I have a 93 Civic DX and up to this point I have had no issues with the engine. I just went to pick the wife up from the airport and the car started acting odd. The journey is pretty much uphill for the first 30 minutes (which is the area I drove and ultimately stopped and turned around) and goes from 1000ft to about 6500ft. I've never had an issue with this drive prior.

About half way I felt a slight stumble....then another..and so on. I noticed they were more often when I was going uphill and the engine had to work harder. I drove this way for about another 10 miles and decided to turn around. Luckily the return journey was mostly downhill which didn't require the engine to work hard. Before returning I pulled over and noticed that at idle the engine was occasionally sputtering. It would idle ok for about 10 seconds and then a single "put put" sound and then idle well.

I know the following is probably me being paranoid but I did just fill the gas tank from half to full prior to leaving. I can't help but wonder if I got some bad gas.

Any thoughts? Excluding the gas paranoia, any other ideas of things I should check first?
Fuel Filter?
Coil?
Plugs?

Thanks

 

Just wanted give an update. I removed all the fuel from the tank and put a fresh 3 gallons in. I drove pretty hard up the same hill and put a lot of load on the engine. It did not seem to be having any problems at all and so I even went back to the gas station to explain my situation. But after sitting a bit I have noticed that occasionally it makes a quick stumble while idling. It does not happen very often and I don't seem to to notice it while driving.

It seems crazy but do think that the gas from my station may have caused this problem. I think I'm going to go ahead and get a new fuel filter and spray Seafoam in the inlet to clean them out.

One thing I think I may have read is that my 93 Civic DX does not have an EGR valve. Is that right. I ask only because I have seen many boards talking about the EGR valve creating a similar situation and how it should be cleaned or replaced. If I don't have an EGR valve then what do I have that serves the same function?

 

Only the California versions of the 93 DX had an EGR system. The other 49 states version has no EGR valve, they were able to meet federal smog rules without EGR. A very occasional skip at idle could be considered normal, if the car otherwise drives OK.