bad acceleration on '01 Civic

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dman - 11 Nov 2006 20:22 GMT

I've had my '01 Civic EX for about a couple of years now. I've been
maintaining it well (regular oil changes, timely servicing, etc).
Recently, the acceleration on my car really sucks. I see older Civics,
Corollas and Sentras zoom past me when the traffic light turns green! I
was planning on getting a tune-up, but I read somewhere thats tune-ups
are waste for newer fuel-injected engines. My question is what can be
done to get some improvement in the pick up? Thanks is advance for your
response.

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Joe LaVigne - 11 Nov 2006 23:23 GMT

> I've had my '01 Civic EX for about a couple of years now. I've been
> maintaining it well (regular oil changes, timely servicing, etc).
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> done to get some improvement in the pick up? Thanks is advance for your
> response.

You need a tune-up.

Get new plugs and wires, and if you are near 90,000 miles, replace the
timing belt and water pump.

"Tune-ups" are not the same anymore, but service is still required. You
could also have a problem with your coil pack or your computer itself.

If you are not so handy with cars, take it to a trusted mechanic and tell
them the symptoms. They should be able to nail it down for you pretty
quick.

Joe

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TE Chea - 12 Nov 2006 17:11 GMT

| > what can be done to get some improvement in the pick up?

In 6-02 I saw a new Civic vtec 1.6 with very short * : a waste of vtec
( no way is torque / mpg esp @ high rpm maximised ).
www.turborick.com/gsxr1127/gasoline.html para 10.2(1) indicates
how bad a civic's * is. Many car makers ( incl Nissan in Sunny 130Y
, Hyundai in Sonata 2.4, Proton in Waja 1.8 ) save on *, because 99.9
% buyers have no chance to test drive on highways, or know /
experienced a difference between short & long branch *.
Honda fits only short branch ( 4 into 1 pipe ), cheap & heavy cast
iron * for its engines <2.2 litre
www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/auto/jsp/mws/catimgs/13sm40_d08.gif
, even a F22A's *'s twin pipes are short.
www.autozone.com/images/cds/gif/large/0900823d800cf8b3.gif bottom
Results are [i] lower though adequate torque @ low rpm ( as during
buyers' test drives ), but very low ( <½ as much ) torque & mpg @
high ( >3000 ) rpm : inadequacy increases with rpm. [ii] on highway
when >3000 rpm is needed, user cannot change gear from neutral to
drive w-o a jerk ; crank shaft etc. cannot spin fast enough from idle to

>3000 rpm [iii] cooling is worse. This is why expensive cars have

long branch *. http://circletrack.com/techarticles/73598
My local-made 4-2-1 * [i] uses aluminised mild steel [ii] is 13 kg
< original * [iii] has longer twin pipes than a F22A's * [iv] twin
pipes' interiors' total cross section area is 60% > original * ( single
pipe )'s.

Many ways to chk engine's efficiency, e.g. chk compression.
www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/0c/f3/e5
/0900823d800cf3e5.jsp

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motsco_ - 12 Nov 2006 00:42 GMT

------------------------------------

Run a can of fuel injector cleaner through the gas tank twice a year,
for starters. Using Gasohol from time to time will sometimes accomplish
the same thing.

'Curly'

'Curly'

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Jeff - 12 Nov 2006 03:03 GMT

definitely change the spark plugs. honda recommends NGK spark plugs or
Nippon Densa. Also you should upgrade your spark plug wires to Accel plug
wires which are high performance but are durable enough for everyday use. do
those things and you will no longer complain about acceleration.

-jeff

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