Problem:
When I am accelerating in any gear my car will take extra long to get over 2500 rpms, the higher the gear the longer it takes. But I have had it take longer in lower gears that in a higher one.
Background:
The first time I noticed the problem I was driving on the freeway and when I was accelerating I noticed my car wouldn’t go over 55mph. I didn’t think to look at the rpms so i thought it was something entirely different. (Pretty sure it was) A few days later my car engine dies going 35 on the street. I take it to a mechanic and he replaced the spark plugs for 500$? anyway I didn’t notice at first but my car would take absurdly long to get over 2500 rpms in gears 4 and 5. even when i floor it it takes up to 10 seconds. Before 2500 rpms it accelerates slower than a new car but not slow enough to get people honking and swerving around you. And after 2500 rpms when I get sick of it, its super fast, makes a high pitched whirring noise, but I think that’s the v-tec.
I looked everywhere for any car not just a Honda civic to see if they had the same problem. I couldn’t find anything even closely related.
Also the car probably also took long to get over 2500 rpms before I took it to the mechanic but lately its really bad, I was a while ago I got the spark plugs to I’m not sure what could be wrong, and if there is a way to repair it.
The only mods I have seen on the car is the thing at the back of the exhaust is not there. I think it just makes the engine sound louder but correct me if I am wrong. It’s not open heads its just the large oval thing at the very end of the exhaust.
lmk if you need anymore info, probably check this later tonight and tmmr, thanks.
Small displacement engines don’t produce much power below 2500 rpms. I usually keep the engine speed between 2500 and 4000 rpms while accelerating briskly. If you had an automatic transmission, this would be the normal engine operating speeds while accelerating.
When was the last time you replaced the air filter? If it’s been a while, pull it and look at it. Post a picture here if you like a lack of air can cause power problems.
Also, if the spark plugs smelled of fuel that indicates low air flow.
EDITED it was late… oops lol
It should be correct now…
OK, so the higher the rpm the more demanding the fuel and air become for the engine to accelerate… So if it runs like a dog at lower rpms, and runs great at higher rpms, then it sounds more like the camshaft is to far retarded, maybe a tooth off, IIRC, one tooth equals 14*… Think of it like you breathing through a straw, you can do it, but now try to run fast breathing through the same straw, can’t do it or way harder one, same with restricted air and fuel flow… I don’t think it would be a VVT issue cause IIRC it is normally in a advance state and only retards at much higher rpms, on yours maybe even 4K or above… Unless the VVT is stuck in the retarded mode somehow… I know that the more retarded the camshaft timing is the less low end power you get and the more top end power you get… opposite for advancing the cam…
Retarding usually gains top end power were advancing it gains bottom end power.
Is the CEL on? I think your vehicle has OBD2, have the codes read and post back.
My opinion, do not use that shop again. Even with inflation, spark plugs should have been under $200.
