Ok so its been raining all day and i didnt use my car. I turned it on and drove about 10 minutes. Then i stoped for like 10 minutes to buy some pizza. got out turned it on it was fine, and when i went into the street the car turned off. I quickly restarted it but it sounded like it was struggling then it turned off again. i tried again and it started but very rough and whenever i pressed the gas the exhaust would make a popping noise and car would want to run off. i parked and went to the back and the exhaust was throwing out a strange smell (something like burn firecrackers) so i turned it off, and turned it on a couple of minutes later, it was fine but is there something failing? im guessing the spark plugs got too much fuel and that made the car do that?

 

What year Civic?

Is the CEL ON?

I'd start by checking for fouled plugs and moisture/corrosion in the distributor.

 

99 si. but what i dont get is that it started fine after i left it alone for a while. Im guessing it was the weather. but no cel on.

 

Yeah, intermittent problems often seem to defy logic. When was your last basic tune up and what was replaced?

 

lol yep no tuneup in a year that ive had the car (exept spark plugs).so yeah ill get to it as soon as i can. But i drove the car about an hour ago and everything worked perfectly. It felt like when i washed my engine and some water got to my spark plugs, the car ran rough for a bit but once it dried it ran perfectly. so im guessing thats what happened.

 

You probably need new spark wires, or there's a crack in the distributor cap. Open the hood at night with the engine running and see if there are any stray sparks. Also you can put a little water on various parts to see what makes it quit, do that when you don't have to drive anywhere for a while.