Just a quick question, and prop 1 of the dumbest question too.
I've been reading alot about power loss, but how do you tell when your car loose power?

 

It's one of those "you know it when you see it" kind of moments.
You'll try and accelerate and the car just doesn't seem to move very quickly
Having to give more throttle then usual to drive
Some people aren't able to get past a certain speed.

 

Ahh ok, i was just afraid one day it happens and i wont even realize it

 

Not a dumb question at all.

Note that there can be many, many, causes for lost power.

Some of the more common ones are:

Clogged catalytic converter
Bad coils / plugs / plug wires
Fuel pump filter sock clogged
Stuck intake valves on the 6 ports (SSV / APV)
Poor compression


Etc.

There are a lot of other, less common causes. (Two examples: a vacuum leak in the intake plumbing; and some aftermarket air intakes that draw from inside the engine compartment - and suffer power loss at high rpm's on hot days).

There are usually some other clues associated with the loss of power that can help in diagnosis. These include:check engine light (trouble codes); misfire; RPM when the problem occurs; hard starting; and of course year and mileage.

 

My car is an 04 with 30k miles, i've had a misfire once. The car was bought about 6 moths ago with 24k miles. Hard starting hmm... Most often the car start perfect, sometimes it does struggle to start. Does it represent a probleM?

also coils were changed yesterday, i notice a big difference in the car, it reponse much better. Spark plugs were change at about 25k, i've had a flood once at around 27k. Plug wires needed to be done soon.