Hi Everyone,

I have a 2001 Civic EX (automatic). Unfortunately, I know little to nothing about cars in general...so I'm usually at the mechanic's mercy when I have an issue with my car. Last week my engine light popped on (which, of course, concerned me), so I figured I'd see how the car was running before I rushed it to a mechanic. The next day the light went off on it's own--but then the next morning the light was on again. As I was accelerating up a slight hill (the same day), the car jerked a couple of times (I assumed it was a mis-fire), so I rushed it to a mechanic. They ran a diagnostic and it (supposedly) came up as P1259--which, all I can find for an explanation is "V-Tec (engine) malfunction." Well, that doesn't seem to explain much about the problem. The mechanic said the valves were a bit tight (I don't know what that means: how can a valve get tighter when no one has touched them?), but I'm not sure what that means (forgive my lack of knowledge). My car has 54K miles on it, and what is strange is this exact problem happened almost exactly a year ago. However, when I took it to a mechanic, they said the diagnostic came back as dirty oil. They changed the oil, re-set the light, and the car has ran fine since then. Now the problem is back.

I am a little worried that the mechanic is just trying to screw me out of more money than I really need to spend. It's been about a week and the car just jerked again going up a slight hill today (though it hasn't since the initial incident). The engine sounds fine otherwise--and seems to be running well. It has plenty of oil (which was changed about six weeks ago). Could it be bad fuel/gas? Could it just be bad spark plugs? Could this be a really major problem? I don't want to ignore the problem, but my car seems to be running fine otherwise. It's been fine the last week, except for the jerking this evening. The mechanic suggested a 60k mile tune-up, but he wanted to charge over 400 bucks to do it. I've never had any major problems with the car in the past. I always keep up with oil changes and the like. So what's the deal? I know it's hard to answer this question without looking at the car, but I thought I'd take a shot and ask anyway.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

 

Cyl misfires happen alot more than people think in Hondas. I would suggest doing a tune up on the ignition system. New plugs, plug wires, a distributor cap and rotor button. It is not a consistant misfire so it would not be timing or anything like that, now it could be dirty fuel but I doubt it. I would honestly being you are not inclined to work on your car take it to the Honda dealer. They know their cars better than anyone and I know atleast around where I'm at the parts/service part of our honda dealer is priced very well.

 

Thanks, Marty!

So you don't think the valves have anything to do with the mis-firing?

Thanks!

 

I just had Auto Zone run a diagnostic...and believe it or not, P1259 was the only code popping up. The printout reads "FUEL AIR METERING." I'm guessing the solenoid screen may be clogged. I checked out the air filter and it's still in good shape. Any thoughts on any other ventilation issues?

Thanks!

 

the only thing I can think of is maybe a faulty map sensor

 

Thanks, Marty! Can you elaborate?

 

map sensor is on your intake manifold and it reads your manifold pressure(air pressure) I'd about bet your running a little rich

 

yea do like marty said and replace the spark plugs, wires, distributor cap and rotor. My car was having Idleing problems and that seemed to fix them. Also when my mechanic did my spark plugs for me, he said that I was having a misfire and most likely running on 3 cylinders

 

It runs fine when idle; it only jerked when I accelerated up a hill. I just took it to a mechanic, and they believe it may be the Oxygen (O2) Sensor. Does that sound reasonable?