Sedona

Lacking power may be a little misnomer because it does work fine around town. I just recently got a 2001 Corolla which by wieght and horsepower is comparable, but runs circles around the civic on anything highway. The civic struggles to maintain 70+ on straightaways and hills forget it. No wierd idles and no check engine codes. I would like to think it is not that lethargic of a performer if it is working properly. I did a day on the PA turnpike and most of the day was virtually floored and feathering between overdrive on/off for the hills. At no point got above low 80s. The corolla was going that fast with a nudge of the pedal. Is there a fixable thing? Head was done at 160K and it has 175k now.

FRSam

How do the spark plugs and air filter look?

How much oil is each car burning?

Sedona

The corolla is only 50k miles old, no leaks or smells. The civic is 175k but no smells. It was leaking a bit from the stupid camshaft plug but I fixed that. Air filter is only a couple months old, PCV and lines are new. Plugs were mint as of a couple months ago, timing belt was done last year with the head gasket. No misfire codes.

BrotatoChip

You do have the non-VTEC D17a1, shouldn't have issues going 80 mph though. What trim level is your Civic? Auto or manual trans? Maybe you have a brake dragging?

Colin42

Exhaust restriction/cat clogged?

Sedona

Its a VP 4spd automatic, non Vtec. I had the EGR valve off and cleaned it a couple months back when i put in the camshaft plug seal. It was fairly coked up, is it a symptom of the intake manifold egr runners being plugged?

Colin42

If you didn't clean the intake EGR passages when you did the valve you definitely need to do them

Sedona

What a pain getting the bottom bolts off, but yes the egr channels were plugged. Still not as torquie as my corolla but feels more 'normal' than it was.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

glad to hear it improved!
in the mountains between Nashville and Chattanooga, if i ever pushed the throttle, my previous 01 LX auto would get into 2nd or 4rd and never shift up, the D17A1 is not really torquey... A friend had a 01 Corolla, it was not that different other than that the seats sucked...
there might be some other factors in your lack of torque, though, I did not thought there were much in between the civic and corolla at that time.
The D17A1 runs 4 valves all the time, while the D17A2 (EX model) runs 3 valves at lower loads and 4 valves in higher loads, so it have more torque low RPM and more power high RPM.

both engines are still econobox, though...

bachands

I have an '05 Civic EX that has been very well maintained. I recently replaced the head gasket and installed new spark plugs at the same time.

This car was under-powered before the work was done, and it still is after. I thought maybe there was an exhaust restriction since i had the downpipe disconnected for quite some time while doing the head gasket. Maybe something got in there?

So I bought an exhuast back-pressure tester. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Not even 1/2 psi on the gauge. The exhaust is free flowing as can be.

I've decided that although these Civics are clean (mine is at least), comfortable, and well put together, they just don't have any power. You really have to push the engine every time you want to get the car going. My old '98 Saturn SL2 was more fun to drive than this thing.

But hey, the mileage is awesome, it always starts, it doesn't burn oil, all power options work, etc etc. Can't really complain too much

Colin42

I put an EX manual trans in my LX and that helped with passing/acceleration

Sedona

Ive had a 92 tercel 1.5L (90hp), 94 escort 1.9L (90hp) , Corollas of a couple years 1.8L (120hp or so) and the 04 civic 1.7L. All automatics. Pretty comparable cars by wieght and displacement. 4 spd trans in the corollas and civic. The surprising thing was how the 1.5L and 1.9L both performed in the same ballpark. The Tercel oddly enough was almost as fast as the Corolla setup with a basic 3 speed. Had that thing to 110mph a couple times and worst mileage was 28mpg being a leadfoot. The 1.9L was the biggest lag at highway of the set, but worked well enough. All of them drop some mpg above 65mph, but the 01 corolla seems the least affected, getting solid 35 mpg above 75mph. With the ports cleaned now, the civic 1.7L is back up to similar mpg, and can do much better at 70+ than it was. To the point now that it doesn't feel laggy.
Comapratively, my 05 liberty with a 3.7L (210hp) will bury the speedometer with no effort and live at highway speed overdrive at 2000 rpm. If only it had the same mpg while doing so...

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

I remember the first time I did a head gasket change in my 2002 civic, those EGR ports and channels were completely caked with nasty black EGR nastiness. I let the stripped head soak overnight in a concoction that was like.. brake cleaner and Marvel's mystery oil and some other crap, then took some aerosol spray brake cleaner and rags to get all that crud off.
needless to say, I got that head sparkly clean before I put it all back together.

FRSam

There is about a 500lb difference between the Tercel and the Corolla. That is substantial difference when it comes to acceleration, plus I suspect the Tercel was geared pretty high comparatively which would lend well to acceleration.

The 0-60 for the civic is a full second slower than the corolla and the quarter mile is about a 3/4 second difference. Not taking into account the 125k mile difference, the corolla is already a fair bit quicker. I'll assume you have the coupe because the sedan is also a fair bit heavier than the Corolla, which slows down the acceleration even more.

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

Wasn't the Tercel originally marketed as a smaller, half-assed "sportier" version of the corolla back in the day?

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

tercel, escort are from a time that the safety requirements were laxer. Also, the 7th gen civic got a lot bigger and heavier than the 6th gen cars too, same for corolla.
my 95 miata is a whole lot lighter and fun to drive than my 01 civic. and pulls much better (leaving the RWD part aside).

Imagine a very fat bird trying to fly...

Sedona

Indeed, the lightness of the tercel was a bonus, though smaller engine. For a while I had a 07 cobalt(all of these were 4 door) and the thing was heaavy. Still had comparable performance, though it took an extra 20hp to do it. Fortunately when hun was rear ended by a 2018 cherrokee that shoved a full 70 ft down the road it was the Cobalt. As much as I like a lightweight car, doubtful they would have survived as well. The impact pushed the back bumper almost halfway through the back seat and collapsed the driver seat.

BrotatoChip

I just want to note that the 4 speed auto gearing is quite long. It will do 80-85 in second gear whereas second in the EX 5 speed manual will only get you to 62 MPH. Short gearing helps a lot with acceleration.