Low power on the high end?

Been feeling a little low on power and I thought it was just me, but yesterday I hit the highway and with the cruise set at 75 in 5th, dropped down to 70 on a pretty slight incline with an empty car... Dropped to 4th and even with the pedal all the way down it must've taken 5-9 seconds to get back to 75.
According to the obd reader I'm getting boost, but flooring it through the gears on a down hill ramp feels... Not much faster than my usual slow pace. Any ideas where to start looking would be greatly appreciated!

Did you scan the car while you were having the problem or after it was shut off and re-started?
Over boost can cause the car to go into limp mode.
Code is cleared when shut down.
Also scan for codes when it's having the problem.
Were you scanning with VCDS or a generic scanner?

Didn't go into limp mode. I'm using a scangauge.

When’s the last time you did a fuel filter?

xcmer said:

Didn't go into limp mode. I'm using a scangauge.

Click to expand...

Well it sure sounds like limp mode, did the power not come back?
My fairly new to me 2003, which seems a tad weak anyhow, did this on a 60 mile trip, power fine on the way back. First thing I did was a full scan, surprised to find nothing!

Something is happening as you should be able to hold 75 mph up most any hill. Not all problem set codes though. So if you had VCDS I would say to do the DBW test: logging Actual MAF, Specified MAF, Actual MAP, and Specified MAP, I add throttle position; full throttle from 2000 rpm to 4500 rpm, repeat 3 times. You want to get at least 10 seconds of full throttle to allow the PID loop to resolve itself. Stock you can probably do in 3rd gear, tuned probably 5th gear and high risk of speeding ticket.

Hope it's not the case, but I'm currently working on a 03 New Beetle that had a half munched compressor wheel due to a cracked air box. Car drove great at lower speeds, but was slow to accelerate past 50 and couldn't maintain speed up hills. Wouldn't hurt to check your compressor wheel.

Or MAF. I had a no CEL MAF failure on my 1999.5 and it would not go over 3000 rpm and it was doggy.