I bought my TH auto wagon 18 months ago.

It seemed to need a tune when I bought it so I put it in for a full service.
It got timing belts, plugs, fluids, filters and a new O2 sensor.

It felt a bit better but still lacked power up hills and at highway speeds and had a bit of a rough idle that comes and goes and a bit of a flat spot on takeoff.

Also fuel economy was still bad at 14L/100 Km careful mixed driving, 9.5L/100 Km freeway.

I talked to the mechanic about it and he said it was most likely the injectors but not to bother as I was putting the car on LPG.

Once fitted and tuned on LPG the problems were still there so I put it in for some further
tuning.

They reset the TPS and this fixed the flat spot on takeoff but didn't fix the idle or top end power.

Some weeks later I brought the car back for further investigation and they replaced the rotor button because it had a spark track on it.

They also increased the base timing from 7 to 13 degrees.

The car was now much smoother and more lively around town.
It felt like I had unhitched a caravan but it still feels flat at speeds over 80kph.

My economy around town on LPG is completely rubbish 20L/100 Km
This improves to 11L/100 Km on the freeway.

The car drives well around town and I can't tell the difference between driving on petrol or LPG but has trouble keeping up with traffic at highway speeds and going up hills on either fuel.

I know the older style LPG systems lose some performance and economy over petrol but my losses exceed the manufacturers worst case expectations.

Because the LPG was fitted before I had several problems sorted I don't know how it would perform without the LPG mixer restricting the intake.
The mechanic said the same mixer works very well on commodores with almost no power losses.

Anyone had similar problems?

What's the mileage like?

I'm thinking that the cam timing might be out slightly, as you say that it lacked power on either fuel. I could be quite wrong though.

Fill her with Premium and run her hard .... might work.

What's the mileage like?

I'm thinking that the cam timing might be out slightly, as you say that it lacked power on either fuel. I could be quite wrong though.

I bought the car with 120K on it.

The motor doesn't seem worn in that it uses next to no oil and doesn't blow smoke.
Maybe I should have had a compression check when I had the plugs done.

The mechanic said it could be that because the ignition timing was retarded and that runs off the camshaft.

He said he had seen the keyway flog out in the cambelt drive gear on the crankshaft of pajeros but hasn't seen it happen on magnas.

He's going to check the manifold vacuum next week because that would be low if the valve timing was retarded.

Premium makes a small improvement but it still won't rev.

maybe the cam timing should be checked, the cambelts probably been changed recently (120kms) and maybe the cams aren't lined up where they should be.

airflow meter need cleaning?

You would seriously notice if the cams were out wouldnt you? Whouldnt it run like an absolute pig?

Also, i thought there was no timing adjustment at all on the 3rd gens. I could be wrong though.