musicfire67

Hello All,

I am new posting to the forum. I have searched the forum before and used some suggested troubleshooting steps. I like the support here

I have a 1998 Honda Civic DX

Its the base model, no AC or power windows or locks

This all started when I had a slight collision on my front end. It cracked my manifold caused me to replace the o2 sensor. I replaced the plugs and wires
- everything was good for a few months.

- Now I drove it home from work went to start it a few hours later. The engine would crank but no fire
- I pulled a plug to check spark and nothing
- I then pulled my distributor to have it tested, the coil was bad
- Napa replaced the coil for me
- i put the distributor in the same place i removed it
- The car sputters but won't start fully, acting like its flooded
- ran into someone at Walmart they came and looked at it, guy said he was a mechanic. He agreed that it sounded and smelled flooded. So he said there was a way to clear that out by holding full throttle and starting, after a few the car started. seemed to run good at idle, then i took for a test drive. The car cuts out very bad then the engine light began to blink.

- I'm going to run the engine codes per this forum and get back.

- Open to all idea's and suggestions

Thank you

Former User

Pull the codes.

How old are the plugs, wires, cap, and rotor? If old, that could have been the reason the coil blew.

steve_p43

May be a long shot, but I had a loose ground wire on the distributor that caused my car to run similar. Would sput and had a hard time starting. When it did start, it ran very rough.

musicfire67

Thanks for the reply.

I ran the codes. It pulled a random misfire cylinder 3. I replaced the plugs and cleared the code.

Car starts and runs. It's very sluggish at low rpm. I can hold the throttle in one spot it will spit and sputter until it passes about 2500 I want to say ( no tach ) then all the power is there! Extremely responsive above that rpm. As soon as the rpm's go down its back to sounding like a misfire.

Engine light did not come back on. I replaced the wires and filter less than 5000 miles ago. They are in good shape.

Nothing was wrong before. Ran great. Please help.

96_coupe

Correct me if I am wrong but doesn't turning the distributer change the timing? Is it possible that it just isn’t timed 100% right? Just an idea

musicfire67

Yes, would be possible. I did try my best to mark it and put in the same spot. Any stores do this for free?

steve_p43

Prob not, you can get a cheap adjustable timing gun from harbor freight, or buy a quality item to have for awhile, and check it yourself. Plenty of writeups online how to do it.

But I would definately go over your distributor, check all the connections under the rotor/cap.

musicfire67

Thanks.

Do you think my issue is timing for it to cut out below 2000-2500rpm? It runs great above that.

musicfire67

update:

replaced all spark plugs. still same issue. I noticed the distributor was slightly adjustable. I moved it far to the left. The car runs much better but still has a 1 second cut out then its great. thanks for your replies

96_coupe

Sorry I couldn't provide a complete fix, but I'm glad it runs better!