i have a 89 honda civic DX hatchback 1.5 liter pgm-fi sohc 5 speed. had the wierdest ordeal the other day, i dropped off my ex after a night of smokin chron and playin guitar hero lol. anyway i backed up to leave her apartments and i didnt give it enuff gas so it lurched back and died. at that moment. the bastard wouldnt start no matter what i did. i fondled the engine for a bit to see if i could get it going but nothing, me and my buddy left it there that night. came back the next day and tested the ignition coil, coil was shot, distributor cap was all ****ed up even the rotor. so i replaced em and to my surprise it fired up. drove it home but when it warms up after awile it starts to act stupid and run so rough the engine like gargles and thats when its about to die, takes a min to start it back up. i thought i slipped my timing belt again, got it home and totally retimed it, had 2 ****ed up wires on the dist so i took that off and rewired and taped up the wires super good. then it starts up lovely, let it idle for a bit and it dies. another thing i noticed is the charge light wont turn off ever unless im flyin down i25 goin 60. i thought the brushes on the alt were bad but i ripped that apart and they were good. im clueless as to what the hells going on. im wondering if the alternators losing power and making the engine die after a few mins. another thing a friend told me is i may have to replace the head gasket and check the piston rings but ive never taken an engine apart so thats not a possibility right now. not to mention the fact i hardly have any cash. this **** has me puzzled and sittin here like a dumbass. does anything of this make a light go off in your head lol? i love my little civic but if i cant figure this out then ill be stuck with selling it and i dont want to do that, any help would be appreciated. thanks guys

 

Is the LED on the ECU blinking any codes?

Since most components in the distributor were fried, you might also consider replacing the igniter or at least have it tested. How do the spark plugs look? You should also resistance test the spark plug wires.

Regarding the charge/battery light being ON, are you experiencing any notable electrical problems, such as the headlights brightening and dimming with high versus low engine rpms? Is the battery old or weak? Have you checked whether the alternator belt may be loose? Otherwise, the alternator or voltage regulator may be bad.

 

THANKS FOR THE SPEEDY REPLY RONj, my dumbass didnt check the ecu but i just changed the spark plugs. the resistance of the wires are under 25 thousand ohms as specified in the manual. i just did a compression check and it jumps to 120psi real fast on every cylinder then drops. i doubt everything in the distributor was fried. just the rotor looked kinda sulfurish around the blade, the pin going to the ignition coil was like nuked. but in the past day ive changed the
ignition coil
distributor cap
rotor
spark plugs
the spark plugs looked like complete ***. i also checked the fuel filter by taking the fuel line off, turned it on and it sprayed gas all over the ground,
as far as the battery, the battery is a new battery. i paid 30 for it because yes my battery did take a **** on me during winter. but the battery was a blemish he said. it was never used but it sat on the shelf for ahwile. now the car starts good "as to the old poppin the clutch days" lol. but ron j its wierd and imma try to be as specific as i can. when i start the engine it throttles kinda higher than normal. not by much but its noticable. then when i quickly stomp on the gas pedal all the headlights get brighter. before then the charge light would turn off. that was about 4 months ago. then itd flash now it stays on and wont turn off. the only time i notice it turns off is when im flyin down i70 or somethin and it dont even turn off. it flashes at a slow pulse for ahwile, then it starts acting stupid again and stays on. in a bit ill try to restart the engine, cant do it now because theirs gas all over and i dont wana cause an explosion

 

If the engine cranks but won't start, then have the igniter unit tested.

Regarding the battery light, it sounds like the voltage regulator is bad.

 

no no no the car runs. it starts up and sounds perfect. then give it about 5 minutes then the exhaust pipe sounds like its choking on something then shortly after idles so low and chokes and dies....

 

Oh, okay. Pull the carpet back and read the code blinking from the ECU LED.

You may be having a problem with the IACV. Try cleaning it.

Do the headlights only dim when the idle speed drops below normal?

 

they dont dim. they start off dim and when i floor the gas pedal they go bright and stay that way

 

Okay, so you may have two separate problems, (1) low idle when the engine is hot and (2) an alternator/voltage regulator problem.

 

well i just took it for a test drive around the block and captured everything on video, it sounded like ****. im uploading it now. sorry about the volume of the cameraphone its really loud in the beginning, but driving it the engine can be heard sounding like ****. and giving it gas when it starts to run bad dont fix the situation, its a 50 50 chance there, either its going to continue to run like **** and die if the gas pedal is pressed, or its gona accelerate hard. so i dunno

 

So now you have three issues: Low idle when hot, fluctuating headlight intensity, and an intermittently rough running engine, right?