My girlfriend was driving my car and she was going up a hill when the car lost most of its power and the engin sounds rough. The check engin light came on as well.

If it did this why strain was on motor,i think you might want to check the timing belt may have jumped,and hopefully has not done to much damage to your engine,have you had it replaced?

The timing belt was replaced at 95000 miles. It has 168000 right now. about twice a week I take it up the road and back, every time it seems to do a little better but it is still laggy. the spark plugs have been replaced recently too.

Have you checked the fuel pressure?

How do I check fuel pressure?

You can rent a fuel pressure guage at your local part,s store,it hook,s to the fuel pressure rail.

I'll check it out tomorrow.

I couldn't get a fuel pressure gauge today but I replaces the fuel filter and while the engine was cold it had no problem accelerating and climbing hills. When the engine got warmer and hot, it started to have a major problem climbing hills and accelerating.

That is a sign ,of bad fuel pump.

So I've changed out the fuel pump in the gas tank finally and the same problem still exist. What else could there be?

Also the steering has gone a little stiff. not sure if that has anything to do with it. it did sit for a few weeks.