I have a 1990 Honda Civic EX with 145,000 miles. It has a 1.5 liter engine with a manual transmission and fuel injection. I'm unsure what is wrong with it and need some help. When I start the car it starts fine and idles fine. But when I step on the gas it stalls out for a second and then revs up.

When I go to drive it, it stalls out and hesitates when under 3,000 rpm but above 3,000 rpm it runs fine.

Any help would be really appreciated!

 

Have you ever changed your fuel filter?

 

does the cel (check engine light) come on ???

 

I have not. I just bought the car a few months ago and I'm not sure if the previous owner changed it. Because the car idles okay and runs well at high RPM I didn't think it would be the filter. Can a bad fuel filter allow the car to idle okay and run well at RPM over 3000 but stall and hesitate in the 1500 to 2900 RPM range?

 

It turned on once before when I was climbing a long hill but it didn't effect the performance at all. When I turned the car off and restarted the engine the light was gone but this was a month before it had the problems it does now. Currently when I start the car there is no CEL at all.

 

i would think it is in a electrical. just a guess.
many here have problems in the distributor. i had a miss - just kept driving until it went out - could never find what it was - new distributor fixed it.
also, a factory defect i think is explained here:
http://techauto.tripod.com/mainrelay.htm
i had a problem where i would shut the car off for just a short time and it would not restart until i left it sit for a few minutes. Did not always do it. Nagging, nagging - the main relay fix solved the problem. i did not do the solder suckering; did not have the tool

 

Thanks for the info.. I did some more work this afternoon. I pulled up the carpet and looked at the ECU, it was blinking 16 times. I pulled the Main Relay and listened for the click, it was intermittent. The times when the relay worked properly the fuel pump would run making a humming sound and the car would start up fine but it still has the hesitation and stalling from 1500 to 2900 RPM. Can a bad main relay cause the stalling and hesitation?

 

fuel system.
i would take natecivic92 advice above, and change the fuel filter.