Did my dealer slow me down?

From: Jon Steiger (stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu)
Date: Fri Oct 01 1999 - 03:57:44 EDT


  Ok, I've got a problem so I thought I'd see if anyone can give
me any ideas. Here's the deal:

  After installing the MPI intake manifold, my best time at the strip
was a 14.55 and that was on a missed shift, to boot. However, after
that, I managed to shift from 3rd into 2nd at about 5,000rpm. Needless
to say, the engine didn't like this one bit. The back end hopped around
quite violently (good thing I was going straight), and the engine shut
off. I started it back up and it still ran (very rough) and I limped
it about 80 miles home, and another 30-40 miles to the dealer.

   They put everything back together, and said I bent 3 valves.
However, now I'm running at least .3 slow at the track. :-( Also,
the engine just feels less powerful. It doesn't pull as hard as it
did before.

  I'm going to check the compression and leakdown, but I have a feeling
that isn't the problem. (No way to know for sure, but seing as how the
dealer just put the engine together, I suspect that stuff would be
OK...)

  Anyway, one thing that comes to mind is my MP PCM was in the truck
at the time. Is it possible that they could have overwritten it with
a stock program, or changed the timing back to stock specs??? I was
going to try putting some low octane in to test it, but I don't know
how conclusive that would be. I'm thinking of going to the dealer
and letting them know that the truck is less powerful, but I'm only
going to be able to tell them that it "feels less powerful" which they
may just dismiss. Its not like I can tell them about the track times,
as its still under warranty... Before going to the dealer, I figured
I'd check here to see if my suspicion is possible, or if anyone had
any other suggestions of things to check. ?

Thanks in advance!

                                              -Jon-

  .--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ----------------------------------------.
  | Jon Steiger * AOPA, DoD, EAA, MP Race Team, NMA, SPA, USUA * RP-SEL |
  | '96 Dodge Dakota V8, '96 Suzuki Intruder 1400, '96 Kolb FireFly 447 |
  `--------------------------- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---'



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