ya, the check emissions light is on, and im getting terrible fuel efficiency. I called the dealer, and im going to bring it in, but their earliest available time for an appointment is sometime next week. Any ideas until then of what i can do? mabe a short term fix, or actually fix it?

 

you may be able to easily fix it.
what year and what engine.

 

96 civ lx, sohc engine, 99% sure...def not vtec

 

dont know if 96 is the same as 88 - but on my 88, one would take the carpet away from the area where the passenger's feet would be, and then count the number of blinks of the lcd which is part of the ecu.
the number of blinks give the code that is referenced in a book of ecu fault codes.

dont know where you are, but some auto parts store (autozone) will read the code with a scanner - much easier.