techsynthesis

Hello all, I just bought a 1995 Civic Del Sol 5-speed. My problem is when I am at a complete stop and begin accelerating the car it seems as if it doesnt have enough power to accelarate the car. By third gear, I am barely at about 20mph, and it doesnt seem to be its normal acceleration since i know that the vtec 160hp should be a very powerful engine. Any suggestions as to what it may be?

povs9

20 mph in 3rd gear? thats like 2000rpm. i shift anywhere between 4000-5000rpm around town. is it good at higher rpm's?
95 del sol vtec too

techsynthesis

At higher RPM it drives ok, just that the startoff is what bothers me, it doesnt seem to have much torque to accelerate the car. Someone mentioned to me that it may be the MAF but im not sure where it is on the engine, and how to clean it or replace it.

Once I disconnected a small device on top of the air intake, what appeared to me to be the MAF and disconnected it a few times, and when I started the car again I noticed a big difference in power but then it started feeling weak again after driving it a few miles. It seems as if it loses power when the engine heats up to about half which may be an indicator for the MAF. Do you guys have any idea?

MonkeyBoy668

The B16 engine is a short stroke engine, which makes very little torque at low RPMs. Unless you're being gentle while the engine is warming up (which you should do - aluminum pistons + iron cylinders), you're going to want to shift at higher RPMs. I typically burn the clutch a fair amount while starting in first, just to avoid being stuck trying to accelerate from 1000rpm.

Is the check engine light on by any chance?

FWIW, after buying a used car it's sometimes helpful to break down and check/perform all the routine maintenance, because you don't know who owned it before you and what they did. e.g. - Oil & Filter, Air & Fuel filters, distributor cap & rotor, spark plug wires (if you have a multimeter you can check the existing wires to see if they need to be changed), & spark plugs (if you verify they're worn).

techsynthesis

The check engine light doesnt turn on. Something else that i noticed is that after the car is warmed up it idleas very low, at aroun 600 rpm. Also it seems to have much better performance when I turn on the heater. Do you guys know of any sensors in the air intake that I can check? im suspecting is something with the air intake not delivering enough cold air to the engine.

mighty_sol

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by techsynthesis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... it doesnt seem to have much torque to accelerate the car....</TD></TR></TABLE>


lmaoomghi2ubbqrofl b16A3 with no torque? OMG? motors blown!

you scream NOOB

drop your Vtec sol (at my house) and pick up a new corolla.

b16=torque-LESS motor have fun sceaming at High RPMS

if you NEED torque either B18 or turbo. /thread

Neptronix

heh.. with turbo, low end power is still gonna suck.

welcome to owning a 1.6l honda. Your engine is basically not going to make any power until 3000-4000rpm. That's just the way they are, dude.

I thought something was wrong with mine when i bought it.. but nope.
Our engines are pretty much useless under 1500rpm. Seriously. Just takes getting used to..

Some things that kill low end power:

1. oversized aftermarket rims ( above 16's & some brands are heavier than others )
2. automatic transmissions ( dunno if the del sol vtec had one, but they eat up too much torque.. )
3. bad distributor/cap/rotor/plugs/plug wires/grounds ( i cleaned off my grounds and noticed it! they were dirty as shizniz )
4. People that weigh over 200lbs.. lol. excess weight in general.

check those out and get back to us.

mighty_sol

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Neptronix &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Some things that kill low end power:

1. oversized aftermarket rims ( above 16's & some brands are heavier than others )
2. automatic transmissions ( dunno if the del sol vtec had one, but they eat up too much torque.. )
3. bad distributor/cap/rotor/plugs/plug wires/grounds ( i cleaned off my grounds and noticed it! they were dirty as shizniz )
4. People that weigh over 200lbs.. lol. excess weight in general.

check those out and get back to us.</TD></TR></TABLE>

well put, Del sol VTEC never came in AT. but the rest was solid. lol i always love seeing b16 "EM1s that have HUGE dudes in them rev at me lol it makes me think of that sticker, "no fat chicks: car will scrape" lol

where in SLO are you? we should meet and have a beer! lol maybe drive a few central cal mountain roads

Neptronix

Oh yeah and of course the car is faster before it warms up. That's how most cars i've driven are. The ECU is in some kind of different mode until it gets to temperature.
The effect was much more drastic on my 2000 cavalier though...

*wonders if there's a way to keep it in that mode *

mighty_sol

Cold= runs rich, it's a safety feature most manufacturers use to insure that the car starts and runs correctly.

rich is more fuel which coupled with the dense air of SLO makes it FEEL like the car runs better, you need a P28 if you don't already have one

&lt;----heart's CROME and hates hondata for sueing PGMFI.org

venomzz

I am having almost the exact same problem with my 99 civic with D16 motor. When I first start it up it runs great...I mean great considering the motor. After it reaches operating temperature it runs completely different...no low end....and top end still isnt near what it was when It was running cold. I know it has something to do with my air fuel mixture and the amount of air I am getting through my intake I am working on the problem Im getting no CEL and I know everything else is good. I believe ya Del Sol.

techsynthesis

Thanks a lot for all the advice. I talked to a mechanic, not my regular "pro" import mechanic, he said that on these cars you shift at higher RPM, around 4000 and took me out for a little test drive. To me it seems a bit high but I guess I must get used to it.

Ill be checking the spark plugs, and cables. Any advice in checking those? For example how do you check the resistance on the cables, and how do you tell if a distributor is bad? Also how do you know if a spark plug has gone bad? BTW I have a multimeter. Thanks in advance to all.

gamby

Think of a b16a (your engine) as acting more like a motorcycle engine.

It's designed to work in a higher rev range.

You'll cruise in 5th at 70mph and be at 4k rpm. Perfectly normal.

Shifting is perfectly natural at 4k rpm.

It can absolutely handle being revved to the redline (on warm oil) all you want. Enjoy the noise--it's part of the experience. Nothing to fear (assuming it's in a good state of tune).

"Having very little low end torque" is the whole definition of a B16A. It doesn't get interesting until 5500rpms. Drive it conservatively and it'll act like any other Civic engine.

Neptronix

haha yes they do..
I don't know how to check a distributor's function but it's easy to spot a bad cap & rotor - just take the sucker off.

In my 99 ex:

- cap + rotor were almost goners
- plugs were almost goners
- grounds were super dirty and required cutting the terminals off and crimping on new ones.. plus the battery ground was in really bad shape too.

all these things helped out the car in the 0-3000rpm range.. basically cuz it was really suffering for electricity!

For more torque, you might wanna consider removing power steering ( if you can live with it ) and air conditioning ( unless you'd regret it )... removing both ps + ac belts frees up ~5hp/5tq across the powerband and i must say it helps.

gsr x civic

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by techsynthesis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Once I disconnected a small device on top of the air intake, what appeared to me to be the MAF and disconnected it a few times</TD></TR></TABLE>

i can't believe no one caught this.