I have a 2001 Civic EX. It just lit the "check engine" light and lost nearly all power. It eventually died. After sitting 5 minutes, it starts back up just fine, runs fine, check engine light is still on. Checked plugs, they were a gray/white color, cleaned them and reinstalled. Later that day, car started fine, after about 2 miles of driving had same power loss, max speed 20MPH at 2k RPM. Got home, let it sit, starts fine again but power loss happens within a few minutes while driving. Any ideas? I do not have the tools to pull error codes.

 

Many auto parts stores will use a scan tool to pull the codes free of charge.

 

Thanks for the advice Ron. The codes from AutoZone are: P1362, P1361, & P1298. Other postings I've read seem to point to the distributor with the TDC sensor built into it. My Civic has 120k, never had a timing belt replaced. What would you advise? Could it be a timing belt issue if it comes and goes?

 

You don't have a distributor. The TDC sensor is on the driver side of the head. I don't think a timing belt problem would set these codes.

P1298 is a problem in the Electrical Load Detector (charging system) located in the hood fuse box.

Reset the ECU to see whether all three codes repeat.