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I was just having a talk with my co-worker when we were going home

He has a Prelude. He was saying how he bought it 2-3 years ago, it had 200hp, but now the engine's warn out and probably has about 175hp.

My response was : oh... well.. ok... that sucks.

Overtime, does your engine become weaker? I have never heard of this.

 
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i dont think its that simple. unless you treat ur car like trash, id say you wont be losing power just like that.

 
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i guess seals can become worn and u could lose compression....

 
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a car wont lose that much power in that short amount of time.
cars will gradually lose a little power over time depending on how well the car is maintained. but that lost power can usually come back with some restoration.

 
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Yes, it is called drivetrain lose.

 
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After many years... Its time for seafoam and a tune up! You'll get that power back.

 
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Um, most new cars take at least 20k to fully break in, so chances are the car will feel faster at that time. I guess over a long period, deposits on the engine can rob hp, but not that much. Use fuel injector cleaner and maintain it well. There shouldn't be any problems. Alot of civics here have 100k-200k and say it runs great.

 
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i think that is something else. that is the power that is lost between the engine and what gets put on the ground. caused by transmission, differential, etc.

 
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cars can gain power over time from deposits as well. carbon deposits can build up and actually slightly raise the compression in the engine giving more power. of course in the long long term this is bad because if the deposits continue to grow too much, you could unseat a piston ring or lose compression from valves, etc, not sealing right during the compression stroke.

so over a LONG period of time, yes cars will lose power. but not 25hp unless there is something seriously wrong. so your friend is high.

 
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Drivetrain loss is the powerloss between the engine and the wheels. There is a standard 15-18% drivetrain loss associated with FWD and RWD cars. AWD can be as much as 25% drivetrain loss from the crank to the wheels.

Examples:

Stock EX makes 127 at the flywheel according to honda, but dyno test it and its around 106-110 to the wheels. Thats roughly a 15% drivetrain loss in power.

A stock WRX makes 227hp at the flywheel, but dynos at roughly 170 awhp. About a 25% drivetrain loss in power.

 
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if you maintaince it well and properly, most vehicles perform better after coupe thousand miles.

my guess is that your prelude buddy treated his car like **** as if it were a beater.

 
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i know a bunch of mechanics around my area and i go to their shops once in a while and just bullshit around with them. this topic has come up a few times, and everytime the answer has been yes, the car will lose horsepower eventually. fortunately, this doesn't even start to really happen until around 80k-100k miles depending on how you drive, and then it's a very slow process. so really, you won't even feel anything different until probably around 150k (once again depending on how you drive) and then, in the end the max it will be is a 10hp loss. to lose 25hp, he would have to have seriously ****ed up that engine.

 
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well it could be anything wrong, my friend has a spec v and it seemed as if he lost like 50 hp, but then he looked at the engine bay and the stock header was damaged so he got new one under warranty and now its faster than ever. His car is 03 I think too. with like 10k miles

 
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They're fully broken in after you break them in on the dyno.

 
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A lot of it will be based on how well the car is maintained.....

But even not maintained that well power loss will be very low