RSX surging issue
04-04-2008, 12:21 PM
#1
RSX surging issue
Please help me with this. A manager at my work wrote me this email in hopes that I could find someone to help. Its a bit long so please bare with me:
I'm looking for some knowledgeable suggestions for my car. It seems to be having an intermittent problem that is affecting the drivability of the car. So far I haven't been able to confirm under which conditions it acts up, so I can't say that there is a specific set of symptoms.
This is what happened in agonizing detail.
On Friday of last week, I started the car up, reversed it down the drive way with no problems. The top part of the driveway is flat so I did have to apply a very small amount of gas to get it rolling. After backing out, I put it in first and had to rev a little to get it going up the hill in front of my house. Immediately, before I even reached the crest of the hill and could think about shifting into second, the car shuddered, had two, what sounded like backfires and died. All the lights came on and the steering wheel locked up. I came to a stop. Turned the key to the off position, waited a second (no more than 2 minutes) and restarted the car. It died again almost immediately. I tried a third time because I had to move the car out of the middle of the road, this time I got it to roll down the hill and halfway into my neighbor's drive way. It was idling terribly and although I was in first I couldn't get it to accelerate up the drive way. I noticed at this point that the check engine light was on.
I turned the car off and waited, probably 5 minutes. My father heard the commotion and came running down the street. He thought I had done something wrong so he got into the driver's seat, turned the car on. It shuddered but then started idling normally. I was incredulous that it was now working normally so I told him to drive it around the neighborhood. He did this with no problems and pronounced me crazy. He never went over 25 mph or took the car out of second gear.
That night we took it up to auto zone and had the code read.
The codes it threw:
P0108 Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) Sensor Circuit High Voltage
P0301 No. 1 Cylinder Misfire
P0302 No. 2 Cylinder Misfire
(not sure on the numbers of these second two, but I know there were two cylinder misfires and boy did I feel them when they happened)
We concluded that I hadn't done something wrong, and that maybe the sensor was dirty. AutoZone read the codes (but didn't clear them) so the check engine light went off. The car was now driving normally so Dad still thought I was doing something wrong and he decided that on Saturday I had to go practice the clutch in a parking lot. So that's just what I did.
I practiced for an hour on Saturday afternoon, I never rev'd the car over 3k or took it beyond 3rd. Then after feeling comfortable we decided to drive it to the store. On the way there I was in fourth right around 50 mph (49 mph is where the car wants to shift into 5th). I knew I was just going to slow down in a minute or two so I forewent shifting into 5th, but then the car started driving really rough. Even though I was keeping my foot evenly on the gas (I have been driving long enough to know how to do that!) it was surging as if I was pushing hard on the gas and then letting up very abruptly. I though, "my this is not right," and then pulled into the parking lot.
An hour later I returned to the car and attempted to drive it home. Now it was surging in the low gears, I had to speed up and immediately put in the clutch and coast in order to keep control of the car. As I steered it on to the outer road and tried to gain speed, it surged as if possessed. Then the car died at 40 mph when I had my foot on the gas. I sank the clutch in, put it in neutral and started the car again while it was still moving. It died twice more on the way home. The furthest we could get the car was Leta Honda just up the street, we didn't want to take it on any major roads. My mother offered to drive it there (once again thinking it was something I was doing wrong -- she's driven a manual for years). It died on her 4 times and we only live 1.5 miles from Leta! We dropped the car off. They couldn't get a technician to look at it until Monday, he confirmed the codes listed above (the check engine light had not come on again since it was read by Auto zone), cleared them and tested the MAP sensor. He then drove the car. He said the MAP and everything else tested fine, the car drove perfectly, there is nothing wrong with it.
Since then I've been a little afraid to drive it. I can't tell when it's going to act up. I've driven it to work a couple times this week and I've been really careful to shift before it reaches 3500 rpms. Maybe it's just me being sensitive but I think it starts to run rough and surge a little when I get it any higher than that. My redline isn't until 8k so this doesn't seem right.
I'm really hoping it's just the MAP sensor (they aren't that involved to replace), but if it is why wouldn't the light have come back on when it started acting up on Saturday?
I'm looking for some knowledgeable suggestions for my car. It seems to be having an intermittent problem that is affecting the drivability of the car. So far I haven't been able to confirm under which conditions it acts up, so I can't say that there is a specific set of symptoms.
This is what happened in agonizing detail.
On Friday of last week, I started the car up, reversed it down the drive way with no problems. The top part of the driveway is flat so I did have to apply a very small amount of gas to get it rolling. After backing out, I put it in first and had to rev a little to get it going up the hill in front of my house. Immediately, before I even reached the crest of the hill and could think about shifting into second, the car shuddered, had two, what sounded like backfires and died. All the lights came on and the steering wheel locked up. I came to a stop. Turned the key to the off position, waited a second (no more than 2 minutes) and restarted the car. It died again almost immediately. I tried a third time because I had to move the car out of the middle of the road, this time I got it to roll down the hill and halfway into my neighbor's drive way. It was idling terribly and although I was in first I couldn't get it to accelerate up the drive way. I noticed at this point that the check engine light was on.
