Hi everyone!
Just bought a 97 Civic DX, with 5 spd manual trans. Has 131, 000 miles and fairly new tires. Nice car, but pulls to the left at all speeds for the 1st 20 miles of commute then tracks perfectly straight. Any ideas on what might cause that? I have a few, but I'd like input from others. Alsofeel a very subtle and rapid vibration in the steering wheel at highway speeds.Possibly wheel bearing,bent wheel, bad strut, or tire issue? Perhaps alignment? I don't know, maybe all of the above, but all suggestions would be appreciated.

Also this car seems to choke on itself off the line. CARFAX report said it failed emmisions in 2006 and they changed an O2 sensor and then it passed. My suspision is possibly clogged up catalic converter, or are these cars sluggish off the line normally? It makes good power once you spin the engine up, so I don't know. I need the voice of an experienced owner.

 

You seem to have an alignment problem. You pointed out classic examples. Other than the choking. You need to run seafoam through it. It sounds like you have a carbon issue which isnt a problem to take care of.

 

Here is the DIY for using seafoam if you are not to sure how to use it. Its truely wonderful stuff.


https://www.hondacivicforum.com/m_142942/tm.htm

 

Thanks Remmy, I appreciate all the info and I'll give your suggestion regarding Seafoam a try.

 

My 97 EX is sluggish as well. I'm really interested to try the seafoam business. I had a shop mess up royally on an exhaust manifold job. They killed the O2 sensor and my car has been sluggish ever since.

As for the left tracking, I replaced a strut and that went away real quick. The strut was so bad that it killed my tires. They were cupped so bad (and old anyway) that I had to replace them as well. The tracking is perfect now.

My ticker's reading in the 130's now as well. Good luck!