car loses power while driving down highway. fixes when turned off.

this has happened twice now.

both times while towing a light trailer, with 2 dirtbikes @ 250 lbs each. so total load is about 800 lbs or so.

first time was on an uphill, gravel road... 5th just wasnt enough.. losing speed fast. ***. downshift to 4th... still no power!! downshift to 3rd.. and am barely able to maintain the speed. got to destination, turned car off, unloaded bike, turned car back on, ran fine for a month.

now today... im hauling 2 bikes again.. this time with a TAIL wind, AND a downhill section... not driving crazy fast.. 60-70 mph at the most. was raining out today.. maybe 40-50F. and I felt the power loss.. I was losing speed.. couldnt even maintain 65mph DOWNHILL with a trailer... almost like I lost boost/turbo died, or my clutch slipped? pulled off to the side of the road... put it in 1st gear and it didnt suck me into my seat like it normally would when pinned in 1st. turned car off. waited 1 minute. started back up and it ran fine.

its scaring me though... whats causing this?

Sounds like you are loosing boost. Probably those crappy little vacuum hoses or a sticky turbo actuator. Your description of the "stop and go" power sounds like a sticky turbo actuator or crud in the turbo causing the veins to stick.

The other day, I put my ARP head bolts in and missed one of the hoses when I put everything back together. I was pulling the trailer up a pretty steep hill in North Vancouver and when I got to the top, I lost power. Sort of felt Like I lost 2 cylinders. I managed to find a spot to pull over and found the loose hose, stuck it back on and away we went with all the power again.

not sure what the actuator is.. but I did an EGR delete a while ago and unplugged a plug from the top of the motor, passenger side, that had something to do with the turbo or EGR or something. is that it?

it definitely felt like turbo/boost related... I just didnt wanna admit it to myself.. scary.

I will go over the hoses tomorrow... dont really know what im looking for though or where it is. I know the turbo is kinda crammed way down in there. and with no lift and fresh snow coming down. I cant crawl under to look around.

I need to have my tandem pump gasket replaced... maybe ill mention this to my mechanic too and get him to do both. thanks for the answer. appreciate it!!! gives me something to do this week.

"Limp mode" is the search term ye seek... your ECU is detecting an issue with the turbo when it's under heavy load (aka towing a trailer) and then shuts the turbo off to prevent further damage.

Turning off the key makes the ECU forget the problem and your power is back... until it happens again.

Canadian Grizzlie has a great step-by-step limp mode troubleshooting guide that is worth tracking down...otherwise one can spend a lot of time and money throwing random parts at the system. If searching for it doesn't turn it up right away looking for any of his posts will work, as it's in his signature.

That said... did you plug the hose you unplugged when you deleted your EGR? If not, it's now a vacuum leak at times... which very well could contribute to what's gong on, if not be the actual cause.

Also could be a relay 109 - look that up, super easy to find by the firewall. It'll click periodically if it's working properly. Odds are it's not...

ah, I figured it was going into limp mode. I will look up that troubleshooting link and if it stops raining I will go tinker with it.

it wasnt a hose.. it was an electrical plug for the EGR system. I can send a pic later.

its just odd because I used the car for 250 miles that day.. sometimes pulling hills with an 8% grade with a trailer for a mile.. and it did decently. then on the way home, on an easy stretch, downhill, she just lost power.

I will check relay 109 also. hoping this is an easy, and cheap fix!!!