trouble accelerating
 

ok...1996 honda civic automatic with approximately 150,000 miles. 4 cylinder non-vtec

i've noticed that the car has trouble accelerating and keeping up with other cars most notably on hills. i feel like i have to almost completely floor the gas pedal to accelerate at the same rate as other cars on hills. i don't think the tranny is slipping. it does eventually get up to speed though on highways etc.

what could cause this? i recently changed the fuel filter, spark plug wires, spark plugs, and exhaust manifold (which was cracked) as well as the two o2 sensors. i assumed that one of those things would fix the problem however it still persists. I have not however changed the cap and rotor. could that be causing the problem?

i also changed the tranny fluid, radiator fluid, and power steering fluid (but that probably dosn't help).

i did a compression test on the cylinders which seemed to be fine 185,170,175,185 which i hear is normal.


could it be the EGR valve? Fuel Injectors?

i have noticed that the engine sounds kind of loud when i accelerate though like it's roaring which could possibly be due to changing the manifold. i hear what sounds like wind coming from the rear wheels which i assume are bad wheel bearings. could this be contributing to the problem?

i was going to see how many miles per gallon i get to see if i'm using gas efficiently.

i recently put about 140 lbs into the car with me and it was even worse...the car felt like it had very little power.

HELP! Is this just because it's an old car?

When you're flooring it to get up the hill, does the engine rev high but no power, or does it just slowly creep up to speed? How's the transmission shifting on it?

well...actually i haven't floored it but it feels like i need to. For instance on level road i hold the gas pedal at a decent angle and it seems to accelerate normally, maybe a little sluggishly to 35 mph(the speed limit). but when i am on a hill and hold the gas pedal at the same angle it will only go like 30mph and actually begins to slow down and i have to press the pedal down harder just to keep up the 35 mph.

the transmission shifts fine...some times there is a little jolt when going from 1st to 2nd but i haven't noticed any slippage. The fluid was normal colored and there were no shavings.

the next thing i was going to try was replacing the injectors but they run 50$ a pop...so i'd like to know for sure not guess

No smoke or weird smells...although i smelled the spark plug wire boots and they had a burnt electric smell to them.

when i put 140 lbs into the car with me it acted the same way but replace 35 mph with 25 mph and 30 mph with 20 mph....8-(

Check the timing.

When you floor it, the transmission should drop to a lower gear and the engine revs up. Sometimes you will need to do that to get up hills.

should you have to press the gas pedal further down to maintain constant acceleration?

also if you are going to check the ignition timing (NOT CHANGE IT) all you need to do is hook up the timing light and look at the crank pulley? You don't need to do anything else like shorting out the ECU right?

You have to put the ECU in test mode (short the plug) to read the timing. When running in normal mode (plug not shorted), the ECU varies the timing all over the place to control idle speed, etc.

Yes, when going up hill you are fighting gravity and so you have to put more horsepower into going forward(which is now up as far as gravity is concerned). All this means that if you are doing 35 at the bottom of the hill, to maintain 35 to the top of the hill you will have to gradually push down on the gas pedal more and more depending on how long it takes to get to the top and how sharp of an incline it is.

so should you try and get the pointer to point to the red timing mark?

i'm sorry but the service manual is rather hard to understand.

it says 12 degrees +/- 2 degrees BTDC(RED) during idling in neutral or park.

i think my engine is a D16y7 if that helps. it is automatic

also since i am experiencing a lack of power this means my timing is probably too retarded right? could this harm anything if i were to continue driving it like this?

Find the marks on the pulley with the engine stopped. The paint is usually gone, so re-paint or apply chalk for better visibility. You are interested in the group of 3.

Warm up the engine then turn it off. Install ECU test jumper. Connect timing light to plug wire #1. If timing light has a dial, set it to zero. Restart engine. The CEL should be on steady. Aim the light at the timing marks and pull trigger. It should show the center of the group of 3, you could also try the first one (but if knocking occurs while driving later, go back to the center one). If necessary, loosen the 3 distributor bolts and rotate distributor to change timing. Finally, tighten bolts, disconnect light, remove test jumper, and test drive.

hi,

thank you for the tips.

i found the "tick mark/pointer" on the engine but could not find the lines on the crank pulley. it looks like the belts that run the alternator, ac, and power steering cover the crank pulley. will i have to remove these to see the lines?

also the wire i have to short is very hard to find. should i have to remove anything on the passenger side to get to them or should they be plainly visible? should i have to disconnect anything to get to the connection?