99 lost power?slow uphill

[ttower]

My 99 KIA Sephia has 130k. It suddenly (over last month)has lost a lot of power. It is slow on take off, going up hill at times it will slow instead of increase speed. My top speed is way down, around 90. ooh, and fuel economy is way down around 22 mpg.

Has anyone had this problem?

I have replaced--

-air filter
-fuel filter
-plugs
-wires

I think it might be the clutch going out. but I would think I would hear it slipping, especially while going up hill. The engine doesn't rev up or anything like would be expected. Any quick way to check?

I pulled the inspection plate off and didn't see anything unusual. But not sure what i would be looking for.

Has anyone replaced the clutch? I have read instruction, but they are unclear as to whether I have to pull engine or not.

[swiftknight23]

sorry this is bad news. rings and or valves worn.

it's reasonable to assume that the rings and
valves (inside the engine) have become worn. Worn rings
and valves will cause the engine to have low compression
and low compression = weak power.
You may be curious as to why the engine's lack of power is
most evident when driving up a hill. Well, when a vehicle is
going up a hill, the engine is under more stress than when
driving on a flat road. Therefore, any wear in the rings/valves
will tend to be revealed - in the form of compression - when
the engine is under stress.

you will need to have a mechanic verify that the rings and/or
valves are indeed worn. Incidentally, this generally involves
what's known as a "wet compression test".
If the mechanic tells you he positively confirmed a worn ring
and/or worn valve condition, don't immediately authorize him
to do the work. Why? Because, this type of work is very
expensive and therefore you'll want to get several opinions
before jumping into anything. By the way, even though this
vehicle's high mileage strongly points to the above diagnosis,
it's possible the cause of this problem is something else.
For example, one of the electronic sensors that controls the
engine may have gone bad.