CrazybigB

Hey everyone I'm new to Honda-Tech.com. I've had problems with my 2005 Civic EX Special Edition and I've searched and searched the forums (and even google) and haven't found anyone with a similar problem. My mechanical knowledge is limited, I don't do much of anything DIY.

My car has been in and out of the shop for the past 2 months (I've only owned it for 3 months). It has 70,000 miles, its 2005 Civic EX Special Edition Coupe. 1.7L4 PFI SOHC. I bought it from someone who told me it came out of Florida (I live in NC) and it had been sitting a little while (unsure how long, but I noticed when I changed the airfilter it had pecans and leaves inside where a squirrel had probably gotten in there).

Clean title. Test drove it, it ran fine, bought it and took it home. I bought it took it to a mechanic just to look over it and he said it looked great. No rust or anything. Put full synthetic Mobil 1 oil in it, no leaks, ran perfect.

After about a month I decided to get the timing belt changed. I've always heard people suggest at 60k miles to change it (manual says 100kish, or like 4 years), so I had it done at a local reputable mechanic shop that works on Hondas. They changed the Timing Belt, Water Pump, both drive, belts, cam and crank gaskets and the tensiors. When they changed everything, they where honest and told me they accidently broke the coolant sensor and replaced it.

Took the car home, drove it for a week and drove fine, then threw a Check Engine Light. Code P303 said Cylinder 3 was misfiring. I replaced the Ignition Coil #3. Reset check engine light and car was fine for about another week. Then all the sudden it throws a bunch of check engine lights codes read all the cylinders were misfiring.

Took it to mechanic had NGK sparkplugs placed thinking that may be causing it. Check Engine Light went off and has stayed off since, but my car idles rough from a cold start up. Drove it home. For about a week it kept idling rough from a cold start, I was told to put a few hundred miles on it and it should go away.

Put some Lucas Fuel Treatment and later put Seafoam (only did gas tank) with ethanol free gas. Didn't help.

About a week after that, I noticed my temperature gauge was going haywire, reading really hot then really cold, and noticed when I turned on the A/C it only blew cold BELOW 30 mph. Took it back to same mechanic and the coolant sensor they replaced, went bad. Had coolant sensor replaced and was good for now.

Drove car for a little while, noticed it was still rough idling on start-up so I took it back to mechanic and they said my valves were off 18 thousands of an inch and max allowed is 11 thousandths of an inch. They did a valve clearance and fixed it for about a couple days.

That's been about a week and a half since valve clearance, and it's still idling rough as hell on start up, now on EVERY start up, not just cold start ups. I've noticed I was getting over 400 miles on a tank, now I'm barely breaking 300 miles a tank and my car is idling at about 1500 rpm when sitting still.

I was driving home with my family from an amusement park yesterday and with my A/C blowing fine, the temp gauge kept reading really hot, then went down to normal after driving a little longer.

So what could be wrong? It rides normal. No check engine lights now. Only rough idling on start up (bad) and my gas mileage is sucking bad. A buddy of mine (a DIYer, but not a mechanic) said it's possible either the shop messed up on my timing belt and timings off, or there could be an air bubble in my coolant line. I haven't done anything to the fuel filters or fuel injectors yet.

Besides this issue it's a great little car, and I just switched over to Honda from driving Chevys my whole life. Please try and suggest what I should have looked at next so I can make my Honda experience a better one.

Thanks in advance!!!

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

The way your temperature gauge is spiking, it makes me think that your head gasket may be blown. A leakdown test may help point that out, but its not always 100% accurate. But, the overlying issue is that there seems to be a ton of miscommunication to/from the ECU. Its not uncommon for the ECU to go bad on these cars, but its a bit of a pain to replace (from a logistical standpoint) as it needs to be flashed by a licensed Honda dealer to match your immobilizer ring in your car.

CrazybigB

Thanks for the reply,

I did read something in another forum that mentioned the coolant head gasket, is that the same head gasket you are talking about? (Sorry, I'm not too familiar with specifics of an engine).

I will go have a leakdown test done. Are there any other tests that can look for a head gasket issue?

The Coolant fans do not turn on and my overflow is all the way backed up to the top.

Could there be something messed up when my headgasket seals were replaced? I had them done when I had my timing belt done.

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

Well, there's really only one head gasket. It mounts between the head (which houses your cams and manages the intake/exhaust of air and fuel). Besides a leakdown test, you may want to have the coolant tested to see if it has exhaust gases in the coolant.

upcomintuner

Sounds like when my head gasket went out. The only other thing would be maybe to test the compression in each cylinder so you know if they're actually misfiring or not. Mine were not fully misfiring as I would've felt 3 cylinders misfiring. More than likely it's the head gasket though. Check the oil to see if it's milky looking.

dpetro1

im wondering if the mechanical and/or iginition timing is off. the problems didn't start until after the t-belt change. timing could definitely cause the misfire codes.

Rudy N Alvarez

check if there is water in the intake by pass the IAC and see if the car still acts up

Rudy N Alvarez

@dpetro1 loss in compression could also cause random misfire and p301 i would check would do a compression check on cylinder 3 and compare them to the cylinders next to it

john222

Sounds like that garage really messed up your car. BTW, don't know why you screwed with the timing belt that early.

Anyway, all that aside. If the coolant tank is filling up and the temperature gage is acting up, it's probably the headgasket. The whole valve clearance thing also sounds bogus. Have to wonder if they have the timing off a tooth and screwed up the head Gasket???

dpetro1

Incorrect timing would not cause a headgasket failure

john222

Sorry that's not what I intended to say. What I intended to say was, "In addition to screwing up the head gasket, maybe they also screwed up the timing, resulting in your rough idle, poor fuel economy and performance.

However, I would also take another look at that CTS...

JDMnStance

man that is some bogus ****. sounds like the shop did more wrong to your car than they did right.

Chikingcha

Damn that sucks.