I FAIL.
Im not getting anywhere on my own... =/


Hey guys...

So I'm having yet another issue with my civic. It's turned into a black hole that sucks down all my hard earned cash. It really blows.

So here's the deal. My car won't start. Sometime it will start if I'm lucky or maybe if I slip the clutch in a push start but I usually fail at this. I honestly dont know what is wrong with it. Sometime back I had this issue with my car but I fixed it and it worked fine. This is what I did a few months ago:

I replaced: distributor cap and rotor, coil, ICM, spark plugs (gapped accordingly to Honda specs), new plug wires. Car worked fine after that. But recently I started having problems again.

For some reason, my car (manual tranny) would jerk violently when I would drive (usually between 1-3 gear) and sometimes it would just die when I was driving or when I was at a stop. I tried adding in a fuel injector additive to clean the injectors but that didnt work. Recently I've done the following:

added FI cleaner, changed spark plugs again (just in case), bought a NEW battery, changed out the fuel filter. Car still died when I drove it and would stall at stops. After that I took it to a mechanic who did the following:

cleaned the fuel injectors
cleaned the throttle sensor or TPI or whatever its called
cleaned the vaccuum hoses
and he did some more crap that I dont remember.

The car worked great for like a day after this. But now it wont start again.

What could it be?? I tried to narrow it down to either: oxygen sensor, catalytic converter, fuel pump, or maybe the fuel pressure in the tank.

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS OR HELPFUL ADVICE?? Im getting ready to torch my car!!! Ahhhhhh

 

Are you getting any CEL codes through all of this? Does your CEL work?

Avoid aftermarket spark plug wires, a lot of them are really bad.

Definitely check the fuel pressure. You can do a rough check by disconnecting the return hose and direct it into a container, turn key on to prime the system and check that fuel comes out fairly rapidly (not just a dribble). But hooking up a gauge is best.

Next time it starts check for dead cylinders by disconnecting the fuel injectors one at a time.

Hard starting / poor idling could also be the valves are adjusted too tight.

 

sorry 'bout the double post. I was just kinda desperate to find a solution. =/

...and yes, my CEL is on. I just dont have any way of getting my vehicle to an auto zone. Ill prob have to have a buddy of mine push me a few blocks over there. Its totally gonna suck too because its ALWAYS here down south in my part of texas. uggghh.

But ill go ahead and check out the fuel pressure as well. Someone told me it could be the catalytic converter that is clogged up. Do you think this may be a possibility?

 

just because you have a cel dont mean you have to goto autozone, you can pull the codes yourself.

http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=1901557

 

very helpful!! I printed out the codes and I'll check it out when I get home today