Peter94

Hello,
I recently bought a '94 civic ex with 125K miles, bone stock. My problem is it has little power on hills. I know it's a civic and don't expect gobs of power but something is wrong. On flat road power is ok. Driving on hills I have to really get on the gas and shift into 4th, even then at around 4500RPM I'll only break the 60mph mark.

So far I have done/checked the following:
Replaced plugs, wires, cap and rotor
Fuel filter is only 12K miles old-OK
Checked mechanical timing and ignition timing-OK

Compression test was: 190, 185, 190, 190

What else can I check? Or is it just me being paranoid?

H22AFerio

Its a honda thing they lack torque even my GSR Coupe has trouble on hills lol it looks like you have healthy compression you have nothing to worry about just get a running start like I do.

xrsallday

no worries. i was going up a 6% grade freeway here in hawaii when i figured how how much our cars lack torque. my friend was in his F-150 5.4L triton and i was in 3rd gear at WOT and i wasnt going anywhere, he had a truck full of people and stuff in the bed and he was pulling away like nothing and he wasnt even pushing it too hard.


edit: note i have a 95 civic EX coupe, bone stock. 193k miles

Former User

Any CEL codes?

Jimster480

it shouldnt have no torque. I can climb hills at 1.8K and up with no issues on my D16.

Funanin

Yea- good idea, check for codes because even if there is no engine light, there still may be codes affecting the power of the engine. How is the idle? Is it very smooth and steady around 700? People often forget how simple the 4 cycle engine works and make things much more complicated than they have to be. You need 4 simple things for an engine to run. Air, Fuel, Compression, and Spark. You eliminated 2 of these by checking the compression and replacing all the ignition items. Check to see that you have a good freeflowing intake system and then that only leaves fuel. You changed the filter so the only other thing that leaves is the injectors. You could buy an aftermarket adjustable fuel pressure regulator for about 50 bux online and turn the pressure up a few psi to see if you gain a little power from that. If so, its probably a worn out injector or 2 that isnt openning all the way. You can get a used set on ebay for real cheap.

Let us not forget that yes, it is a civic and they have very little torque, I usually have to downshift my automatic into 3rd gear to take on hills, but I dont have to hit the throttle more than 50% on ANY hill no matter what the grade. I think he knows that these cars arent fast, but you can tell when something really just isnt right.

H22AFerio

x2

Peter94

Well, I don't have a cel. Would it still have codes without a cel?

foo fighters

your CEL light may be burnt out. (stupid Q)is your A/C on during these tests?

Peter94

CEL works, and car has no A/C.

Before I owned an '89 civic si HB, could comfortably cruise up a grade in 5th unless I needed extra oomph then I'd shift to 4th. That is why I think something is not right with this car. I don't think I should have to shift into 3rd just to keep up with traffic.

On a side note I must ask, and it may be a dumb question: What does the car sound like when vtec engages? I've revved the car several times near redline and didn't notice any change in sound or anything.

Former User

Is the catalytic converter clogged?

Did you check the ignition timing like this:

Jimster480

The engine will get louder when VTEC hits, but its not as loud on a SOHC as it is on a DOHC since the VTEC is only on the intake side. You can usually hear it pretty well with a short ram intake.

Peter94

Hmm...well sound like vtec is fine then.

The timning is good, just re-cheked it yesterday. Did the jumper wire on service connector.

Now about the cat, how do I go about checking that?

Also if it's bad, is it worth to replace with a high-flow one?

jhendry

Some thing could be wrong but since the car is new to you, this could be your first encounter with honda's lack of torque and lol i live in utah and the hills you described are very different than mine, i'm usually in 2 or 3 lol they're so steep!