Got my head gasket changed out. But now when I accelerate its struggling to Gain power. Could something that wasn’t possibly placed back properly affect my acceleration?
Absolutely. Bring it back and let them correct their work. Or tell you what he bad headgasket affected that prevents them from giving you your power back.
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+1 to mountainbike’s advice but I would like to add that some additional information from the OP might help us to help him/her:
What symptoms caused the OP to bring the car to the mechanic in the first place?
Was overheating of the engine one of those symptoms?
Was the motor oil contaminated with coolant? (It would have looked like a chocolate milkshake if that had been the case.)
If the answer to either or both of those questions is “yes”…How long did it take the OP to bring the car in for repair?
Were any other repairs done (or, at least recommended) by the mechanic?
Even though it will be necessary to take the car back to the mechanic, answers to these questions will enable us to give the OP some possible scenarios and/or to assess the skill and honesty of his/her mechanic.
Antifreeze disappearing
Codes for misfire in cilynder 1 through 3 and random misfire on with engine check
Overheating
Car was taken to repair as soon as light showed up.
It was repaired.
Cracked exhaust manifold was changed out.
Stock intake was changed out for a cold air Intake.
But the car was already having trouble accelerating before the intake change out.
Oh-oh. Another victim of an oiled filter and/or questionable CAI design.
The induction system air intake is measured by a Mass Airflow sensor. This sensor “samples” the air coming in. The signal sent to the ECU is actually factored to calculate the total airflow. The problem is that the area of the induction system that the MAF goes into in the CAI plumbing is different from the area that the OEM system uses. That can man throw the sample reading off substantially, to where the ECU is now getting a signal that no longer accurately represents the total amount of air flowing in.
If you also have an oiled air filter, the oil can deposit residue on the MAF that further complicates the problem and can kill the MAF. In addition, it can get drawn into the engine, burned, and coat the upstream oxygen sensor, throwing the reading to the ECU off. It can also coat the platinum-palladium coating on the converter’s internal honeycomb, destroying the ability of the coating to separate nitrogen-oxides (NOx) to nitrogen and oxygen… poisoning the converter. The NOx molecules MUST be able to come in contact with the hot catalyst. The oil residue coating can prevent that from happening.
My suggestion with this new information: get rid of that CAI system. Replace the parts with the OEM parts. Then hope your MAF sensor, upstream oxygen sensor, and cat converter aren’t destroyed yet.
In future, be very, very careful with aftermarket parts that you understand exactly what they do and how they do it before changing a system.
Oh, I almost forgot, the fact that the problem existed before the headgasket replacement suggests that it is not the cause.
I would agree to going back to stock intake, atleast until you find out the issue
Were there any codes before the gasket issue?
My civic (2004) was getting an oxygen sensor code, so replaced that, then found
that these 1.7L engines get carbon in the intake manifold, but actually more under
the manifold going into the head that must get cleaned out at near a 100k or before
depending on how you drive. (not sure if it happens on other years). But as soon
as I took the IM off and cleaned it out well, put it back and everything went back
to normal.
There is a site, if you haven’t been to it yet, www.civicforums.com that have guys
that are extremely helpful. They will help you over there every step of the way and
know civics so well. (Not saying this site isn’t great too.) Goodluck
I would think incorrect valve timing would cause this.
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Take the car back to the shop so they can inspect the cam timing. Don’t assume an aftermarket air filter is causing failures, if that were common no aftermarket filters would be sold.
I think it might just be a vacuum leak. But I did inspect it myself and saw a minor oil leak through the head cylinder cover gasket area. I’m taking it back. Tomorrow. Then I’ll let y’all know of what it is. Thanks!
Actually, Nevada, there are a lot of problems with these systems. There are tons of badly engineered products being sold every single day. For a good example, read the article on aftermarket turbochargers in the December issue of Hot Rod magazine. It’s downright scary.
The CAI system is not just an aftermarket filter. It completely changes the induction system, and it often doesn’t work well.