My 94 1.5 has been having problems for a while... Lose of power overall but especially hill. The best I can do most times is hold 40 in second
We did some research and replaced the spark plugs, cleaned the intake,.changed the oil,.replaced valve cover gasket, cap and rotor and ran sea foam through the engine and gas tank. All this work has helped but it's still severely struggling up hill... It's great on flat ground though.
The ideas we have for our next move is replace fuel filter and maybe distributor.
Does anyone have any advice? Has this happened to anyone else?

 

How many miles on it? Have a compression test done.

 

Have you checked and adjusted the ignition timing to spec?

 

I know it's low on compression but it has been for about eight months. This is a new problem. We advanced the timing by moving the cap

 

135xxx miles

 

Adjust the timing so that the pointer aligns with the red mark on the crank pulley. This is done with the service connector jumped. See FAQs sticky.

 

Does anyone know if a thermal idle valve could be an issue?

 

Super,

How low is your compression? Just four numbers and that information would let the forum see your problem.

My GUESS is for bent E valves causing crappy compression. Then guessing is not how to diagnose a car.