I am the proud owner of a 96 EX, I call her "Honda". I bought her with 107K for $450..figured she was on her last legs, so I drove the HELL outta her! She likes the dirt, the slop, and thinks shes a rally car. Little did I know that 9yrs later, and 198K+ miles later..she is still kickin and I grew to love my car. I wisened up a couple of years ago, decided I would take better care of "Honda", cause she takes good care of me. She turned me into a gear-head, hunting knowledge on this virtually indestructible beast. Now, the bummer...with 305K+, shes not feelin so spunky anymore. I got a Chilton book that I have had my face in for months, have spent full days under the hood and under her looking, inspecting, checking and learning..but to no avail. I came here in the hopes that other "Happy Honda People" can tell me the quirks of her that a book cannot. Any info would be greatly appreciated, cause after all, us Honda lovers are a breed all our own. About a yr ago, i stopped for just $7 in gas on my way home. Less than 5mins later my car was spittin, sputterin and coughin like an old woman. Instantly knew it was the gas. Stopped as soon as i could for a fill-up of premium gas and injector cleaner to burn/push the crap through. I was mad and worried. A wk later the tank was back to 1/4 tank, so i went ahead with a full tune-up (she'd ran decent that wk but not at all like before the $7). I did...new oil&filter, new spark plugs and checked plug wires, cleaned/checked all air..fuel..and emissions sensors, cleaned batt terminals, checked fuses in and outside, put in fresh coolant, put in a new cold-air intake and last was a new fuel filter. When i did the fuel filter, figuring this whole time that $7 had junked everything up, i finished up and decided to SEE what i had gotten in that fuel..so i blew the old filter out, into a glass jar. Immediately all i could see was what i knew was fuel, but looked like POND WATER! It was infuriating! I let the jar sit for a while and came back to see..almost 1in of the 2inches of gas in that jar, was nothin but water and junk! All i could think of to combat this was tune-ups every 2K till she recovered fully. Well, a yr later, she never did and it only got worse. Ended up going through: a starter from the hard starting, a clutch 7mos after, a batt (i think from tryin to roll start when she'd stall on the hwy), countless plugs, 2sets of plug wires, 6 fuel filters, fuel pump, dist rotor, and thousands of cups of coffee stayin up at night hopin just "one more fix" would fix her... And thats ALL in the last year!! So...here i am to ask this of HCF.. Where would someone else start if you basically wanted to rebuild/redo your Fuel System, your Emissions System (including EGR, EVAP components), and all Electric Paths that power, send/receive/store, and control operation of those (fuel, emissions) systems. After all the time, money, studyin and fixin, the only thing i am still 100% sure of is.... "Honda" is not gettin the air/fuel she needs half the time, and when she finally gets it, she chokes on it! And this, is makin her electronics go crazy tryin to counteract it! Please, please, please....someone knows that one little thing that i'm too close to see. Any info would be great, thanks for your time