What is wrong with 1st and 2nd gear?

[xxShaTTeredSouL]

Tonight while driving my vehicle I noticed in 1st it seemed to have no power and could hardly get speed up at all and seemed to loose all power after about 3500 rpm's and once I shifted into 2nd it was really jerky all the way up till I shifted into 3rd. Now the rest of the gears seem to not have as much power as they normally do either. What could be some problems? I really don't want to stick much money into this vehicle but it is the only running one I have right now so I would really like to know what this could be so I could fix a potentialy expensive problem. The vehicle is a 1991 isuzu rodeo 5 speed manual 4 wheel drive. If you need to know any other information please just say what is needed to know to help make a diagnostic because I tried searching google countless times and couldnt find any results so I am hoping someone here can help me out. My friend said my clutch is going but he doesn't really know much about vehicles. Any help?

[91_Z28]

fouled plug

[spinnin]

sounds like a clutch to me

[Moloko]

Sounds like clutch.

[xxShaTTeredSouL]

Alright how do I go about fixing this? This is the first manual vehicle I owned so I dont know how to replace a clutch at all. Any howto sites seeing I dont really like to go to mechanics. I rather do it and learn myself.

[xxShaTTeredSouL]

Anyone?? I would really like to fix this and not keep driving it like this.

[xxShaTTeredSouL]

How do I go about replacing the clutch and whatever needs to be replaced? How much does this cost? How easy is it to do? I have no experience putting in a clutch or anything but I am sure I dont have the money to pay a mechanic to do it so I can teach myself; any info?

[xxShaTTeredSouL]

Damn, well how much do you think it would cost to get done? I think I am just gonna sell the thing if I can even get any money for it? It ran perfectly good until this clutch went bad I guess if that is what is wrong and I wasn't planning on putting any money into it I just wanted to drive it for a winter beater because its 4x4 but seeing I fixed my car I'm not even gonna bother with this pos import.

[Bowdowntome]

not more than a few hundred unless you need a flywheel. and a clutch isnt any thing big to replace. A few hours with a friend who knows what they are doing and some beer.

[xxShaTTeredSouL]

Alright thanks

[twinkie8012]

ok you gotta 4x4 right, good so you dont need to jack the car up. aslong as you got a floor jack and acouple of good friends, getting the trans out is not a problem.

[twinkie8012]

quick question, in neutral if you rev the engine, does it fall on it face at all?

[hybrid2nr]

My guess of the root cause is bad ignition wires. This explains the jerkiness you experienced earlier. Misfiring cylinders send unused oxygen to the O2 sensors which is easily misinterpreted by pre-OBDII ecu's as a lean condition. If the cat didn't melt shut from burning raw fuel, then it's now clogged with carbon. Which helps to explain why it's now doggier than before.

Grab the ignition wires by the dist cap/coil(s)while it's running. If you get shocked, bingo. Or pop the hood and watch for the light show when it's pitch black if you don't care to entertain bystanders. If the motor's pretty quiet, you might even hear a snapping noise too.

[coos]

check the spark, those cars are waste spark meaning if one cylinder fails two don't work.