Darth_Pewee

First i wanna say that it is great that there is a place to get help about my new investment.

As i said i just acquired a 1982 Honda Civic Wagon with a 1.5L engine.

it has been sitting for an unknown amount of time in a shed body in great condition interior in good condition all electrical even in good condition.

The problem that i am having is with the engine. since buying it i have done pretty simple maintenance on it. changed the oil, air filter, plugs and wires, even ran some Sea-Foam through the crankcase and fuel system.

the engine does not want to idle at all, especially when cold. after warming up it is a little better, but no where near where it should be, if it idles for too long it will die. also when stepping on accelerator from like a stop sign it has a huge hesitation, to the point where its a chore to keep it running.

I am a mechanic, i just know nothing of carburetors. where is a place to start looking for this problem.

i know the car is not tired yet.. it has less then 100k on it... its a Honda.. its still a baby

any help greatly appreciated..

Thanks,
Raymond

realred96

First check for leaking vacuum lines. This car has a bunch of them. i would start with the PCV line that goes to the carb from the underside of the air cleaner. the lines are probably hard and cracked due to age.

Change the fuel fuel filters. There is one behind the driver side rear wheel and one by the carb.

The jets in the carb are probably varnished and partially clogged. You can try one of the various fuel additives and see if it will clear up the problem, but in the end you may have to pull the carb and clean it out.

Don't be scared of of the carbs, they are not as complicated as they look. Just take your time.

Stellar3G

check the "vacuum advance line" (correct me if i have the wrong name for it, my buddy told me that's what it's called) it's the small one that comes from under the breather, and connects just behind the distributer cap.. Mine was unplugged and couldn't figure it out for the life of me why this car idled so irratically... I actually found the hose disconnected when i went to rip the carb appart to see if a good carb cleaning was indeed what i needed. I plugged that puppy back in, and... steady idle.. still a bit high, but steady. It did give me a reason to procrastinate the carb rebuild...lol for now.

Cheers,
DJ


Oh crap, I thought you said 84, my bad... maybe none of this'll help.... I'll shut up...

Darth_Pewee

Thanks for the Replies guys, i will definatley look into these things and see what happens..

i had heard that the fuel filters had been changed, but no idea how long fuel had sat in them, no one can seem to give me an accurate history of the car. i recently looked at the vacuum schematics of the car too, and your not lying it has indeed a bunch of them.

Pretty sure it has a vacuum advance line to. so will definatley check into that.

letank

I would change both fuel filters again, or start with the first one by the gas tank.

The new formulated gas has given me some issues in the non DD vehicles. I think the ethanol seems to do a few things. My fuel pressure went from barely 1 to 4 psi after fuel filter replacements. Of course I had changed the fuel pump, but after a year, I had some issues.... and discovered the low fuel pressure on a pump with less than 500 miles, and this was on 2 vehicles that have the same motor configuration.

Rutspeed

These guys are right. For sure, when any car has been sitting for a while, changing the fuel filters and running fresh gas through it is the way to go.

Also, don't be afraid to take the carb off and clean it all out yourself. Just mark your lines so you know where to reconnect everything. Once you take it apart, be careful...most likely stuff is nasty and brittle in there. You can clean out the jets, which are little holes where the fuel flows through. with either some wire or pipe cleaners, or sewing needles depending on their size.

Get a can of carb cleaner and you can soak stuff in it too...they're pretty neat. Get a manual for the car, which can be found online. That will help you a lot too.

Good luck !

guywaters

I would beware of running any old honda on low fuel. the sediment will clog the filters