just4747

i have a bad problem with my car..ever since i bought it, i havent really done much to it, its just been sitting in the garage...and the car all of a sudden has become horribly sluggish...after driving it for a minute or two, it has such power loss that u cant even climb is slight incline or hill....flooring the gas pedal does absolutely nothing, no noise, no acceleration at all.....the exhaust is making weird noises when trying to accelerate....when turning the car on and then starting off in first gear...the car inches along very slowly no matter how far down u press the gas, then within a few seconds, the acceleration climbs a little bit...barely enough to have to shift to second...every gear is the same (even though i cant accelerate enough to even get to third)...then like i said before, after driving for a few minutes, the engine just bogs out and gets no power.....it sounds like a fuel problem or sumthing...weve changed spark plugs, spark plug wires, cap, and rotor...doesnt change anything at all....can somebody please suggest something? my cars been like this for a month now...completely undriveable...me and my dad have tried most things that we can think of with our little knowledge of this stuff...again the car is a 94 civic ex with a b16a2 head on a b17a1 block...5 speed stick, lots of mods....frankenstein of course....just cant figure this one out and i dont know whether to bring it to a mechanic or not becuase its a hybrid import motor...he might not know what to do at all..thanks...i am so stuck with this **** problem

Jonathan_ED3

Why would you a buy a car with problems like that in the first place? lol

just4747

im not an idiot...the car ran perfect when i first got it...awesome, loud vtec, no acceleration problems...just a little low bouncing idle....so my mechanic friend replaced the spark plug wires...the kid had red msd swires on the engine which are pointless without an msd ignition..so he put stock acura ones on instead, and it fixed the idle...but he left, and i started driving the car, and all of a sudden i noticed the early stages of the problems i mentioned in the first post, including the exhaust sounding louder and more raspy and ricey than it did before, not to mention the bad acceleration and sounds...so he checked it out..and he changed the spark plugs to new ones, and got a new cap and rotor and replaced those too....and the problems seemed to continue...ever since that night, the car has been like i said above...but i dont see how new parts like that could cause a problem like this...i checked the firing order of the wires..theyre all on correct...check everything else..seems fine...ive even many times replaced the new parts with the original old ones again to try to bring it back to its original state but no luck...changing any of those parts doesnt do anything differently...so now im stuck at this state now...me any my dad are going to get a new fuel filter and cleaner now and see what that does..any more guesses of what i should do?

Andres-eh2

- Are there any check engines? if not make sure theres even a bulb behind the cluster.

- Reset the ECU for about 15 minutes.

- Try seafoam

- Do a compression test (anybody can do it with a gauge) http://www.c-speedracing.com/h...t.php

- Your plugs might need to be gapped

just4747

a. what is seafoam and how is it used?
b. how do i reset the ecu myself...and what do u mean reset it for 15 minutes?
c. i tried different gaps for my plugs..but not sure what exactly the gap was supposed to be..if i have a b16a2 head on a b17a1 block..what should the engine-specific gap measurement be?

b18c1civic

a. seafoam is a substance you buy from most auto places, like napa, that you run thru your brake booster vaccuum line, that runs it into the engine and helps clean it. You can also add some to the gas tank and pour some in thru the oil cap, some say about 1/3 of a bottle each, But id do most thru the brake booster. MAKE SURE you change your oil very soon afterwards as it thins the oil out.
b. You can reset your ecu by pulling the ground wire off of the battery until all power is out of the car,(15 minutes) or take the ecu and undo the 3 clips on it.
also when you start your car put it to accessories and you should see the check engine light light up for a second, thats to know it still works.
c. Im not to sure on the gap size, I've read different things from different people, you may want to look up both the specs for the 2 different engines while they are in stock form. Chances are they are very close if not the same. Or try it at the b17s spec, then if not try the b16 spec.
Hope this helps

just4747

thanks man ill check that stuff out

just4747

anyone know a site that tells the gaps?

b18c1civic

maybe hondaswap.com? in the tech area