97 Civic acceleration feels lazy

[sincere2knj]

Hi,

Im a new member to this forum and was wonderin if anyone here could help me with my car problem. I don't know much about the inside of a car, I just know how to drive it but when it comes to fixing or diagnostic my car, I'm pretty much clueless. But I'm learning little by little.

I have a Honda Civic 1997 EX with a 4 cyclinder V-Tec engine. Since I purchase it last year the car acceleration felt lazy. What do I mean by lazy? When I press on the gas, it would take a few second for the car to react then take off. During the 3 or 5 second before reacting, the car make this noise, not sure how to describe it, it kind of sound like ---- hhhhhuuuuummmmmmmmmm ---- then a VROOOOM when the engine take off. When i first start the engine the car react to acceleration just fine for the first few minutes then get lazy again after the engine warms up.

A few weeks ago my whole car started shaking and gave an error code of 71, Cylinder 1 misfire. My brother, over the phone, ask me to check the first cylinder spark plug wire. I check it with a OHM odometer, the wire was bad so I replace it and the shaking stopped. In the sametime, the car ran beautiful. Reacted with the right accleration when I press the gas, it ran great. Until I went to my brother house, 160 miles drive, then it got lazy on me again. While up there I bought a new set of spark plugs and wires, good brand, but it did not fix the problem.

We think the timing belt need to be change so thats next to do when I head to his house next time. But would like to know if anyone here experiance this problem before, and if you did, what did you do to solve it? If is not the timing belt, what else would it be so i could know if the timing belt change does not fix the problem.

Any help or suggestion would be appreciated.

Also, since I bought the car I never change the timing belt and I'm not sure the last owner change it. Just wanted to throw that in here in case someone ask me when was the last time the belt been change.

Thank you.

[jet41989]

dont kno much about car tech either but feeling the same w/ my 96 civic ex. i can floor it when its around 40mph and it will take a few seconds for the acceleration to kick in.

[Omega7]

Same with my 99 lx. Does either of your engines make a ticking noise?

[Rampart Crawler]

Keep in mind that these civics aren't hot rods. Maybe throttle respons is a bit dull at certian speeds. By best power range for my dx is from a 5mph roll to about 40(like taking a corner slow and gunning it to merge with traffic-_-). I mean, I have had soda bottles with more litres than this car's engine.=P

[LunchBox]

is it an automatic?

[dokiedc]

Check your catalytic converter.

[Omega7]

Originally Posted by dokiedc

Check your catalytic converter.

Cat converter is new...

[TurboLaxx]

Timing belts need to be changed every 100000 miles. If you have a 97, it's prob time for a new belt.

The only way i can make my car "lazy" is to run the AC. With the AC on it feels like it runs at 90-95% of it's regular.

[Rampart Crawler]

Originally Posted by TurboLaxx

Timing belts need to be changed every 100000 miles. If you have a 97, it's prob time for a new belt.

The only way i can make my car "lazy" is to run the AC. With the AC on it feels like it runs at 90-95% of it's regular.

Yeah, I had my A/C all the way up with me(near 200lbs) and a 250lb passenger going up a hill on my street, the other day, and all I can say is ';_;'

I had the nearly floored to keep it at 35mph. Still had pretty good pickup on flat ground.

[TurboLaxx]

Yeah i can def notice when i have a friend in my car. I can notice the 200 lbs weight difference. When i go up hill i usually shift at 4000-5000 rpm so i get within the power band so i dont slow up traffic.

[_93civchatch_]

yeah, i had 4 ppl in my 97 dx, you can def. notice the power difference, and i was shifting a hell of alot more

[rgloston]

Have the same acceleration problem. If I run A/C, there's to "get-up-and-go" unless I've got the engine rev'd higher than 2500. Haven't found a cure yet. Fortunately, I'm still getting over 20mpg on my daily commute to work (50 miles - one way).

(1.6L VTEC - '94 Civic)

[_93civchatch_]

Originally Posted by rgloston

Fortunately, I'm still getting over 20mpg on my daily commute to work (50 miles - one way).

(1.6L VTEC - '94 Civic)

thats all your getting... 20mpg? thats horrible for a civic... id check some things on your engine if i were you...