I have a 93 Geo Prizm. It's a 5 speed manual with a fuel injected four banger under the hood. It currently has just under 100 thousand miles. I've had it since about 40 thousand miles and it's been a good runner.
The car is obviously not built for power and acceleration, but lately it's been just terrilbe. When I accelerate, it's like the car starts to accelerate, but then it just feels like I'm reving with no xtra power. It feels a little like when you are trying to accelrate but you are in too high of a gear. I'm still in gear and the car never stalls or completely loses power, but this happens no matter what gear I'm in (no matter how low). Put another way, the car seems to accelerate normally to a certain point, then it feels like the gas I'm giving it is just being wasted, almost as if I was revining in idle.
It runs smoothly, and I can still go highway speeds, but it takes a long time to get there. Again, I realize that my little prizm isn't a speed demon, but right now I'm having a hard time just getting going. It's almost to the point where people are going to start honking at me because I take so long to get up to speed after a stop light.
I haven't been to a mechanic yet, but I was hoping someone here could give me an idea what my problem is. Fuel injection? Maybe it's simpler than I think...
I just changed the fuel filter, but no improvement.
Any help is appreciated!