets clogged, the engine will not receive the proper ratio of the air-fuel mixture, resulting in slow or impeded acceleration.
Solution: To fix this issue, you would need to replace the air filters. This is a complex procedure that requires specific tools; hence, it is best advised to acquire the help of your local mechanic to replace it. You would need to purchase an air filter according to your car’s make and model.
Reason #6 – Faulty timing belt
This component does precisely as it says in the name. The timing belt is some sort of a VIP in the list of critical parts of an engine. If the belts are off even by one single tooth, it can cause some pretty noticeable acceleration issues.
Solution: Repairing the timing belt is a complex procedure that requires specific tools hence it is best advised to acquire the help of your local mechanic.
Conclusion
Acceleration issues are not uncommon in high mileage cars, and if you have one, you are bound to face this issue sooner or later. Usually, it isn’t something that can lead to severe immediate damage, but it can lead to further damage if left neglected.
The leading causes are faulty fuel filters, faulty air filters, damaged airflow sensor, faulty TPS, damaged timing belt, and faulty oxygen sensor. They sound like complicated components, and they are, but a mechanic should be able to handle your problems with ease.
