Kevin Kunert

My 1999 Honda Civic LX SOHC is stalling, jittering and pissed off to say the least.

(I don't know much about cars so bear with me).

I've had problems of overheating previously where my car's thermostat would hit 140. I think I've fixed the issue, I've replaced the thermostat but it was still doing that and 2 hoses blew and needed to be replaced. I've had to consistently fill my radiator with 50/50 antifreeze on a daily basis to ensure it won't overheat, so far that seems to be keeping the peace.

But now as of 5 days ago, I'm experiencing these new issues of stalling. Upon taking my civic into my mechanic, his meter showed that there was a misfire in the 2nd cylinder a month prior and now all 4 are misfiring. He thought it was the head gasket at first. I had just recently replaced the spark plugs with NGK Platinums, new spark plug wires and a new distributor cap.

I've received many possible culprits to my problem consisting of possibly the Throttle Position Sensor, Fuel Filter/Injection, Distributor or a radiator cap. I'm financially strapped at the moment and only could afford the radiator cap which didn't solve anything, however my radiator is running on 80% water at the moment. I'm really at a loss and I feel like I've done what I could and I'm at my wits end. Please help my poor little Civic cheat death for a little longer. Thank you

axis11

There really isn't such a thing as cheating a car's death. You can only prolong its suffering and possibly increase the damage but will eventually die if not treated properly.

Sorry to hear about that. But continuing to drive the car on overheating mode is a sure way to kill the engine. If your really desperate to have the car running for a few more days even if you know you will cause more damage to the engine, check this out.

-Remove thermostat( it will prevent the gas from being trapped)
-Take your old radiator cap and remove the little rubber and pin in the
center. (this will bleed the system of air and take in coolant from the reservoir and prevents pressurizing the system to minimize coolant entering the cylinders.)
Jump the thermo fan switch to keep the fans running.

Remember this steps are for desperate cases only and will not fix your problems. Have the car repaired ASAP before the bills gets higher.

Kevin Kunert

Thank you for your reply axis!

Well it apparently has gotten to the point that the engine needs to be replaced.
Coolant was leaking into te 2nd cylinder which made perfect sense cause or would struggle mostly in that gear. At the moment I'm deciding on what would be easiest/smartest. Rebuilding the engine, replacing the engine or replacing the motor with a b18 and a d16y7 head. I understand that te last option is a risk and not necessary and also that it may be more complicated and expensive to keep it automatic since I'm incapable of driving stick .

So I'm more leaning towards replacing the engine with a used one with hopefully low mileage. However rebuilding it would be great because it would start at 0 from my understanding, but I wonder how long that rebuilt engine would last , but I'd guess longer than a used replacement.

Any thoughts?

Thank you in advance!

Kevin

Yoitshector

Okay, I read everything about overheating, but what do you mean by this?^^^

axis11

If you will rebuild the engine yourself, its fine. It's more likely somebody else will. If I were to choose, I would go for a used Japaneese import engine from a reputable importer. The used engine that I got has racked up more than 200K kms in my use but still runs great even I beat it hard every day.