loosing power 62k miles Honda Civic

Hello All,

Here is a puzzle, I 'd very much appreciate your help in resolving it.

Car: Honda Civic DX '97, 62k miles, 5 speed.
Maintenance has been done regularly, the last oil change is overdue by 2-3 weeks (not done yet).
The engine is very fresh & car used to run great.

While driving it in a mountainous area, it started to lose power on incline, was literally crawling had to even stop in the middle of the road on a 12% grade...

Since then, it's significantly slower to accelerate (incline, level, decline), and the gas pedal became "softer", ie lost some of its resistance. At Tioga pass (7% grade) it would not get over 30 m/h, gas pedal to the metal. The longer it runs, the more "tired" and easier to lose power it becomes. If I stop it & restart after a short while, it's slightly better for a while, then starts again in the slow acceleration, less agile mood....

My estimate is the car lost ap. 35% of its power. When I refueled (different gas station/ brand of gas) it regained some power AND gas pedal resistance but it's still running at ~2/3 of its capacity as of just 2-3 days ago.


Local, very highly rated mechanics looked it up, and said the car tests fine in everything, no error messages (comp); fuel filter, gas injection, everything that may be related looks fine, and it drives as a Honda Civic should.

Got it to the local hills, the same thing: slow to accelerate, on a steep grade: max ~30mph, honking behind me (for slowness). I can drive it only on the 2nd gear on a steep grade (~7% grade and up).... (on 3rd its speed/power quickly drops) “Soft” gas pedal…<< if this is indication to something...

The car is operating at ~2/3 of its former performance, it's a Honda Civic, should have lots of live in it, the mechanics say everything tests fine (they said they checked fuel filter, fuel injection, all the obvious stuff)...

Any suggestions what to do?? :banghead:

Thank you very much!!!

PS: BTW, There are no any warning lights on the dashboard....

  timing