i have a 2003 honda civic ex. i have been having intermittent problem where when driving it, for a brief moment 1-3 seconds, it looses power and slows down, after a moment it perks back up again and is fine for several days. this will often happen 1st thing in the morning. anyway, i have been dealing with this issue for about 6 months now. and this morning it did the same thing to me, but it never snapped back, just died. now it will start, but it dies right away. unable to drive it anywhere. i am thinking it needs a new fuel filter and/or pump. just wondering if anyone else had any idea's before i spend 100$ or so on a pump. car has 191,000 miles on it.

 

With the key still in the "run" position after trying to start and having it die, the "oil" and "battery" lights on the dash should come on, as they would be any time the key is on but the engine is not turning. If they don't it's probably a bad ignition switch.

Also with this sort of problem it's very often useful to check the ECU for trouble codes (with an OBDII scanner.)

 

oil and battery lights come on after it dies. the check engine light is not on... but i am going to get ahold of a scanner anyway to see if it has anything to tell me. i can hear the fuel pump coming on, i start the car, it runs for a brief moment, i can hear the pump running during this moment, then the cars dies, and the fuel pump stops very shortly after the motor dies. i am also going to see if i can test the fuel pressure and see if it is low. any other ideas?

 

so how does one check the fuel pressure on a honda civic? there appears to be a port on the rail, but it is the wrong thread for the universal tool that autozone sells. the kit has a pile of adapters but none of them work.

 

I loosened the bolt and turned it to the on position (do not crank). Fuel sprayed out thus I was getting fuel pressure. How much - too much or too little I couldn't tell - but I was able to tell I was getting fuel.

This video helped me out - Quick check for fuel pressure Honda/Acura - YouTube

 

so i have fuel pressure. 45lbs. so that is not my issue.

 

so i got ahold of a code reader, and checked for possible codes, and there are none.

anybody have any idea's for me?

 

i have the exact same problem!
i just swapped out my engine (221k) with a new one (77k) and replaced basically every seal and belt. everything in car was working fine before the swap. i kept my old intake and fuel rail assembly and replaced those gaskets.
any ideas?
thanks

 

i have not got mine fixed yet... i am thinking the computer might be bad.

 

Check the fuel pump relay or the fuse for the fuel pump first. Easy to checks and cheap to fix yourself.