[nab627b]

well recently the car seems to be alot slower than when i first got it.....it may not be, i might have just gotten used to the acceleration but i am pretty sure it is slower. so now here are some things ive noticed with the car that might help out with some diagnosis

1. since ive had the car the gas pedal has been super super unsensitive, on normal highway driving the pedal is at least half way to the floor to go a little faster than the speed of traffic (i hate the speed limit) which seems a bit far down to me. when pressing down on the pedal it feels as though something in the line or somewhere is rubbing. aka the pedal does not go down as smooth as it should. my friend that has a na4cyl 900 said his pedal is much much more sensative than mine( i let him drive it a couple days ago)

2. when accelerating the rpms dont seem as smooth throughout as they are supposed to, most of the time there is a much much stronger pull between 3500 and 4000. other times it is pretty smooth
sometimes i will be accelerating and when it hits 3500 it literrally jerks you back in the seat and takes off like i gave it more gas but i havent actually given it more gas ( i think this might have something to do with the amount of gas needed to get the car up to normal speed....and the sudden acceleration is maybe how it should be accelerating with the amount of gas i use)

3. my clutch is beat and is hopefully being replaced soon, my family is still working out who is paying for it since my cousin royally ****ed it up and i damn sure am not paying for it, couldl the clutch be the problem it slips in 1st and 2nd somewhat often

i remember reading a thread a while ago about a v6 that the timing was off and it was alot slower than it should have been....can timing just go off on its own, how should i go about checking the timing??

 

[TigerSilhouette]

For the accelerator pedal, make sure you lube the springs and the cable that attaches to the engine. Sometimes the cable can bind producing an odd feeling when you press he pedal. About the timing, usually it wont be off unless your timing belt somehow slipped. I dont think this can actually happen without breaking the belt. When was the last time you did a tune-up? I know it sounds simple but sometimes little things really make a big difference in engines. Best of luck!

 

[Slaab4life]

For the accelerator pedal, make sure you lube the springs and the cable that attaches to the engine.

A few things to look at with the gas pedal cable:
1.) As TigerSilhouette said, lube the springs and cable.
2.) Make sure your cable (and its plastic end piece) are in one piece. As you can see on mine the orangy blob right by the mounting surface. The plastic piece of the cable had broken, which created a bit of resistance when pushing on the gas. Worth a check at the TB.
3.) Perhaps cleaning the throttle body and the butterfly valve within it.
4.) Perhaps try cleaning and regapping your plugs.

 

[ragtopcav]

As far as getting luanch from around 3500rpm, this is normal [it is with mine anyway] poor throttle response can down to something severe or just an accumalation of many of the little things being posted; if you do gap your plugs you may as well clean the throttle body and lube the cables as these have to be lifted aside to get to the rear head; also clean and check HT leads, filter once you're in this deep it'll only take another 20 minutes to remove the injectors, have them ultrasonically cleaned - this is a genuine performance enhancement.

Timing error, I could be a bit off but the dynamic tensioner, the one that takes up the belt stretch, if this malfunctions then timing will drift out slightly.

On the clutch, there's loads of upgrades available in Europe, do you have a local ebc stockinst that could import one of these [scroll down to sports clutch and click on saab]

 

[nab627b]

i will give the throttle stuff a look when i get the chance....the spark plugs are brand new so i doubt there gapping is the problem...although they are fairly cheap and my dad did the gapping so maybe they are the problem

 

[audioddude]

I read your post yesterday. My 9-3 seemed to be going slower also, and my exhaust sounded funny. On the way to work today, when I accelerated I heard a pop, the funny sound went away and the car seemed better. Must have been a pluged exhaust?