I turned the car off and waited, probably 5 minutes. My father heard the commotion and came running down the street. He thought I had done something wrong so he got into the driver's seat, turned the car on. It shuddered but then started idling normally. I was incredulous that it was now working normally so I told him to drive it around the neighborhood. He did this with no problems and pronounced me crazy. He never went over 25 mph or took the car out of second gear.
That night we took it up to auto zone and had the code read.
The codes it threw:
P0108 Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) Sensor Circuit High Voltage
P0301 No. 1 Cylinder Misfire
P0302 No. 2 Cylinder Misfire
(not sure on the numbers of these second two, but I know there were two cylinder misfires and boy did I feel them when they happened)
We concluded that I hadn't done something wrong, and that maybe the sensor was dirty. AutoZone read the codes (but didn't clear them) so the check engine light went off. The car was now driving normally so Dad still thought I was doing something wrong and he decided that on Saturday I had to go practice the clutch in a parking lot. So that's just what I did.
I practiced for an hour on Saturday afternoon, I never rev'd the car over 3k or took it beyond 3rd. Then after feeling comfortable we decided to drive it to the store. On the way there I was in fourth right around 50 mph (49 mph is where the car wants to shift into 5th). I knew I was just going to slow down in a minute or two so I forewent shifting into 5th, but then the car started driving really rough. Even though I was keeping my foot evenly on the gas (I have been driving long enough to know how to do that!) it was surging as if I was pushing hard on the gas and then letting up very abruptly. I though, "my this is not right," and then pulled into the parking lot.
An hour later I returned to the car and attempted to drive it home. Now it was surging in the low gears, I had to speed up and immediately put in the clutch and coast in order to keep control of the car. As I steered it on to the outer road and tried to gain speed, it surged as if possessed. Then the car died at 40 mph when I had my foot on the gas. I sank the clutch in, put it in neutral and started the car again while it was still moving. It died twice more on the way home. The furthest we could get the car was Leta Honda just up the street, we didn't want to take it on any major roads. My mother offered to drive it there (once again thinking it was something I was doing wrong -- she's driven a manual for years). It died on her 4 times and we only live 1.5 miles from Leta! We dropped the car off. They couldn't get a technician to look at it until Monday, he confirmed the codes listed above (the check engine light had not come on again since it was read by Auto zone), cleared them and tested the MAP sensor. He then drove the car. He said the MAP and everything else tested fine, the car drove perfectly, there is nothing wrong with it.
Since then I've been a little afraid to drive it. I can't tell when it's going to act up. I've driven it to work a couple times this week and I've been really careful to shift before it reaches 3500 rpms. Maybe it's just me being sensitive but I think it starts to run rough and surge a little when I get it any higher than that. My redline isn't until 8k so this doesn't seem right.
I'm really hoping it's just the MAP sensor (they aren't that involved to replace), but if it is why wouldn't the light have come back on when it started acting up on Saturday?
04-04-2008, 03:44 PM
#3
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Re: (Gsr94black)
I've never encountered a problem like this. But i wouldn't think that a faulty MAP sensor would cause the driveablity issues that your manager is having, but anything is possible. It could also be the wiring, something could be grounding out and causing an issue like this. However the cylinder misfire codes do have me wondering if it is related to the MAP issue or if it is a separate issue.
Do you have anymore information about the car, like mileage and model.
Do you have anymore information about the car, like mileage and model.
04-07-2008, 12:17 AM
#4
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Re: (SkankyEJ7)
A faulty MAP sensor would do that. I had a faulty map sensor and my car drove like sh*t. The code would come on and off after I would clear it. I would probably get a new MAP sensor. Also I didn't know the guys from Autozone were capable of testing MAP sensors so I may want to replace that. Also look out for vacuum leaks.
04-07-2008, 08:48 AM
#6
I was also told today that the codes were cleared and the car has been fine for two days but this is the third time the codes have been cleared and she is unsure of how long the car will run normal for.
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04-08-2008, 03:59 PM
#8
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Re: (Gsr94black)
yo, you went to leta honda? frank leta honda? in o'fallon, MO? yo I'm in st. charles if you are. If not, I'm retarded. If so, hit me up man, I'm a fellow enthusiast who's building a local gruop together and I have a rsx
04-12-2008, 11:44 PM
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Re: (thetunersource)
ok its not the plugs i changed today i just posted a new topic on this int he integra thread cuz i need mine fixed i have search every where if you have any ideas on what it might be let us know
i know some one has had to have the cel p0108 before come on how did ya get rid of the code
i know some one has had to have the cel p0108 before come on how did ya get rid of the code
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