INVALID

First off, this is my brother's car and I've never owned an auto, and this is the first auto Honda Civic I have driven. My brother was telling me he was having issues with the car accelerating, stating it would barely make it to 80mph, if did it would take a long amount of time (actual minutes, not like 25 seconds) as well as seem to idle up high once he placed it into PARK and has arrived at his destination (not sure how high - there is no tach) but it would eventually come back down to what sounded like a decent idle. Basically, if he stomps on the gas, it will hesitate a bit, then take off. He has put AT LEAST 500 miles on this car.

History on the car: it had previously been sitting for a few months before he purchased it, it had not been driven at all during the course of 4, 5, hell 6 months. It has 100,000+ miles on it, most recent maintenance and changes would have been an oil change, flush and fill on the radiator as well as engine, and new tires.

I took the car for a test spin to get an idea of how bad things may be. Well, giving the gas pedal a medium range of pressure it would seem like any other car, eventually making its way up to about 60mph. I take it out on the highway starting easing it up to about 40mph then give the pedal more pressure taking it up to 50mph, 51, 52, 53, 53, 52, 51, 50, 49. I was still applying more pressure to the pedal but the car was actually <FONT SIZE="2">decelerating and stalling</FONT> right at about 50. So I go back to about medium pressure and ease it up to about 70mph and let off. I allow it to drop down to about 10 mph then step on it as if I had a 5-speed. It slowly eased up to 20 mph (it sounded like shi) got stuck on 35 mph, and wouldn't budge until I let off and applied medium pressure to it, then made its way past 40mph and repeated its process at 50mph again. I pull off and sit for a minute and decide I will attempt to manually go through the auto gears. 1, 2, D3, D4, the same thing, as I pull off to the side scratching my head I notice the CEL has just come on. Not having anything handy I head home for some wires to plug into the ECU. I cut the car off and can't get the CEL to come back.. of course not

I take it out for another spin in hopes of finding out what CEL it was, after about 15 minutes of trying to beat on it, I get nothing and bring it back home to make sure the dang light is even working. I unplug the O2 sensor and get nothing. Turn the car on, and there finally is the O2 sensor CEL. So not only does this thing suck, I have to have the car TURNED ON to actually get and check a CEL from it because once I turned it off and switched it to the ON position I could get a read out on the O2 CEL any longer. If I attempt to check the car and it is not registering a CEL, the CEL will basically just remain ON, so I'm just going to leave the jumper wire plugged into it for now.

At this point, for me, everything seems fairly broad, I'm not even certain where I am going to start from. I think one of injectors may be faulty due to the way it kind of won't accelerate when the pedal is stomped down. Maybe something fuel related, but I don't understand why it is getting stuck at those two speeds, both 35 mph and 50 mph. I'm going to suggest my brother change out his plugs and plug wires, he and I will have to check the fuel rail and injectors. With the way the car is acting, could this really be a vacuum issue somewhere. My brother told me the previous owner had the car sitting for a long while and actually encountered a rat living somewhere under the engine bay. So it could have possibly chewed up some vacuum lines somewhere. There are just a number of things I need to check and I would like some <FONT SIZE="3">suggestions either from those who may have experienced similar problems or those who are rather technically seasoned that have dealt with Honda problems again and again</FONT>.

I realize this is one of those difficult problems, so I imagine I will be viewing it from a few pages back every now and then so please bump it when you can as a favor to me. I appreciate your time, thanks.

Did I search and read, you're dang right I did. Everything from "bad acceleration to poor acceleration to recent topics to archived, in the EG forum, Integra, as well as Tech, and not to mention Topic bodies and Post bodies.


**This has nothing to do with adding mods or Honda Civics being slow in general, this is a problem that requires an actual answer beyond swap out the engine, boost it, or nos**

IHateJDM

I would start by putting a timing light on it, and compression checking the motor. Get the results of those, and go from there.

SirRevvs

EDIT: I reread what you wrote and it definitely sounds transmission related. Do what I suggested below. It might have the wrong kind of fluid in it or your bands may be going out. Regardless def sounds tranny related.

Check the transmission fluid as well. Sounds like it may be having a problem in between gears. I'd also reccomend changing the fluid and filter (doing a service)

Luserkid

As i was reading it all that popped in my head was Torque Converter. But before i jump to saying thats what it is, try flushing the transmission and changing the oil. Also run a compression test because it is an old motor, you want to make sure the engine is still heathly.

