Ok, heres my problem. This has been bothering me for quite some time now, I thought it was normal due to the temperature in the engine but now I know is not. Ok first of all, I have a 1996 Honda Civic EX non VTEC Manual transmision with a CAI and DC HEADERS and an exaust system. My problem is that most of the time my car has no low end torque and crappy horse power. but then in some ocasions it acts like its on steroids and has a hell of pull from a stopping possition and plenty of HP! WTF is up with that? and it seems to have a pattern, about four days of the week its weak, but the other three days it behaves like a civic should. Do you guys think its a part of the engine thats killing my hp and torque, or what the hell is going on here? any help will be greatly appreciate it. By the way, whenever i dont use my car for about a day or two, it has plenty of power, but then after two or three days of use it feels like it gets tired and acts weak. thanx guys

 

The 96 EX came with vtec.

And it's "inconsistent." Not hatin, just fyi.

 

When is the last time you did a complete tune up on it and how many miles are on it.

 

man i feel you lol i also have a 1996 civic LX auto and the same thing lol same days its on boost some its just crappy lol

 

i would replace the plugs and wires and see if it goes away, i know my civic(turbo) has good and bad days depending on the dencity of the air outside, sometimes you cant hardly feel the turbo kicking in and some times it feels like its gonna rip your arms off lol, j/k

but i would do some...

plugs
wires and maybe a new distributor rotor

 

Seriously, your state of mind will affect your car's peformance. After you dont drive it for a couple of days you don't remember how fast it is, and then after a few days of driving it, you get accustomed to the Hp.

Sometimes when I am mad at my car he wont' go as fast as I want him to.

 

Well, I replaced the spark plugs with the Irridium IX form NGK, didnt see any difference whatsover i havent changed the spark plug wires but i got a letter from honda saying they would do that for free because of some emision problems the 96 or older civics are having when i have to take the car for a check up for the dmv licence plate stickers so wires will be changed. last tune up was a while back ago (unless you count going to jiffy lube as a tune up lol), I think thats what it needs, a good tune up never hurt anyone. any other ideas as to why this may be happening? maybe a belt is loose or something, idk, i've beaten my head up over it and still no answer. I know the temperature is a factor, but i dont think it would make THAT much of a difference, i mean, the difference is huge. some days (like when i left it for about three months) is fast as hell, and others (like the day after) its back to a slow *** crawl. any help would be nice. thanx guys

 

oh, and my car has 110,000 miles on it.

 

Fuel Filter??

 

its a STOCK SOHC.......what do you expect? Not hatin' just pointing that out.