No power, no clues

[forq2]

Alright so I bought my 92 around late july early august last year. It had pretty good power (or so I assume for being a 2.3L). One day I drove it my 120 mile round trip to work and on the way back it started getting weak. I would loose 15-20 mph going up hills sometimes. Othertimes holding the throttle in the same position I would accel up the hill. The CEL would come on intermittenly.

Then it seemed pretty slow but my clutch was slipping as well.

It is now a few months later and I have a new clutch in it but I am getting horrible gas mileage (10 mpg) and still no power. No CEL and I have a hard time holding 65 mph. It seems like I am dragging a big trailer or something. There is no miss or anything. It just seems like someone replaced my 2.3L with a honda civic motor or something.

Any ideas where to start looking? I thought I read that engine codes only held on for 40 starts or something like that so they are long gone.

Thanks
Dan

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

i would start by attempting to retrieve those codes.

hows the smoke signals look? black soot on the inside of the tailpipe? any white, black, or blue smoke? how do the plugs look? are the fouled out? are they evenly worn? when was the last time you did a complete tune up?

 

[klogtruck]

conferter,( i think that's how u spell it) could be pluged

 

[Zer0PSI]

Just check for all of the simple things first, like, fouled plugs, smoke signals or soot, fuel filter, etc. And even though the CEL isn't on I would still try to retrieve the codes.

 

[pedal2themetal45]

conferter,( i think that's how u spell it) could be pluged

Its converter... but his is a stick as he replaced the clutch.. a converter is only on an automatic... Or did you mean the cat converter in the exhaust system.. then it could be??

yes I'd try and pull the codes the light just might be burned out... I have heard that sometimes if the light burns out it can cause some running probs...

Good luck
Tim

 

[silicon_ghost]

Alright so I bought my 92 around late july early august last year. It had pretty good power (or so I assume for being a 2.3L). One day I drove it my 120 mile round trip to work and on the way back it started getting weak. I would loose 15-20 mph going up hills sometimes. Othertimes holding the throttle in the same position I would accel up the hill. The CEL would come on intermittenly.

Then it seemed pretty slow but my clutch was slipping as well.

It is now a few months later and I have a new clutch in it but I am getting horrible gas mileage (10 mpg) and still no power. No CEL and I have a hard time holding 65 mph. It seems like I am dragging a big trailer or something. There is no miss or anything. It just seems like someone replaced my 2.3L with a honda civic motor or something.

Any ideas where to start looking? I thought I read that engine codes only held on for 40 starts or something like that so they are long gone.

Thanks
Dan

now if someone replaced your motor with a honda motor, you wouldnt be on here complaining of problems. i really hate when people rip on honda's or imports for that matter. have you ever looked into the tests honda has done on their motors? they actually drained all the oil out and ran milk and all sorts of other fluids in there and didn't have any problems. on one forum i frequent, a guy posted about a dealership forgot to put oil in a honda car and the guy drove it for 4 days before it finally blew. pretty impressive if you ask me. sorry for the rant.

 

[zamos]

Check for a dragging brake shoe - maybe one of the spring retainers popped or broke - will your truck free wheel down a hill - P.S. I hate Honda's and Toyota's also - KEEP YOUR MONEY IN THE USA IF AT ALL POSSIBLE !!!

 

[silicon_ghost]

i will NOT go back to an american car. i'm sorry but they just don't make them like they used to. i love the reliability of my honda. i bought my ranger to drive during the winter so my beloved honda doesn't have to deal with the salt and everything else that comes with winter. its pretty bad when ford or any other american car maker has to add glamor to their cars just to sell them. and whats with all the plastic crap in the engine bays??

