# 1998 Honda Civic LX looses power while I drive

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-honda-civic-lx-looses-power-while-i-drive/88596>\
**Category:** Power/Fuel\
**Tags:** hesitation, gasoline\
**Created:** [January 7, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-honda-civic-lx-looses-power-while-i-drive/88596 "2015-01-07T22:54:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mikijohnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mikijohnson](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mikijohnson)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-honda-civic-lx-looses-power-while-i-drive/88596/1 "2015-01-07T22:54:26Z")

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I have a 1998 Honda Civic LX that was converted from automatic to 5 speed. It hesitates while I drive, only sometimes. Normally it does it when I am pulling off from a stopped position or when turning the corner and then accelerating. I will have my foot on the gas, but it won’t gain speed unless I hold in the clutch and rev up the engine then it will pick up speed and go fine. Then sometimes it also hiccups while driving without accelerating, I can feel the car jerk a few times and start to loose power. I will need to down shift to third, or most often 2nd gear and rev it again to gain power and to pick back up speed. Things done to it since i bought it only a few months ago by the person (who is a mechanic) I bought it from: oil change, fuel filter changed, Lucas gas treatment added (by me), new exhaust system installed, starter replaced. I am nervous that it may be rear-ended, or t-boned in heavy traffic. Should i have the fuel filter checked? is that expensive? HELP

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**Author:** ![knfenimore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9fc348/32.png) [@knfenimore](https://community.cartalk.com/u/knfenimore)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 3:33am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-honda-civic-lx-looses-power-while-i-drive/88596/2 "2015-01-08T03:33:35Z")

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I would have the fuel pressure checked. Fuel pumps can be intermittent.

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**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 4:34am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-honda-civic-lx-looses-power-while-i-drive/88596/3 "2015-01-08T04:34:55Z")

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When the transmission was swapped, was the ECM also swapped?

I don’t know if this applies to a '98 Civic, but some makes and models utilize a different ECM for auto trans models and manual trans models. If you have the wrong ECM, it is possible that this is causing drivability problems.

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**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 4:38am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1998-honda-civic-lx-looses-power-while-i-drive/88596/4 "2015-01-08T04:38:51Z")

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+1 to VDC’s post.