ranamv619

Whatup people, need some help with possibly diagnosing a problem on my civic. It is a 1997 civic ex coupe with 135***k miles on it 5 speed. I am new in these forums so if im lacking on info please let me know so i can be more detailed. anyways, ill try to be as descriptive as i can so it is easy to understand.
I'm driving back home from school, stopped at a turn signal, light turns green i put it in first and i began to slowly accelerate. As i am turning I'm pressing on the gas revving it up to between 3k and 4k rpm, which is where i usually change gears. BUT instead of the rpms going up, out of no where when it gets to around 2,500rpms they go down WHILE I'm still pressing on the gas pedal. In my head I am like, "well maybe i am not pressing on the gas enough", so i press on it a bit harder. When i do this the rmps are still decreasing! Since I am still pressing a bit hard to try and get the car to accelerate, out of nowhere the car decides to accelerate and it jerks kind of like when someone is learning how to drive manual. I pulled into a parking lot open the hood and too me it sound like is running fine, i pull a bit on the throttle cable and it runs fine no weird noises. (Also tranny has no grind to it on any gear) So i pull out of the parking lot to drive home, and it does it again so i shift into second and it does the same thing. So then i put it in neutral and pull over and it acts like it wants to turn off for a bit. I turned off the car waited for a minute, turned it back on drove it just fine, i come to another stop light and it does it again! -_- i drove it that way all the way to the mechanic. He test drives it and it doesn't do it to him. Kind of like when you go to the doctor and out of no where you are not sneezing anymore. Ha! Any info would be really helpful! Also before i forget, i dont know if this might be effecting the problem, i removed the distributor yesterday to get to the heater hose clamp in order to remove it easier. I put everything bacl how it was so idk. Thank you!

Thor294

Did the problem happen BEFORE you messed with your distributor? Did it start happening after you removed this? Maybe you fudged it up putting it back on.


IF THE DIST checks out okay....

I would do a visual check on your plugs/wires. Was the fuel filter ever changed? You gotta think of what an engine needs to work.

Engine needs air/fuel/spark to run good. Verify all 3 and you should be fine .

ranamv619

It started doing it a few days later after i removed the distributor. But i made sure i put it back how it was. Ive bren reading that it could be a faulty TPS but the thing is that the check engine light was not on. UNTIL today, i unplugged the TPS after it started doing it again today, and it seems like it is not doing it anymore.although i did reconected to see if it did it again andd it did but the check engine light stayed on even though it was connected. So i just redesconected it and i am leaving it like that to see if the problem returns. And I've had the car for about 2-3 weeks, the orevious owner said it got a tune up, new spark plugs amd such. Idk about the fuel pump or fuel filter. Also, what should i check for if wires or spark plugs are bad?

Thor294

If you think its the TPS, you really need a scan tool to see what the TPS is reading.

Sh*t usually doesnt randomly break. I would double check your distributor assembly.

ranamv619

Well i think the TPS i fried now. Haha after disconnecting it and connecting it back the CEL did not turned off. I took it to autozone to get it checked with the reader they use and they said it was the TPS code that was coming up. But i noticed that the problem didnt come up aftwr i disconnected it. So i connected it back and car is running fine now. I will wait to see if problem appears again

Thor294

Depending on the software, that CEL might stay on till the car realizes the TPS is OK and itll turn the light off and store it as a history code.