Kamin

its definatley possible its a transmission problem, do a torque converter stall test

find somewhere safe to do this

put the car in drive
pull the ebrake as high as you can
stand on the brake pedal
mash the gas
the engine will only rev to the maximum spin of the torque converter and hold there.
hold for a second, release

im not sure what the stock TQC is rated at but if its below 2000 there could be a problem.

it could also be an ignition OR fuel problem. spark plugs, coil, fuel injectors, all came to mind

only thing you can do is just start basic troubleshooting.

Spade

I agree with everyone, you pretty much just need to do a run over of the car.

Archidictus

Vacuum problems can definately make a big difference in the acceleration characteristics of a car, but it usually makes itself evident on the bottom end of the powerband rather than at the top where the engine is pulling more air anyway.

This is kind of odd. I actually don't know if I would point the finger at the torque converter just yet - simply because you said it was hesitating at two difrferent speeds - and that's something I haven't run into as a fault of the torque converter before.

If nothing else, this is a free bump.

INVALID

I appreciate everyone's input this far, soon as I get the car back up and running I will begin trying everything suggested. Just my luck, the ICM went out on me Until then I am going to change out the transmission fluid, check for vacuum leaks, fuel injectors, and I omitted earlier because I wasn't aware, but the spark plugs have been changed out as well. Possibly re check/gap the plugs take out and inspect, maybe it's getting too much fuel or too little.

Once I get the car running, I'm going to swap in my EX/SI cluster so I can see what's going on with the RPMs see when it is switching over as far as gears.

INVALID

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SirRevvs &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">EDIT: I reread what you wrote and it definitely sounds transmission related. Do what I suggested below. It might have the wrong kind of fluid in it or your bands may be going out. Regardless def sounds tranny related.

Check the transmission fluid as well. Sounds like it may be having a problem in between gears. I'd also reccomend changing the fluid and filter (doing a service)</TD></TR></TABLE>

What do you mean, the bands may be going out, I'm starting to do my searches on Torque Convertors now see how much trouble I may be getting myself into or how to and how much it will cost him if I replace it, if testing happens to go that far.

poison

Ok...first thing, of course, knock out the simple things.

When receiving a car for troubleshooting, many of the procedures mechanics do and from what you've listed, you have done. And being that it has sat there for a while and not started, many things can happen over tha time. Weather changes, animals, bugs, rodents, rust, corrosion, etc..

First thing, change out all fluids. While doing so, though, you also want to visually inspect the fluids, and see the results. When the oil was drained, was it normally black with no foreign objects? Same with the antifreeze, and tranny oil.

The next thing, to get it up and running to optimal specs, is to change out the spark plugs, fuel filter, spark plug wires, cap/rotor, air filter. Of course if the air filter is clean, then it's good. While doing so, also inspecting the spark plugs (what color they were, and what they looked like). Fuel filter isn't much but is something. You will also want to look inside the cylinder walls and see if there is any foreign objects, or signs of it as well.

The next thing, do a dry and wet compression test. Grab a compression tester, and with assistance from someone else, have them hold it at WOT and crank the engine using the starter. Then take the results, drop a cap of oil into the cylinders, and do the compression test again. This will show whether the rings, valve seals, or head gasket is bad.

The next thing you'll want to do, is pull the valve cover and do the valve gap check. You'll want to grab a feeler gauge and check the gapping between the cam lobe and the rocker arm. The cylinder you do must be at TDC. So, easiest to do best with cyl #1 first, rotate the crank, check #3, then #4, then #2. The gapping on the factory DX motor with factory cam I believe is .003.

Then visually inspect all the vacuum lines, ALL wires, sensors, and check for any chewed or broken signs.

Now to the problem -- Look at the TPS and throttle body. Remove the throttle body and clean that along with the inside of the intake manifold with carb/choke cleaner.

Remove the IACV and clean the screens on that. Check the MAP sensor and idle screw area and make sure everything is clean.

I'll be checking back. Good luck.

JDMlyfestyle

Sorry wish i could be more help. this definately sounds more along the lines of the transmission. i dont have a whole lot of transmission problems and ive never owned a automatic nor worked on one.

id check the Torqe converter. Tranny filter? (not sure if it has a tranny filter my dads legend did)
a Simple Compression test.
Fuel injector test to be sure the injectors are not clogged.
Basic Tune up.

A lil advice on the CEL. when i get a CEL while im driving. i never shut the car off i grab my lil jumper and run the codes.