My Toyota Rav 4 2002 ( FWD) struggles before it reaches high speed of 60 miles/hr

Asked by Naveen Mar 14, 2017 at 04:48 PM about the 2002 Toyota RAV4 FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My Toyota Rav 4 2002 ( FWD) struggles  before it reaches high speed of 60
miles/hr. when I start my car in the morning, I have no issue accelerating the
car at around 40 miles/hr as long as I keep the speed limit around that range.
But sometimes I tend to take the highway to get to work quickly and my car
struggles to get to 60 miles/hr. I keep pressing the gas pedal for about a min
or so  and the RPM dial goes all the way to 3000 but I gain no increase in
speed. But then suddenly the roaring sound dies off and the RPM  dial goes
down to 2000 or so and then I am able to go to higher speed limit. The
engine sounds more smoother at this point, and I have no issues decreasing
the speed and accelerating back to higher speed. This tends to happen more
often in the morning. I even got the cabin filter, engine filter and the oil
changed but the problem still persists. The check engine light is not on.

1 Answer

223,905

Sounds like a plugged catalytic converter. Should have the cat. checked at an exhaust shop.

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