civivy

Hey everyone, I've never been mechanically inclined and I've never owned a car for that matter. So I need some help with my 1999 Honda Civic DX coupe that I recently bought.

Just a little background before the questions...
The Civic has some sort of aftermarket exhaust. It's really loud and it's about twice the diameter of a regular exhaust. It gets really really loud on the highway, but otherwise sounds pretty good. My civic has 112k on it and when I turn it on everything seems to work fine. (Park, Reverse, Drive, Neutral, etc). There is no check engine light.

Now here are my concerns. Sometimes when I'm on the highway (more times than not) I'm trying to accelerate to 60 to get on and I'm revving the engine but it seems nothing is happening for a little before it starts going. I'm going up hill, is this normal? Could it be related to the exhaust? This car doesn't have a RPM thingy so I don't know the RPM. But the engine seems to be working with no increase (initially) of speed. How can I fix this? Or is this normal for all Civics?

If I take off the exhaust will the car be quieter, better? Or is there no reason to take it off? Finally, the above problem I described sometimes happens when I'm going from around 20mph higher.

NOTE: I drive very 'softly' and I don't usually try to push down on the pedel hard. Is that something I should be doing on a Civic? I usually drive other people's cars like a Nissan Pathfinder SUV. Should I be pushing down hard on the pedel for a Civic? Anyone have the same issue?

Thank you everyone!

Zeferint

iTrader: (2)

When you go to accelerate an automatic it takes a second for the transmission to switch gears. As far as the exhaust if the noise bothers you just swap it for stock you can get all the parts at NAPA for ~$150. If you can find out what kind of exhaust it is (the brand name is always on the muffler tip if it's anything decent) I would sell it for around 30% of the MSRP assuming it's still in great condition. All aftermarket exhausts are for civics are just a sound modification...nothing more. If you think the sound is cool then just leave it.

Also people beat the **** out of their civics (including me) and the only thing I've had to do to it is maintenance related stuff. As long as you don't rev to redline in neutral and drop it in drive civics will pretty much take any kind of abuse you throw at them. Just know that when you do put the pedal down it will probably be the slowest car you will ever drive in your life.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

or drive another civic same year and model, stock engine and see if it's different...

Stock 99

LOL, I've never understood why you would want to light up a FWD let alone in an automatic. I guess you get what you deserve in that senerio.

@civivy

You should try driving that car in a standard transmission with a tachometer if you can. You'll find it's an entirely different car.

just my own 02 cents, I heard a civic si with an aftermarket exhaust today. It sounded like it was dying ( it wasn't but that's what it sounded like to me)

Zeferint

iTrader: (2)

Gotta warm up those drag radials, yo!