Hey guys
Long post, but I want to be detailed with this…
Last week the water pump failed on my 1992 LS with 195k. The PO said they did the timing belt at 185k (which looked pretty new when i took it off), but they may have cheaped out on the water pump or something. It overheated a little bit, but never hit the red before I shut it down. Luckily I wasn’t far from home… Anyway, I did my timing belt service, fresh components all around, car starts without hesitation and the test drive goes great.
Not feeling comfortable to rev it out right after doing the service (in case something was off), after a day I start driving like normal and take the highway again. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but I feel like the engine just isn’t as…peppy. Like, accelerating to 60 takes a little longer than I remember. The car still has no trouble at all idling or climbing the rev range, it just kinda reminds me of my old Civic, when I remember it feeling remarkably quicker before the failure/service. This is the first B series I’ve ever owned; all of my past cars have been single cam.
Is it possible that I set the tensioner too tight, would that cause any power loss at all? There are no whining noises coming from the belt side of the motor when I rev it.
I pulled the valve cover the other day, and with the crank at TDC my cams still look great, so it didn’t jump a tooth.
Is it possibly ignition timing? Maybe I should rotate my distributor a bit and see if it helps? The engine does sound a little more “growling” under heavier load than I remember, which I’ve heard before with client cars that needed ignition timing adjustment.
My worst fear is that the overheat caused some kind of compression loss, either with the head gasket or rings. Maybe I’ll try to find a leakdown tool to borrow…
I’m going to investigate more when I get home after the weekend, but I want to hear your guys’ input, what else I could look into.
Maybe I’m just paranoid… I just really love my Integra, it’s the first one I’ve ever owned and it’s a sheer joy to cruise in.
Thanks so much for the help, guys. G2iC has been a huge source of info for me since I bought the car in February.
Here are a couple pics, just because.
It was in VERY rough shape when I got it. I’m pretty sure it sat under some pine trees for a few seasons straight because the entire engine bay and inside of the fender wells were stuffed with needles and cones. I mean STUFFED.
The best part is that it’s fully stock, minus the stereo system (which it currently lacks) and the rims (looks like Rotas, but no trademarks. Maybe Drags?). I have no plans for it except to keep it well maintained and fully enjoy driving it every single day.
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Hmm, that’s odd. My first thought was that the timing belt skipped a tooth but you checked that already. Tension is important but it’s shouldn’t affect power by any noticeable amount. So, at this point it still feels slow, you think it’s an actual problem and not just a random “it feels different”. I know for me sometimes I’m not sure if I can trust that hunch, usually I can but sometimes there’s some added placebo.
Maybe you moved the distributor timing.
Or you might of stretched the timing belt some how.
My type r lost power like the one else day and it turned out it got its power back after I changed the belt.
This is interesting, 1 month ago I replaced water pump and timing belt did everything correctly and my car to does not feel as peppy from taking off in first gear, I’ve been meaning to check ignition timing but have failed to buy a light,
I have a 93 da rs, tanabe medallion touring exhaust, 4-2-1 header and still starts, idles, and runs great for having a 220k da but that’s the only problem I’ve been having is feeling like its lost power, I don’t know if I’m imagining it but it feels slower then before
Yeah I always mark my distributor position anytime I remove it. I don’ have the light so I just messed with it until I got it back. At first i noticed the power band was off from its normal 4k rpm range. It would pick up quicker around 2k so I advanced the ignition by rotating the distributor a bit back towards the firewall. Little by little the power band was moving up till I got it at 4k. Thats when you can feel a jump in torque.
