i have a 97 civic ex coupe (automatic) and this is my first post.

when i step on the gas pedal there is some resistance at the beginning and it's causing jack rabbit starts. it's hard to accelerate gradually. any ideas as to what the is causing the gas pedal to stick or have resistance?

i bought some seafoam and put 1/3 in the gas tank and 1/3 in the crankcase, which seemed to make the gas a little bit smoother, but the problem is still there. because i couldn't get the hose off the fuel pressure regulator (fpr), i haven't been able to put any seafoam in the intake manifold. i'm afraid of breaking the fpr hose or not being able to get it back on. any recommendations?

 

I would check and lube gas pedal, gas cable, and throttle itself.

 

As for the FPR hose. Dont worry if you break it. Just go to your local autoparts store and get some hose that is the same size. It is super cheap and if you think you are rip it you might need to replace it anyway. You can also get a set of silicone hose and just start replacing all of your vacuum hoses. That was what I did.

As for your gas pedal. Have you checked to make sure that your throttle cable is adjusted right? If it is too tight then there will be no play in the pedal and you will get instant throttle responce. I know when I got my car someone had tightened it all the way. Like you could have played the cable like a bass guitar, and it caused jumpy starts. Check it and see if that might be your problem.

Hope it helps.

 

thanks for the replies guys.

i was able to get the hose off the fpr by using some pliers to squeeze the hose and loosen it up a little. then i pulled really hard with my hand and it finally came off. so far i only put an ounce or two of seafoam into the hose, but i was surprised that i didn't get any smoke to come out.

regardless, the gas pedal is still a little sticky. i'm going to try the rest of my 1/3 pint of seafoam and then try using some silicone spray on the pedal if that doesn't work. then maybe a throttle body cleaning?

i haven't looked at the gas cable because i don't know where it is exactly and also the problem started all of a sudden without anyone doing any tightening or turning it into a bass guitar string. right now, i'm planning to look at the cable as a last resort.

 

Actually, if the problem is with the cable, it is likely to be at either end of it, not in between - so you might as well check that cable moves smoothly both at throttle and pedal ends while you are there...

 

It's kind of funny, I have a 97 and it has the same dang issue, I can't just take off smoothly like I want, it just jerks into gear *automatic* and takes off, makes me spin and stuff when its raining, real sucky problem. I need to check my cables also, its on my huge list of to do's.

If i figure something out, or you get it first hollar back.

 

Finally something I can be of help with! This was the first problem I attemped to tackle in my '96lx, there is actually a honda service paper about this issue. They claim it only affects throttle cables on certain 96s, but i think that is a load of crap, too many other problems.

Anyway, adjusting the throttle cable is way easy. All you need is open end wrenches (metric of course)and some grease. download the service manual here:
http://hondatech.info/downloads/Auto/Manuals/
find your cable(right on top of engine, just under and to the right of air filter, attached to round pulley). It should be somewhat loose, push on the exposed section of cable at the end. It should move 3/8"-1/2" before the pulley moves at all. if its too loose(streched over the years), there will be tons of free play and little control over gas, just like being too tight. There are two nuts on the cable, loosen the one closest to you and use the other to adjust, then retighten lock nut. While your there, pull back the boot on the cable toward you as far as you can, grease the cable where it enters the boot, re-extend boot. This helped alot in my car, but its still not like it should be, Im looking for a new throttle cable still.

 

Oh, I forgot. I also did a quick cleaning on the throttle body(under the air filter). There was a ring of sticky stuff around the edge of the throttle plate. Get a bottle of throttle body cleaner, spray a little in there and use a CLEAN (perhaps with some more TBCleaner on it) rag to gently wipe it out, then grab hold of the throttle linkage(the pulley that the throttle cable is attached to)and turn it so you can clean the edge of the throttle plate and more of the throttle body itself. Of course a through cleaning would mean removing the whole throttle body, but I wasn't up for that.

Again, be gentle, you dont want to bend the throttle plate or bang up the throttle position sensor(I dont know how real of a danger this is, but hey...). BTW that cleaner is nasty stuff, don't breathe that, unless of course you like DNA mutation and cancer

 

HOLD ON!! go to the top of the page & click on recalls
after you click on your car make click on veh. speed control
theres a recall on the cable - call the dealer & give them your v.i.n. # & they will tell you if eligible to get it done for free!!!!

 

oops. i said i have a 97 civic but i lied. i have a 99 civic ex coupe. unfortunately there is no recall for the throttle cable. i will try to check it out when i get a chance and thanks for the link to the service manuals, lofreq.

yesterday i put a lot more seafoam in the vacuum hose. i would guess about 1/4 of a pint/bottle got sucked up. this time i definitely got some white smoke for a couple of minutes. the gas pedal seemed smoother to me, but that might be because i wanted it to feel better. i'll try it out a little bit more tomorrow, but overall the seafoam seems to make the car run better.

i ordered my AEM short ram intake and it should be coming next week, so i plan to clean the butterfly valve in the throttle body when i install the intake.