First post here and greatly appreciate any help/advice.
Have a 2002 Honda Civic EX automatic 4 door sedan with about 42k miles on it. Never had a problem until a few weeks ago. We dropped off the car with a valet and, when we got it back that night, I saw that the 'emissions' light was on. I doubt the valet could have done anything to cause that but it sure was coincidental!
Anyway, pulled out the manual and went through their recommendations - tightening the gas cap, ran through a tank and refilled. Light remained on. Took it to a local mechanic with a good reputation and the computer spat out that it was the range switch. They replaced it a few days ago. The light has remained off since then.
Since then, I noticed that the car seemed more sluggish on accelerating. I was also going through gas much faster than previously - I don't have mileage estimates yet. Today, I tried to pay more attention to the car and noticed that it wasn't changing gears as it used to. Especially when I let go of the gas pedal, the car seemed to stay in gear. If I was going 30mph, the car's rpm stayed at 1500 and I had to apply more brake pressure to come to a stop. Went back to the mechanic who said they did not alter anything except for switching out that part. I'm planning to take it to the dealer on Monday but wanted to see if anyone had experienced this or has any idea what might be going on.
Thanks in advance,
E