Hi there,
I've got a 98 Acura 1.6 EL and have suddenly noticed that the car is sluggish accelerating from a stop. I actually don't drive *that* much and after 9 years, the car only has 60,000km on it (I drive it to the subway station and finish my commute that way - I hate downtown traffic lol).
Anyways, once *in* gear, the car runs smoothly, but even if I floor it from a stop, the RPMs won't seem to go higher than 3000, and I remember that dial going crazy before, with quite a bit of pep. Now the car just doesn't want to go above 3000 rpms, no matter how hard I press on the gas pedal. I should also mention that this problem is sporadic - sporadic meaning it happens 80% of the time and doesn't happen 20% of the time.
Two weeks ago, I flushed my tranny fluid, thinking that would do it - same problem.
Last week, I replaced all 4 spark plugs, air and fuel filters, distributor cap/rotor and it did seem to help a bit, but for the most part, the problem is still there - the acceleration isn't what it used to be.
I asked the dealer if it could be a tranny problem (which they say they looked at by giving it a test drive), but they said that if it were a tranny problem, I'd *know* it was a tranny problem (not sure what that means). They didn't even bring up my timing belt, besides mentioning that I should probably replace it this winter, as Acura recommends it be replaced at about 60, 000km (which is where I'm at now). But I'd hate to replace the timing belt and still find that the problem exists.
Besides the timing belt, what else could be causing the problem? Like I mentioned, what sticks out in my mind is that the car just doesn't like to go above 3000rpms anymore, no matter how far down I press the gas pedal.
I might be imagining things now, but, it also seems like when I slow down, say from 40 km/hr to about 20km/hr or less, the car seems to jerk just a bit, nothing *very* noticeable, but slightly noticeable to me - don't remember that happening before.
By the way, is "engine breaking" bad for the transmission - ie. if I realize that I'm going to have to stop down the road, and instead of engaging the breaks, I just let my foot of the gas and let the car decelerate on its own, am I damaing the tranny at all? I wouldn't think so, but just curious.
Anyone have any other ideas of what sorts of things I should be looking at or observing while I'm accelerating that might help narrow down the problem? ie. how would I know what gear the car is currently in by rpm/speed? Can i be missing a gear? Can the tranny be slipping past a gear?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,