Bought a 01 civic last week. My boyfriend changed the oil and filter, cked air filter, and sprayed carburetor cleaner. Car reved up and down to 2000 rpms by it's self while idling. Next day it was fine. I drove it short distances to work all week no prob. Yesterday drove about 25 miles and boom! Felt something weird and ck engine light came on and cr didn't go faster than 30 mph or 2000 rpms pedal to the floor. Once cooled down drives okay until it warms up again. What happened and what do I need to fix. My bf is good with engines and trans but this is the same beginning to a 03 sentra we had that he dumped thousands into fixing it. New computer, sensors etc.

 

Clean your EGR and check your timing.

 

Well I just paid a mechanic to diagnose my car and change the TDC sensor... My Bf drove it about 15 minutes and the ck engine light came back on and the car is exactly the same... won't accelerate more than 2k rpms... The mechanic said I may need to have the cylinder head replaced but doesn't think thats the issue. What Do I Do?!!!! I don't want to rebuild the car....

 

When your mechanic change the TDC sensor.. this is the 'cam sensor' (next to Cam pulley), right?? check the connection on it again, they may bent the pin on the connector when install.

You also want to change the 'Crank sensor' too, don't hurt if this solve your problem.

 

Well after changing the TDC sensor, catalytic converter and oxygen sensor... the car finally runs without breaking down, however, when the car heats up, I smell a burning smell kind of like a hot iron... The mechanic said that its just the new cat converter... but thats been over a month ago. Any idea why it still smells like its burning?

 

I know this is an older post but i smelled the "hot iron" smell also while driving to my gf's house yesterday....and today was when i pulled the 1457 code off the ECU.

 

That's most likely from your BF spraying carb cleaner in there. If it really was carb cleaner, it'll destroy your oxygen sensors and cat. If he does it again, use throttle body cleaner that's safe for sensors.