what the heck is goin on

[joshsmommy642]

Alright..Im new here but I need some help before an intro... I have a 98 honda civic ex,ive taken it to a mechanic countless times over the past few months for various reasons as far as it not starting,running smoothly or brakes...well the distributor,brakes,cv joints/axle,radiator,spark plugs have all been done.But I was having a problem as far as it seems like i dont have a lot of power,while going up hills and such,once at about 35mph it goes pretty well...but its like berrrrrrrrr and hardly going anywhere,so my mechanic said my intake needed to be cleaned and the filter changed,done that but it still doesnt seem right to me....everyone else said it seems fine but it just doesnt drive the way it used to..im to the point of hating the car and wanting to get rid of it..it has 89,000 miles.Could it be something to do with the fuel system? timing off? PLEASE help im DESPERATE!!! Thanks in advance

[madmaxEKhatchB18C5]

welcome......here's some suggestions....i have a 97 D16Y7, you have the Y8 and VTEC (swapping it out in 2 more weeks), but when mine was approaching 70,000 miles i did the following and it gave me back a lot of lost power....yer symptoms could be caused by sumthin different, but these things you can do your self at home and not get screwed again by the mechanic.....just go to autozone for parts.....

1. have you replaced your PCV valve?.....this is a valve that sits above where the oil filter is on your car.....it's a way to harness fumes from the block and recycle them for another burn (see explanation below)....when yer PCV valve is clogged, yer basically starving your car of a portion of its fuel/air mixture and yer building up pressure in yer crankcase from the fumes which can't escape now....replacement is easiest when oil filter is off, i can walk you thru it with photos if you want....

PCV VALVE:
"When an engine is running, a tiny amount of the exploded gas-air mixture forces its way past the piston rings in a condition known as blow-by.* These fumes would build up pressure in the crankcase and cause trouble if they were not allowed to escape.* On old cars, a hollow pipe led from the top back of the engine and carried the fumes down under the car.* This “draft tube” prevented gasses from building up in the engine but it also allowed the oily fumes to escape into the atmosphere. *

*********** Modern cars have many types of pollution control devices to protect the quality of our air.* The system used to control crankcase fumes is called Positive Crankcase Ventilation or PCV.* In this system, the “draft tube” leading from the crankcase is not vented to the ground but is routed to the intake manifold where the oily fumes are sucked into the engine along with the gas-air mixture and burned."

2. Have you done an engine oil cleaning treatment??....i bought 2 bottle of engine oil treatment and then i put in new sythetic 5w/30 and mixed that with 20% of the heavy-duty oil (seals cracks in the crankcase...i forget the brand-name right now)....that cleaned the crap out of the crankcase and sealed it up nicely....gave me more power and took me from 28 to 33 mpg on a long road-trip.....i'm not shitting you.....it jumped that much.....

3. Is your throttle cable nice and tight?....check it b/c this can make yer car super-sluggish if it gets a lot of slack in it.....tightening it is super easy and maybe will get back more responsiveness.....

those three things are so cheap and easy.....also, ignition timing (i.e. rotating the distributor cap) is an easy home-tune, but best done on a dyno and best not to do if yer timing seems good....you could clean your intake manifold your self too, but i don't think this is the problem....

__________________________________________________ ____________________
check out my ride at:

http://www.cardomain.com/id/ekb18cjdmitr