# 1999 Honda City 1.5 EX (Asian market vehicle) doesn't kick down when pressing throttle at low speeds **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** civic, honda\ **Created:** [May 4, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-honda-city-1-5-ex-asian-market-vehicle-doesnt-kick-down-when-pressing-throttle-at-low-speeds/79099 "2013-05-04T05:23:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![greves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e99b99/32.png) [@greves](https://community.cartalk.com/u/greves)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-honda-city-1-5-ex-asian-market-vehicle-doesnt-kick-down-when-pressing-throttle-at-low-speeds/79099/1 "2013-05-04T05:23:56Z")
I’ve tagged this as a Civic but it’s a [1999 Honda City](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_City#Third_generation) 1.5 EX. Normally this car would shift to 2nd at 20km/hr and 3rd at 40. But if I hit 40+ and it shifts into third, then coast for a while and let the speed drop to below 40 (say 35), when I push the throttle now the car doesn’t kick down and it feels like it has almost no power even if I push the throttle to the floor. The feeling of no power lasts for about 2 or 3 seconds, and then the car downshifts automatically and the RPMs shoot up. Quite dangerous trying to move around quickly in Asian city traffic. I adjusted the kickdown cable to make it stiffer, but now the same problem happens at a higher speed and shifting at a higher RPM. Any ideas? Thanks… ---
**Author:** ![shanonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@shanonia](https://community.cartalk.com/u/shanonia)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1999-honda-city-1-5-ex-asian-market-vehicle-doesnt-kick-down-when-pressing-throttle-at-low-speeds/79099/2 "2013-05-05T01:34:39Z")
Maybe the throttle plate is sticking to built-up carbon. I cleaned out a lot of carbon on my 1999 Civic recently when it sometimes hesitated upon pushing the gas pedal. Mine is a manual trans. The problem seems to be fixed.