Faux Boxer

Today I had a short feel of what driving a boxer engine felt like. Well, in terms of sound anyway, not power.

I was driving back from a mamak session. First gear, second gear, then when it came to third gear, the car started to feel really weak. REALLY WEAK.

Performance started to be really sluggish at speeds below 2500rpm. And it came with that pulsating sound that boxer engines have due to the unequal exhaust header length. Once the revs touched somewhat above 2500rpm the power kicked back in.

Could you imagine the struggle I had when I paid my toll? It took a good two to three minutes for me just to get from 1000rpm to 2500rpm on first gear. With the accelerator pedal fully depressed. I was moving slower than a turtle.

Suddenly once the rev went above 2500, there was a strong jerk and power came back in. Sounds like some ultra laggy turbo huh?

My guess is one of my spark plugs gave away, leaving the engine running on three cylinders. I’m waiting for the mechanics to open shop so they can replace it for me.

So, if you want to make your Mitsubishi engine sound like a boxer, just unplug one of the spark plug cables.

Update: I was right, it was the plugs. Mechanic gave me a temporary set of plugs to use while my platinum plugs order arrives tomorrow.

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • Wingz on Jul 14, 2005 at 7:37 pm

    wow boxer sial !!! worth every moment of it la !!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • huhuhuhu same applied to me when driving an alfa romeo 146 boxer.really slow when the engine is below 2500 rpm.

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  • cbljkkj on Jul 15, 2005 at 12:36 am

    LOL,my friend and I had a similiar experience.I was wondering how similiar your story was to mine as i was reading .I know how troublesome it is when a turbo car blows a spark plug (in my case it was 2!)

    Car took 2 mins to reach 40km/h and stayed that way!! It was a Familia GTX B8-180 that sounded like a Subaru Impreza WRX!!! First we thought it was kinda cool till the performance started to drop.Guess must have blown the second spark plug on the way home while smoking a VTEC =)

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  • cbljkkj: i have to admit lah i really enjoyed the sound but the car was damn hard to drive. i was praying that i don't meet any red lights on the way home because if i did, it would take me a decade to accelerate again.

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  • deutsche volk on Jul 15, 2005 at 7:23 am

    err..what car did u drive paul'???

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Proton Satria 1.6GLi

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  • moo_t on Jul 15, 2005 at 6:52 pm

    Spark plug? Lucky.

    Last month, two of my MX3 1.8GS fuel injector went "tapau". , it still reach 60km/h in less than 20 sec, except the pocket really hurts: milelage drop to 5km/liter.

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