my_zero

I bought this civic a few months ago. needed a beater car. it's in decent shape but I'm having a bit of an issue.

A few days ago, I started my car up after work and everything was normal.

I let it idle of about 2 minutes while I was looking for a podcast on my phone. All of a sudden, the rpms dropped and the engine kind of sputtered for a few seconds before the RPMs jumped back up to normal. I let it sit for another minute or so and it did it again, except this time it stalled completely.

I turned the key and it fired up immediately and seemed normal. I let it sit for another few minutes and it didn't happen again. I was able to drive home without an issue.

Drove fine the rest of that night and for the next couple days, although sometimes when moving, I felt like a slight "chug" every once in a while - although I can't say for sure if this is related as the tranny in this car doesn't shift very smooth all of the time and I may have just felt it downshifting, but I'm not 100%.

So yesterday, I'm driving - no issues. I start to turn into a parking lot that was slightly on a hill. The car sputtered as I was turning in. I gave it some more gas it and it picked back up and got me up the slope before sputtering again and stalling. Again, I was able to restart it, but it seemed like it wanted to keep sputtering at a stop. To safely get it home, I put the car in neutral (automatic btw) and kept the RPMs up when stopped then dropped it into gear when I could move again. I was able to make it the rest of the way home, but by the time I got home and stopped in my drive way, the car seemed to idle fine and wouldn't sputter/stall again.


Some more info - this car does have a gas leak somewhere - I haven't figured out where yet. You can just smell gas very slightly when standing outside of the car (never inside). It has been leaking since before I bought it. No visible leaks that I can see but I haven't dove into it very much - previous owner says a "mechanic" was unable to find where it was coming from. The motor has been running absolutely fine up until this week though.

So my thoughts -

Gas leak has gotten worse and motor is getting starved? Fuel pump or fuel filter possibly?

I haven't started the car since. Took the day off tomorrow so I can dig into it, but just trying to get some ideas in case anyone has experienced the same thing. Car always starts just fine (cold or warm).

Thanks.

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

engine lights on?

my_zero

None. forgot to mention that.

my_zero

Also, the day after I bought it, I installed new plugs, wires, and air filter. So, maybe 3,000 miles since that happened.

fcm

Check FPR, check PGM-FI Main Relay. 94