How come when I floor the gas pedal my car won't accelerate like it used to?

I have a 98 Honda Civic. I used to be able to floor the gas and my car would launch away, but I noticed today that won't happen anymore. I used to feel pressure from the gas pedal that would resist to hard of an acceleration, but the gas seems ';softer'; somehow. And when I floor it, it's as if I were just accelerating normally. I swear, the tachometer hardly increases at all.



This might be relevant: a couple weeks ago, my car died on me because the distributor was bad, so I got a new one. I think it drove fine after that. A couple days ago, I got an oil change and (I think they called it) a transmission flush. I didn't notice any difference after that, but I was also babying my car and wasn't pushing it performance-wise, so it could have been affected right away.



I want to place blame on the mechanic, but again, I didn't notice anything right away and I'd like to know just what the heck would cause this problem.How come when I floor the gas pedal my car won't accelerate like it used to?
Well your question has many ';what if'; factors. The one that jumps at me is the trans service. How many miles does you're car have on it and when was the last time the trans was serviced? If it has been a long time or your car has high mileage what could be, and I mean could, is that the new transmission fluid is to clean. It happens on cars with high mileage or fluid that's not been changed enough. Inside the trans are seals that wear with age the old fluid was dirt and did not flow as well, you put in clean fluid and now the trans has a little internal leak that keeps the pressure low thus your car feels slow.How come when I floor the gas pedal my car won't accelerate like it used to?
Some transmissions do not like a Flush because if can ruin seals both internal and external.

Another problem with a flush is that the filter does not get changed or cleaned. But generally the symptoms of failure are slippage and a racing motor (which is not what seems to be the problem here).

Now I am talking about an automatic.

But you could have a failing throttle cable/linkage. So check that out before you jump the mechanic.

You could also have gotten a tank of inferior gas.

Also check out the other things too, like the fuel filter,air filter, spark plugs and wires.
If you used to accelerate suddenly or peel out a lot, then it's likely that you've worn out your clutch disc faster than usual.



Think of sandpaper pressing against steel when you release your clutch to engage and create the friction needed to spin your axle and wheels. Now it's no longer sandpaper but more just paper.



Rather than gripping tightly against your flywheel as you accelerate, it's sliding against your flywheel and no longer allowing you to feel the initial full torque.



I changed my own clutch disc and pressure plate ($100 from your local auto parts store) for my '95 after about 190k miles. I think my '98 is also nearing that same stage.



You may need to consider changing your clutch disc and pressure plate within the next serveral thousand miles or when your shifter begins to feel difficult to get into gear.



Good luck!