Big loss of power

[97greenmonster]

Ok, ive had my 97 SOHC for about a year now, and its the best damn thing ive ever owned. All its needed in 15000 miles was an alternator and the IAC valve. When i bought it, i could floor it and it would burn out across the intersection and destroy anything in its path. Now i floor it, and a stock civic beats me off the line. Its so slugish. I dont know why. I did a tune up at the beginning of the summer, synthetics all around, and i run seafoam through it every 3000 miles or 3 months and keep the K and N filter clean. I am at a loss here. The timming is rattling so idk if its retarding the timming as to not bend a valve, but its not cool. It has about 140000 on the clock now. My buddy and i may swap out the 4.0 for a 4.6, but i still dont know. Any ideas or tips or anything please!!
Clay

 

[Turdle]

k-n air filter eh?
try cleaning the maf sensor-reset the pcm while you do this--
Good luck on a 4.6 swap--
I'd love to see it accomplished. That will be a hard one--

 

[tipdrill]

yours will burn out???

mine won't. do you have a limited slip?

 

[97greenmonster]

no its not limited slip, and it used to!! Not really, the 4.6 and 4.0 have the same bell housing pattern i believe and motor mounts, or similar, and we are going to use e-fans and such. I did clean the maf, how do you reset the PCM? Also, its ok when its cold, it has alot more get up and go, but once it gets warmed up its soo slow, i cant take it!! its only the low end too, once it spools up a bit, she runs like a chap and pushes me back into the seat like before, but idle throught 2500 sucks!

 

[calisoundmix]

i've burned out once before in mine (2wd, 3.55 gearing, convential, 4dr) but that was only through revving it in neutral then dropping it into gear when the light turned. i know not a good idea, but it was four years ago and being a naive high school student i thought it was cool.

but back on subject, you can reset the pcm by disconnecting the battery terminals for 15-25 minutes, might as well clean them while they are disconnected.

 

[tipdrill]

My 4dr with the 3.73 limited slip has never burned out. I can feel it slip just a little (almost as if traction control were on) when i floor it.

 

[97greenmonster]

Well, it wasnt like a hard core burnout with smoke or anything like that, more like a steady chirp across the intersection, it sliped at the beginning, but the 4wd kicked in and just chirped. The PCM was reset like 3 weeks ago when i had my balljoints replaced, so idk. Its really sad tho. but when its cold, (engine temp) it runs great and has the torque (not like b4 tho). But its noticably greater, but once it warms up, its like a slug till, like i said, 3000 or so RPM.

 

[Space Truckin']

If the timing chains have been rattling you may have finally broken a guide or the jackshaft tensioner and skipped time. Mine lost all power when the chain jumped a tooth.

 

[HR57]

Did you lose performance AFTER the PCM was Reset? Did your ford dealer reset the PCM?

 

[97greenmonster]

Well, it wasnt reset, i was wrong, i just checked the radio stations and they are the same unless the shop reprogramed them. Its being reset as we speak, i just changed the oil with some castrol syntec 5-30 and a motocraft filter. i put some seafoam in the crankcase this morning while i was drivn around. so the battery is unpluged, im about to go reattach the battery and see what happens.!!

 

[tipdrill]

when i reset my PCM the radio kept the stations :scratch:

 

[97greenmonster]

Ok, well, when the A/C is on, its a SLUG, but with out it there is a BIG difference. Do you think there is something wrong with the clutch? The air blows great. When the ac comes on its drops reves about 2-300 at idle, and while im on the throttle, there is a noticable differecne? are all the clutches that heavy ir does it need to be replaced or a good lubing. Im kinda confused. Its got new 5-30 syntec with a new filter. and it rus great, bearly any rattleing now after i put the seafoam in the crankcase for about 15 miles yesterday!! im going to add the seafoam about a week in advance before my winter prep!! any other ideas will be greatly apriciated! thanks,
Clay