wheelerboy12

alright so when i first got my civic it started right up, within seconds of turning it to start, but recently within the last two or three weeks its rapidly getting harder and harder to start, as it is right now i have to crank it constantly for at least one minute and thirty seconds, before it will fire up, ive also noticed in the past week or so a severe drop in MPG last time i put $20 in my tank (from empty) i got 5.6 gallons and went for 250 miles, this last week i put in another $20 and only went 148 miles till empty, thats a 100 mile loss! along with the drop in MPG i noticed it started smoking at lower RPM's the whole time ive had it it has smoked at high RPMS around 7k but now it is starting to smoke around 6k, i know thats due to blow by, but the fact that theres more is concerning me.


Shortened info

Takes 1.5 minutes of cranking to start
small loss in power on take off
big drop in MPG
279,000 miles
smokes around 6K
previous owner had not maintained the car, the oil had not been changed in maybe 15-20k miles, he just kept adding it as it leaked it (the oil has been changed since i got it, but it was pure sludge)

Tomorrow i plan on testing the compression, i know it would be helpful if i already had the numbers but i have to borrow the tester tomorrow.

i also plan on borrowing a socket extension so i can check my plugs (i know i should have extensions but when you have a little brother who likes to take tools and use them then loose them they dont last to long haha)

Anyways thanks for the help.


Oh and if it means anything when its cold i have an idle issue, it will bounce between 1500 and 2000 and once it gets a little warmer it will bounce between 1000 and 1500 then when its fully warm it idles normal.

jbpnoman

To accurately calculate gas mileage, fill the tank. Reset the trip meter. Drive until 1/4 tank is left. Refill (FILL), and divide new trip meter reading by gallons filled. "$x only lasted y miles" doesn't really mean anything useful.

Full tune up. Plugs, wires, cap, rotor, oil, oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, and some carb cleaner in the throttle body. Check your battery voltage before trying to start the car. With that kind of mileage (and that kind of **** poor maintenance from the previous owner) do not fiddle with any fuel additives, oil additives, or anything else. Seafoam (and anything at all like it) is out of the question in the crank or through a vacuum line. The gunk it would clean out is probably the only thing holding your engine together right now. A third of a bottle in your next full tank wouldn't do any harm, though, and might clean up your injectors a bit.

If that doesn't resolve your problem, check your timing, check your spark color (it should be bright white), and do dry and wet compression tests. Post the compression numbers.

wheelerboy12

Thank you for the quick reply, as for gas i dont quite see how my way of measuring does not work? i put 5.6 gallons in and went 245 miles so 245/5.6=43.75 therefor for that , i guess you could call it tank since i cant afford to fill it, i got 43.75 MPG and for the second "fill up" i got 5.8 gallons and i went 148 miles therefore 148/5.8=25.5 so for that i got 25.5 MPG i dont see how that is in accurate? i took the amount of gas i got, and divided it by how far i went, Both of those were from dead empty as the car died as i rolled up to the pump both times, (turns out i have the most accurate fuel gauge ever haha) although i understand that that method is a little bit more accurate i dont see a real problem with the way i did it, I dont mean to come off rude just curious if theres something im not getting?

Also i Already ran almost a whole bottle of seafoam through my brake booster vacuum line it actually made a big improvement in the performance, and i put half a bottle in my tank when i first got the car, and a few days ago when i was trying to tuck the injector wires i ended up pulling it all apart and cleaning my injectors with injector cleaner.
as for airfilter its brand new, oil filter was changed with oil already, but jiffy lube said that my fuel filter has never been changed and that its the same one the car came with when it rolled off the line, but i dont trust them and when i looked at it i had no idea how to tell.

im going to pull the valve cover off tomorrow and see what it looks like...

jbpnoman

I've been awake for 30 hours at this point, so pardon this over-simplified explanation. You're dividing column B (second drive) by column A (first fill-up). That doesn't work mathematically. You need to divide the mileage you used the gas, by that gas used. I feel you on the "couldn't afford to fill it up" thing, I've been there. Don't sweat it, just don't expect accurate numbers until you can do two complete fills. It doesn't even have to be 3/4 of a tank used. You can do it with a half tank used, or even a quarter. You will get a more accurate number if you use more gas, and you shouldn't ever let your tank get below 1/4, so 3/4 is just the "perfect" spot, if you will.

I'm surprised that bottle of seafoam to the vacuum didn't destroy your motor, but that's good to hear. Good call cleaning the injectors when you had them out, too.

So you have the air and oil filters done, and oil changed. Definitely replace the fuel filter. If you don't know when it was replaced, assume it was never replaced. Same with the plugs, wires, cap, and rotor. If you shop smart, you can get all of your ignition components for under $100, just make sure you use quality parts. The fuel filter should also be cheap. There's a link in the stickies about finding quality, OEM replacement parts - give it a look. For a place to start, check out http://www.rockauto.com/.

Don't pull the valve cover if you don't need to. When you pull it, you're supposed to replace the valve cover gasket and spark plug grommets, and I'm assuming you're trying to avoid dumping unnecessary money into your car. You should be able to rent a timing light from your local autozone/advanced to check the timing yourself For free ninety nine. It's a fairly simple process, and there's a how-to in the FAQ's sticky. Same deal with dry and wet compression tests - rent the compression tester, do the standard (dry) test, then put a few drops of oil in each cylinder as you repeat the test. Make sure to disconnect your distributor when you do it, so you don't accidentally burn up the coil.

Honestly, at this point, you would probably see a very noticeable gain in gas mileage just from the ignition tune-up. That's the plugs, wires, cap, and rotor I keep talking about. That's definitely where I would start.

wheelerboy12

Terribly sorry, ive been up for quite a while also, im still not quite getting what you are saying gas wise? i filled my tank up from empty, reset my trip meter and then ran it to empty again, took the miles i had and then divided it by the amount of gas i had originally put in it? does that not work? or did i just miss explain my method last time?

I do plan on doing a full tune up and such as soon as the money comes in.

thanks for the help again.

jbpnoman

It doesn't quite work. You want to divide by the amount you put in on the second fill, not the first. You can't be precise without doing it that way. The way you're doing it gives more of a "rough guestimate", and 43 MPG isn't realistic without an extremely healthy (and modified, and tuned for gas mileage) engine, and some hypermiling. On the other side of the coin, 25 is a little bit below the lower end of where it should be.

wheelerboy12

Ahh i see... think i get it now, that makes sense how it would only be a rough estimate, but either way based on my two rough estimates, my first one from when i forst got the car, about a month and a half ago, and my second one from last week that is still showing a drastic drop whether or not its super accurate, if that makes any sense to you.

jbpnoman

It makes sense, I'm just an accountant. I don't trust soft numbers

Regardless, you'll probably see a drastic improvement with the tune up and timing check. Like I said, the fuel filter is stupidly cheap - I would start with that with the spare change in your couch, bed, and dryer, and do the rest of your ignition system when you have the cash for it.

wheelerboy12

My fuel filter costs $14.99

jbpnoman

And you'll get that fifteen bucks back from a few tanks of gas, and a healthier engine

wheelerboy12

Did a wet test... Not good, starting at the dizzy and going right i got
1: 180
2: 165
3: 175
4: 175

wonderful.

jbpnoman

Did you do a dry test first?

wheelerboy12

No i did not have a chance to do a dry test bc my valve cover leaks so bad that when i took the plugs out some oil got into the cylinders