87 Honda civic bogs down at 35mph or more

[tommyvegas]

I have an 87 civic, 1.3 that seems to start just fine and idle decent, but suddenly at higher speeds and especially on hills it loses all power. I have changed plugs,wires, rotor, cap, oil, both fuel filters, checked fuel pump pressure(seems fine). My evalution is this: I have cyhecked the timing and it is off. The question is, is it the timing belt( which is oil covered, but not necassarily swollen) or is it possible that the distributor has jumped a tooth. I read in my chilton that there is no way to put it in the wrong way, but have also heard that somehow it is possible to be off still. Is this so? If not, I truly think the belt must have slipped. On a side note, a mechanic also told me he thinks it's possible my catalytic converter could be plugged. I do know for afact that the timing is not right and I can not adjust the distributor enough to correct it. Any ideas or conformations??? Thanks anyone

[lxndr]

Since there is only one way to put the distributor on, the cam gear is probably off one tooth. If the timing belt is coated with oil it could have easily slipped under load. Unfortunately this also means you could have a leaky front crankshaft seal, or a bad camshaft seal. Oil could also be leaking from behind the oil pump or from the cylinder head gasket, but this is unlikely.

To fix this you'll need to set the #1 cylinder at TDC. There is a mark on the crank pulley that is about 1" away from the timing marks, this is the TDC mark. Line this mark up with the timing pointer then check that the cam gear is lined up. The cam gear has two lines stamped into it, they should be level with the top of the cylinder head if the cam is in proper position.

If the cam gear is off one tooth, loosen the timing belt idler pulley and slip the timing belt off the cam gear. Rotate the cam gear into the correct position then slide the timing belt back on. Check that everything is still lined up correctly then tighten the idler pulley. You can do this without loosening the idler pulley, but it's easier if you do.