 

[zamos]

I guess you have never looked under the hood of a Acura/Lexus/Infinity as the bell and whistles that sell these piles of garbage will make your head spin - a friend of mine has a 2004 Toyota Tundra with the V-8 and the starter went up on it - The dealership wanted $2000.00+ to install - so keep your Honda out of the salt - if you dont the body wouldn't last past the warranty period ! All my brothers are body & fender men along with my Father and when they tell me what piles of crap they really are I tend to believe them - and regaurding the Honda engine test you refer to - you could do that with any engine - you just have to keep the rotating assemblies cool - I've seen the same bullcrap done to a early 70' dodge slant 6 - so there you go ! Take a drive by your local import dealership - thier service bays are full also ! So when your saluting the rising sun dont blame me as I will ALWAYS bleed RED, WHITE and BLUE !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[silicon_ghost]

oh, i bleed red, white, and blue also. i believe a lot of stuff should be made in the USA. but when it comes to my money and when i want reliability, i will stick to honda. and about the starter in the toyota, it would be just as bad in any other car. thats why you dont go to the dealership. and by the way, my car is a 93 and the body is mint. its been driven in numerous winters. got pics to prove it if you don't believe me. i got front, side, back. lmk.

 

[zamos]

Your wrong again - my Father in law just had the starter replaced in his 2000 Chysler 300 and it was $700.00 at the dealership ( still high ) but not $2000.00 . I dont need to see pictures of your car , but the next time your driving down the road -make a mental note of the oldest car or truck that you see still gettin' it down the road and it WONT be your beloved Honda or even a Toyota !!!!

 

[forq2]

Hondas are crap, my 78 F150 was put through more crap than a Tundra could dream of and it had 2 less cylinders...back to the focus of the post...

So it was rolling down a hill fine but now my parking brake is locked so I have to get that fixed. This happened before but I thought I had it remedied but it might not have been. As far as smoke, its been really cold out so as far as I can really say the exhaust is normal. Before I replaced the clutch and it was lacking power the exhaust was fine but now you can see it more because of the cold outside.

It could be something like a cat being clogged. But I would think I would see extremely reduced exhaust flow and at idle it looks normal.

I will attempt to pull codes to see. I have only owned the truck since July and put maybe 3-4K on it at most and I believe much less since I have a car to drive when I am not hauling stuff. So I havent done a tune up on it yet and have heard horror stories about replacing spark plugs (my buddy stripped his head out, then he found the previous owner had cracked the head anyway).

 

[zamos]

Glad we are on the same page - definitely check the back brakes and change your plugs and wires - they aren't that bad to change I use a long extension with a spark plug socket - make sure it has the rubber inside to hold the plug and take your time.And just think if silicon ghost babies his 93' Honda for 10 more yrs he can get antique tags for it ! LOL

 

[silicon_ghost]

man, i was just going to let your nonsense go. i take it you are the type of person that goes by what people say and not your own experience. i have owned 3 american cars and one import. and the import won me over. sorry and about me taking note of the oldest car or truck on the road, should i also check to see how many of those if not all have been rebuilt or have a completely different motor? now when i see hondas driving around with 300,000+ miles on them and still sounding as strong as when it had 100,000, than i am impressed. i know of someone that had a honda CRX with 400,000+ miles on it and the damn thing could still squawk the tires! maybe you should look into hondas a little bit more before you start knocking them! they dont call the motors "bulletproof" for nothing.

and why is it that all these american car companies are laying most of its workers off? probably because like i said in my previous post, they just dont make cars like they used to.

 

[zamos]

Ghost take a walk around a junkyard and then tell me how "bulletproof" Honda's are - My brother has a 76 Ford 300 inline six with a million miles on it an has never been rebuilt - You'll probably buy a chinese car when they hit the market because your the one that believes everything you read out of the japanese owned media mags like MOTORTREND , CAR & DRIVER - I speak from experience as I have worked on cars since I was 13 and am now 44 - By the way my friend tom was a service manager at a local Honda dealership and Hondas are notorious for thier junk transmissions also not reported in the media is one of the largest recalls in automotive history - when honda recalled early 80's accords as they were rusting apart prematurely - Try to find one ! And the reason American car companies are laying of its workers is because people like you that believe every piece of garbage you read out of these japanese owned magazines - you can't think for yourself - you probably take your Honda to be serviced everytime it needs a tune-up and you never did that with your Amercan car - Another side note 0- Did you know that After WE WON WWII the japanese vowed that if they couldn't beat us militarily they would beat us economicly so WAKE UP or start loving rice ! Oh and the reason they rebuild their American cars is because they can and they are worth it ! I didn't see a single Honda or Toyota at Barrett - Jackson !