I can launch the car alright, most my problems lie in the high end and acceleration. For example when I'm on the highway just cruising along and push the gas completely to accelerate it will just rev up as if in neutral. It feels like nothing is grabbing at all. This happens in almost every gear. I have to barely push the gas and slowly accelerate if I want to speed up. I also feel like gear changes used to be very sharp. Now it feels very like it takes a while to grab good. The engine and tranny now have around 85,000 miles on them with original clutch. Is this a sign my clutch is about to die?

Brian

 

When was the last time you did a valve adjustment? Might help with your acceleration problemo.

 

I've never done one before. What exactly does that do? Are you sure its a related issue?

 

could be a clutch problem. is ur car stock?

 

Valve lash will not cause the car to not grab if you're in gear. Valve lash will either make too much noise or cause the valve to not be seated if the lash is too tight.

OP, it does sounded like a clutch problem.

 

WTF?

 

Do you guys think replacing the clutch is the only way to fix this?

 

The clutch is likely the problem. If it were an issue with the cylinders or fluid it would more than likely be a problem of the clutch sticking when the peal is depressed & shifting would become more notchy as things got worse.

The only things that I can think that would be related to your problem but NOT be the clutch itself would be:

1) If the master cylinder actuator/pedal was completely out of adjustment and forcing the clutch to sit slightly off of the flywheel while in gear.

2) If the slave cylinder actuator was bound up and forcing the clutch to sit slightly off of the flywheel while in gear.

In any event, with the amount of miles you have on your car now, it wouldn't hurt to just go ahead and replace both cylinders and completely bleed the hydraulic circuit to eliminate those two possibilities. Don't forget to grease the actuators as instructed in the service manual. The parts are cheap and you'll want to do this anyway if you do need to replace the clutch.

Or you can try to change your left turn signal relay. The SH has a special left relay that adds 15 horsepower over a base Prelude but it's pretty much negated by the right side signal relay which is about 16 horsepower less that a base model. It works out to be a wash....