Lacking Power After Thermo Change

tmccrank

Registered User
Hi all, this problem has been going on for about 2 weeks now. It all started when I wasn't getting any heat from the heater. I figured it was heater core, so I dismantled the entire bloody dash, then it hit me. Check the thermostat. I did, and it appears that the so-called "high performance" thermostat I bought from Canadian Tire had opened once, only to get stuck and locked open. I guess it's good that it didn't stick shut, but nonetheless I fixed it. I put in a new MotorCraft one from Ford, done properly of course (whoever decided to put the thermostat on vertical needs a kick in the ***) and I have heat like never before. My problem is that the car now lags like crazy. It doesn't matter how much I step on it, it just doesn't have any oomph anymore. I am wondering if I maybe didnt hook something up right in the dash, or if there is something else causing it. PLEASE HELP ME, it's making me angry when a 2 door Civic can kick my *** off the line and up to 65.

Thanks!
 
Make sure that the coolant didn't get on the crank sensor as it will cause it to go out. Not sure if it is related or not.

Jeff
 
The temp gets within "norm" in no more than 10 minutes of idle, or 5 minutes of driving, whereas it never even left the blue color on the gauge with the old thermostat so it works great now in that respect.

In regards to the crank sensor, I'm not sure I know where or what that is. Could you elaborate?
 
It's behind the harmonic balancer against the block, almost directly below the thermostat housing.

Jeff
 
So if I did get any on this sensor, will washing the engine fix the problem (if that's in fact what it is)?
 
No offense

I'm not trying to make anyone look bad here, but naturally, when and engine runs cooler, there is more power. If the car went from chilling on the temp gauge, to smack dab in the middle area, then naturally, I would assume some of the power gained from it running cooler has now been lost. If it is that bad of a difference, then maybe something else may have been damaged, although I really don't see the possibilities of anything else breaking in leiu of doing a t-stat. What esle has been done to the car? Is it stock, minimaly modded, or done up? What year, auto or five? If you got problems with a civic whoopin up on you off the line, I can only assume you got an older model, auto, with high mileage. Most people know that the lower the temp stays, the more hp can be gained, especially with turbo or supercharged applications. Fill us in here. I'm not tryin to argue here, just make a valid point.
 
None taken

No, good point. It's a 93 Auto with only 25,000 on a brand new engine, not rebuilt. No mods have been done to it. It's never been this slow, I can understand that it would only get slower with more heat being in the engine, but this is almost so significant that it's hurtful. I know heat kills, but I can believe that it is only that it's not as cold anymore. If it were the heat, wouldn't it still run like it used to when I first start it up (considering there isn't any heat to deal with)?
 
tmccrank, I hear you about the Honda. My SC is a 1990 auto. Getting on the highway a few months ago, one of the other guys from work in a stock Civic had just turned into the right lane. I swung over to the passing lane and floored it. He pulled away like I was barely moving.
I had some of the same experiences after having a new long block installed (busted crank). I noticed it running much hotter than before (new stock 195deg t-stat). The shop told me it was just due to breaking in and should go back to normal after about 4K or so. The temp did go back to what passes for normal, but even after breaking in it really feels like power is down. For awhile I thought it was just me (maybe too used to the power). I do, however, have a tranny with a slipping O/D so that might explain some of the power loss. Lately I've also noticed that when I'm on the highway the temp gauge barely gets to the bottom of the norm range line never mind to the N. When I get off the highway sometimes there is steam coming from the hood cowl by the firewall and a slight coolant smell. A mechanic friend suggested it might be the heater core, but that shouldn't have any effect on power should it? I have a spare 180deg t-stat thinking the installed t-stat might be stuck, but held off putting it in b/c the car was running so cold on the highway already.
I should also point out that I later discovered that when the new engine was installed the shop noticing a small leak in the radiator put in stop-leak. Could this be the source of my problems and to put it bluntly, "am I sunk"?
 
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