Edit: Help me fix my Honda Civic! Cant reach maximum speed!

[MrDCBrown]

Hi Im new to these forums. I am not really a car person at all. I know some basics but I am novice at best. I have a 1996 Honda Civic EX and I am looking to get some extra performance out of it without completely breaking the bank. I dont want these upgrades to take my gas performance away. More horse power and more gas saved would be optimal. It seems like my car has a problem. My car has some difficulty accelerating once it gets past 55 MPH. Maybe this is normal for a 4 cylinder car I dont know but I really cant get past 80MPH petal to the metal on a road with no slope. The speedometer goes up tp 140 MPH so I wouldn't think 80MPH would be the maximum. On a Hill 55MPh-65MPH seems to be as fast as it wants to go and thats not even on a steep hill. Maybe that's just the reality of a 4 cylinder car I dont know.

 

I have been researching on things that you can do so I have done some things myself. So far I have seen a little extra performance but not much. I just put in new NGK Platinum Alloy Spark Plugs and the car has a new K&N life time air filter. What else can I do? Will a performance air intake give me any good gains? I was looking at this one: Link

 

Here are some pics of the car:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the help!

[DelSolSweetie]

cant see pics because i'm at work

 

but

 

you dont need to do ANY 'performance' modifications until you figure out whats wrong with the car.. i promise a 4 clylinder can go over 80 mph

 

 

1) what mpg are you averaging

2) do you have any check engine lights on

3) automatic?

[MrDCBrown]

cant see pics because i'm at work

 

but

 

you dont need to do ANY 'performance' modifications until you figure out whats wrong with the car.. i promise a 4 clylinder can go over 80 mph

 

 

1) what mpg are you averaging

2) do you have any check engine lights on

3) automatic?

 

1. I am getting a solid 30 MPG. Last time I calculated it it was like 31.4 or something like that.

2. No Lights are on

3. No it is actually a manual

 

Nothing seems wrong with it other than that. It may be able to go over 80MPH but not much and it definitely has problems getting to 80MPH. I haven't been able to test if it can go higher because I dont have a road where it is legal to go that fast. I went 80MPH in a 70MPH zone so I didnt want to try to go any faster but to get to 80 I had to gold the petal down all the way and it accelerated to 80 pretty slowly and once it got there it sort of groaned like it didnt want to go any faster. There are no weird noises that I have noticed that hint at any problems. Oil was changed recently...anything else I can check easily? I changed the spark plugs because I thought it might help but it didn't really.

 

PS I can upload to a different image hosting site if you can see it there.

[DelSolSweetie]

my work computers block most images.. i'll be able to see them when i get home

 

 

what other cars have you owned?

 

 

the rating for a 96 ex is 0-60 in 10.4 seconds

 

 

does that sound right or is it way slower?

[Xeryon]

Any stock civic since 1970 can easily attain 100 in reasonably short order and maintain it over most any hill a highway would have to offer. if your car isn't holding 65 on a modest hill there is something substantially wrong.

[MrDCBrown]

Any stock civic since 1970 can easily attain 100 in reasonably short order and maintain it over most any hill a highway would have to offer. if your car isn't holding 65 on a modest hill there is something substantially wrong.

 

Well that's disappointing? What could possibly be causing this? There is no check engine light and I don't hear any funny sounds. Brand new air filter and spark plugs. I havent owned the car very long and I am not sure what has been done to it in the past but nothing seems wrong with it. The odometer only reads 101,000 Miles. The only serivce record I have on it is that 2 months ago it was given a new starter.

[DelSolSweetie]

maybe a clogged cat conv.

 

or maybe lack of compression.. any smoking issue?

 

 

 

do you know why the valve cover was off? it's been stripped

[Xeryon]

I don't think it's been stripped. Most single cam 96-00's came with a bare aluminum vc.

 

As I was driving down the road I thought about the catalytic convertor being clogged as well It is a reasonably common issue. Any exhaust shop would be able to give you a free inspection. Sometimes you can tell just by looking at it. After a particularly long drive at a high rate of speed I have seen them glow when they are clogged.

[MrDCBrown]

I don't think it's been stripped. Most single cam 96-00's came with a bare aluminum vc.

 

As I was driving down the road I thought about the catalytic convertor being clogged as well It is a reasonably common issue. Any exhaust shop would be able to give you a free inspection. Sometimes you can tell just by looking at it. After a particularly long drive at a high rate of speed I have seen them glow when they are clogged.

 

The only other car I have ever owned was a 96 Jeep Cherokee. It had a lot more power but sucked the gas. I havent really tried to get 0-60 in a fast amount of time but I would say it might be possible for me to get to 60 ins 11-15 seconds. 10.4 might be doable. Its really when it gets to 60 when I start to notice a loss of power. I can have petal all the way down and the engine just doesn't even sound like it is trying.

 

And no no smoking issues.

 

I talked to one guy and he said to try and clean the mass air flow sensor but I dont think that sit because Im pretty sure that whole air filter setup was just put in.

 

Another guy said the Throttle Position Sensor may need calibrated but I asked another guy and he said if that was the problem my car would sound rough at idle and it does not.

[DelSolSweetie]

the MAP and TPS would both throw codes and make your car run horrible.. if you really want to check them just unplug them while your car is running and you'll see the difference