Trouble in 3rd gear

[Cheng]

Recently i notice that I'm not getting any power in third gear. Ok heres how it goes, 1st and 2nd gear seems to run smooth and when i shift into 3rd, when the rpm hits about 4000, I've notice it harder for the rpm to claim up and then when i shift into 4th, all I can see behind me is a big cloud of black smoke. There is a minor minor minor oil leak you can't even notice it. What im guess is that im losing compression, due to the fact i think my headgasket is cracked!

[kalieaire]

black smoke means you're running rich, you should check your ecu for codes.

possibly you have a bad mafs, leaking injectors, bad grounds to your mafs or injectors, a bad o2 sensor, vacuum leak, knock sensor, and a lot of other small possibilities.

can you describe your problem more, do you have idle problems, do you have good mileage.

If your headgasket is busted you'd notice a little motor oil floating on top of your coolant. and possibly if you checked your motor oil, it'll look like chocolate milk, all light brown and stuff. Also, you'd be running a high possibility of overheating your engine, if not, then I think your engine is ok and the problem is probably electrical.

you should check the easiest explainations before you go nuts on it.