well, This car i just bought has some major issues.

1996 Civic EX

OK, get ready lol.

I got the car knowing that it had problems. I spent quite a long time getting the car started... and once the car finally did start, it would die. I had to hold the throttle up until it warmed up fully before it would "idle' at approx 500rpm.

Well, i thought it was the TPS because when driving, the car has ZERO get up and go power. It is jerky the whole way up to 7k rpm. So i went to the junk yard and pulled a TPS. The TPS looked and felt great, so i thought i scored a good one. I went home and pulled the old TPS off the civic, and well, it felt and looked just the same as the one i pulled from the Junk yard.

I install it anyway. I get the car started again and drive it around for about 2 miles. I come home and turn it off to check some things because it still was awefully slow.

When i go back to start it again after adjusting the TPS, it starts but only barely and at under 500 rpm. I press the gas just the tiniest bit and it dies. It continues to do this several times.

I took of the IACV and cleaned the hell out of it, put it back on and still no difference. I also took off the fuel pressure regulator to be suprised at how much pressure it was holding. I've taken fuel pressure regulators off before and NEVER has it sprayed this much.

Could i just be getting TOO much fuel pressure? The car is running extremely rich. It get's gas on the plugs when cranking over and it doesn't start. You can also smell the unburnt gasoline extremely well all around the car.

If you could possibly give me some ideas on what i should look for and do it would be greatly appreciated. This has been most frustrating for me.

THANK YOU!

 

How many miles does this car have on it.

 

this could be any number of things, but I think its safe to say that you should knock out all the little issues first. Let me start off by saying I am not a proponent of shotgunning a car with parts. A tune up, however, I dont think falls under that category. It also alows you to get a proper baseline on the car. That said, i would go ahead with a normal tune up and see where we're at. Do teh plugs wires (cap and rotor if it has one). Also important would be the fuel filter to make sure you're getting proper flow.

After that you should get yourself an ohm meter and look at the factory specs on all of your major sensors. Your 02 I'm guessing is shot but I seriously doubt that's the only problem. Check the resistance on all your sensors to make sure they're operating properly. Go to autozone and have them run your codes (they do it for free). Check the fuel pressure at the rail against factory specs. Also would be worht checking the timing belt to make sure it hasn't jumped a few teeth (retarded timing causes rich conditions and lack of power, as I'm sure you know).

Lastly, a very rich condition can be washing the oil off your walls and you pound this thing driving down the street running 7k (just bustin your ***** man). Probably good to take care of this sooner rather than later-

Best of luck,

K

 

my car has actually done this to me today. my problem: bad ign coil. may want too look into that.

 

The car has 90k miles on it.

How do I test the coil?

Also... i'm not sure how to check the timing on this car. Don't you take the valve cover off and line up the timing marks with the head, and see if their even with the flywheel mark?

plugs, wires, cap, and rotor were all done.

New TPS and new fuel pressure regulator.

and today i got the car running. The car would not idle when cold, and when it finally idles at normal temp... it idles really low.

I know some dumbass before me took off the check engine light out of the dash, so i should definatly check for codes.

Thanks for the help so far!

 

You can test the coil using an oscilliscope. Good luck getting your hands one, cause they run like 1k-6k+. Your gonna want to look for the look of the coil oscillations, but if you don't know what to look for its not gonna mean anything.

 

sounds to me like your base timing is off by a tooth or two. not good to drive it in that condition, it'll blow up. does it backfire out the intake ever? good indication that yer base timing isn't right....cuz yer valves are open during the power stroke.

may as well get a new timing belt and change it, making sure the marks on the crank/cam pulleys are perfectly aligned.

once u get that on i'd say you're alrite. couldn't hurt to get a light and check your ignition timing too.

 

I agree with whoever said to tackle small issues first. It probably won't fix the issue, but it can't hurt to try running some SeaFoam through there. Blow all the b.s. out of the TB, IM, Motor, etc... and go from there.

 

well, i talked to a tech that owns a car just like mine with the d16y8 and he gave me some tips.

He told me to take off the plug on the IACV when it's running, and if it dies, the IACV is good. My idle didn't change at all... so it's bad... the little motor in there must be burned out.

I'd run seafoam right now, but it would kill it REAL quick.... it can't idle as it is.