Poor acceleration on Camry 97 V6

[chidi]

Hi guys,

i've had my 97 camry v6 for about 8 months, i shipped it to nigeria from the US. last January. i noticed a slight drop in it's performance about a month ago, it no longer accelerates as fast as before, and it takes a longer time now to attain top speeds. I've 129k on it's dash, and it drove and accelerated beautifully before now. Can anybody give me a clue as to what the problem may be, and how i can have it sorted out.?

Chidi.

[krakrMann]

I can tell you that I have a 95 camry and it started to have poor accelleration problems recently. After a while, it developed a slight clicking sound.

As it turned out, my timing belt needed replacement. These belts should be replaced ever 60,000 miles on 95 camrys. Maybe that rule applies to your car?

When was the last time that you had your timing belt changed?

[Blitzgray]

Just taking a try here... could it be the gas? is 89+ octain available over there? It sounds like the problem started when you moved the car out of America

[chidi]

I have'nt changed my timing belt since i bought the car, however a label on the engine shows the timing belt was changed at 106,000 miles. I bought the car at 120k miles. On the fuel type, i dont know for sure if we have 89+ over here, but the car accelerated beautifully for more than 7 months of being here, this sluggish acceleration became noticable in January. it just does'nt spring off to a sharp start like before.
Could it be my plugs? If so what type of plugs would you recommend?

[WickedNYCowboy]

Is it automatic or manual? If it is automatic does it help taking in and out of overdrive. When I need to pass a couple people or want to open it up, or make it shift I take it out of overdrive. It could be your plugs as well as other basic tune up stuff. If you are going to replace plugs use the same kind that is in there now.