95preludef23

Okay so, I don't really know where else to turn, i've been coming to this site pretty frequently looking at other peoples posts with similar problems, and you guys are always a huge help. But i haven't really found much on this subject and i'm pretty desperate at this point so here i am. I guess first off i should tell you what the car is and has, I have a 1995 Honda Prelude SE, and it has a motor swap to an F23a1 (not my decision, i got the car that way.) The seller also told me that it is cammed, and has new valves, but it is also a black top valve cover like you would see on a DOHC. so yeah, kind of a strange motor setup on it. But anyway, I took the car to california 2 weeks ago, (from utah) and back, and i noticed on the way back going through some mountains that i could typically fly through, as i do the drive through the mountains specifically pretty frequently, that i couldn't accelerate up them, but merely maintain the speed i was going when i started going up the mountain. So i got home and took a look at my check engine light, assuming there would be more codes (the check engine light was stuck on previously with a code 24, which i had trouble finding but narrowed it down to the radiator fans from sources found online, and the radiator fans don't turn on by themselves the previous owner had hard wired a switch into the cab for them, so it made logical sense that that would be the code it was sending) and low and behold, i had more codes. Now i thought that it was a code 1, and a code 5 that had added themselves to the check engine light. So i got a new O2 sensor, feeling as though that was the more urgent one to take care of, as that would explain the loss in power and such and thought that it could cause a map sensor code to throw as well. Installed it, and nothing. i even paid the extra for the OEM bosch exact fit one! You can understand my frustration when the same check engine light codes revealed themselves to me. (also i should mention, that after resetting the ecu the 24 did erase itself and hasn't come back since.) So i checked the voltage to the plug with the key in the on position, and nothing! i found a write up by someone with a very similar problem to mine and cut the wires that matched the colors of the o2 sensor at the wiring harness by the strut tower, and hard wired them to the O2 sensor. and then my check engine light lit up like the 4th of july, with tons more codes. I wanted to cry at this point, spending hours of hard work trying to get this problem solved to no avail.. So i undid the wiring and left the o2 sensor not wired up at all and got the same codes. 1 and 5. also when i had the o2 sensor hard wired in, it still showed up with a code 1. or so i thought. after all of that i came to the conclusion that it must be a 10 and a 5, and i was just reading it wrong. So i installed a new intake air temperature sensor. Still the same codes! so i asked the guys at autozone and they think that it is actually just a code 15, and neither of the others. my girlfriend even thinks that it looks like a 15. i decided to also change the spark plugs yesterday, and honestly it feels like the power is about back to normal at the lower rpms, and i'm not getting any carbon through my exhaust or in the plugs at all anymore, (also i don't have a catalytic converter, and i think the guys that owned the car before me totally bypassed the o2 sensor) so i thought the problem was taken care of and it was just a 15, but then today i noticed that i've lost even MORE power at the freeway speeds! please help i am having a rough time with this.
Also, i am really sorry if this is all super confusing, this is my first time doing a write up of a question like this, and i am simply trying to be as thorough and informative of the problem as i can possibly be. ANY help would be super appreciated.

Garvey89

95preludef23

Sorry i should have mentioned that in the original post, it is a 5 speed manual transmission, and i believe the ecu is stock, is Non-Vtec, it is not bogging down or backfiring, and it doesn't lose power more, it feels more like a hesitation. I can hear the car pulling in more air when i step on the gas but not accelerating. No it is not over heating, and currently 0 sensors are hard wired, i did disconnect the o2 sensor i had hard wired in and it hasn't thrown a code for it, and it seems to be working perfectly fine as if there was an o2 sensor being read. no carbon or anything like that

Garvey89

TimiK

95preludef23

Thank you guys for the quick responses, I will try these most likely tomorrow morning and get back to you and let you know how it goes i appreciate the help a lot

95preludef23

Thank you guys for the help, i found the problem was my exhaust manifold gasket had a very large leak. Once i replaced that the horsepower did pick up a lot again. however i do still feel like i'm missing some power, could it possibly be my distributor? I think that it might be the wrong one for my car. would that possibly throw the 15 code? and would it run better with the correct distributor if it was the wrong one?