Slammed95civic

Hey everybody. Just bought myself a 95 civic with a rebuilt d16z6, this is my first Honda. I bought as a project to mess around with hence it is not my daily driver. I'm not an expert with hondas but am not dumb with mechanics. Again it's not my daily so no rush or urgency with the issues it has. Basically car drives fine, has plenty of power, shifts great. Issue it has is a very low idle roughly around 100-200rpms and misses also at idle. There is also a strong smell of fuel and my fuel economy is crap (ate a little over a quarter tank in 55 miles lol). I cleaned the IACV for starters and it did nothing. The distributor is dead center on its mount. Plugs and wires are a week old as well as the cap and rotor. Another thing is that it doesn't like cold starts, will a die a few times before it'll catch long enough for me to get it some gas. From my experience, and I could be wrong, is that in a cold start situation there is usually some kind of fast idle valve that will idle the engine high until it warms up and it will close it self while IACV takes control of the idle. If that's true then my fast idle valve is definatley not working. And I discovered earlier my engine light doesn't work lol so I don't have a good direction to start in except for replacing parts until its gone, hopefully. Anyway I was looking for some advice from someone who has had a similar problem or a Honda god that can crap knowledge. Thanks!

tlarimer

iTrader: (3)

1: replace the CEL(Check Engine Light) bulb and pull the codes. There is a good write up in the FAQ on how to do this.
2: Are you using OEM honda parts or using Generic parts store crap? Honda's, while they will run, don't like anything besides OEM parts, especially ignition related parts.
3. did you check timing or just visually inspect the distributor for placement? Sounds like the timing is off, again, there is a good write up in the FAQ for timing.

Slammed95civic

Thanks for the info. Unsure of oem parts the po did that before I bought it. I did advance and retard the ignition timing some, I found that advancing it would make it idle a little faster and the miss would subside slightly, but at the cost of engine power and some bogging and if I revved it up to 4000rpms and let it drop down to idle, it would go down to 100ish rpms and sit there, and there was still a smell of gas form the engine bay. Will definatley get on fixing the cel as that is a must. With my experience it kinda sounds like a bad o2 sensor or maybe a dirty map sensor. I did unplug both of those and it ran the same although it would die sometimes at idle with the map unplugged. Of course that doesn't neccesarily rule anything out. One more thing, looking at the tps sensor I found that it looks like its riveted to the throttle body. Is that normal.

tlarimer

iTrader: (3)

I was thinking o2 sensor, but until you get the CEL working, it's just guessing and throwing money at it. The CEL bulb is the same as other bulbs in the cluster, try swapping with your cruise control bulb. The TPS is normally riveted on, I've never had to mess with the TPS.

Slammed95civic

Cel is fixed, was missing a bulb and it is on. Now I know there is a harness a need to jump. Is it on the passenger side? If so there are to harnesses dangling from under the glove box one is a 2 pin the other is a 3 pin. I believe its the 2 pin connector. I also lack a manual ill
pick one up on friday, but ill post what the cel flashes, sorry im so needy lol.

motegicivic

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-del-sol-1992-2000-1/how-pull-cel-d4-srs-abs-codes-code-lists-1901557/

Slammed95civic

Thanks a bunch that's easy enough, I have to go to work for a few hours ill scan when I get off. Thanka again.

jdmcx

are you using a stock ecu? check and see if it is chipped

Slammed95civic

Its a p28 not sure if it is chipped, is that something visible from the outside casing or will I have to open the ecu? Also not sure if the z6 came stock, badges are removed because it was painted and they were never our back on. It does have power windows and locks so ir may be the ex model.

kyden

if it has a sunroof it is an ex model. you will have to open the ecu to see if it is stock or not.

Slammed95civic

It is an ex I forgot to mention the sunroof.

Slammed95civic

I paper clipped the test harness together and kept getting code 6 over and over, I turned the key off after the ninth time. A google search landed me at the engine coolant temperature sensor. Upon visual inspection I noticed that one of the wires on the 2 pin connector below the dizzy had come out of the connector, im gonna run down to the autostore to get some connectors to fix it, but I don't think thats causing the problem, im still thinking o2 sensor but you never know that ECT might fix everything.

tlarimer

iTrader: (3)

Actually that makes a lot of sense, the ect controls a lot of the way the engine runs, making it run rich, because it thinks the engine is still cold or it is bypassing the missing sensor and running the ecu default program and value for the loss of signal from the ect

Slammed95civic

I was looking at the wrong thing, the actual sensor is on the t stat housing and the connector end of the sensor and the connector itself are busted and the connection is so loose that its held to the sensor with a zip tie. The more I look into this motor the more I realize that whoever did this swap didn't do a good job. Rear engine mount is loose, passenger side mount is missing a bolt, dizzy is missing 2 of the 3 bolts that hold it on. Am thinking about yanking this motor out if I can't figure out this issue and just slapping a d15 in it and enjoy the mpgs while the z6 gets a make over. I get paid on friday then ill pick up another temperature sensor and a manual. Ill keep everyone posted.

Slammed95civic

Okay I got it all figured out thanks to google. Learned that there are 3 parts to the ECT. The one I need to be concerned with is the actual temperature sensor which is the 2 wire sensor under and toward the front of the dizzy (thought it was the one on the t stat housing). One of the wires going into the connector has broken lose at the connector so the sensor is non functional. As a temporary fix I may have to cut the wires from the connector, butt connect some wire with some really small female connectors at the end, so they wont contact each other when I plug them in, and seal it up with electric tape. Of course im a broke joke at the moment and this will have to wait till friday.

Slammed95civic

Sorry guys got home after the sun went down so I wasn't able to replace the wires. I did cut some wire and put a female ends on them so hopefully of I wake up tomorrow early enough ill get them put on. I do really suspect this as the culprit because I unplugged it and let the car run and it ran the exact same, not even a little better or worse.

Slammed95civic

Well fixed the ECT wiring and the rich symptoms seemed to have gone away (doesn't smell like a lawn mower anymore). Its still idling crappy and was missing pretty bad at lower rpms, removing one of my spark plugs revealed a possible culprit, it had no electrode and the hook that the spark arcs to was burnt white. Not the normal white either im talking toasted from running rich for so long, that could possibly solve the low idle as well, if not I may go ahead and replace the IACV to eliminate it. Will replace plugs tonight ill post the results.

Former User

Did a piece of the spark plug break off into the cylinder? Have you checked the mechanical timing?

fleabag

measure and repair your electrical grounds. Electrical grounds should be less than .5 ohms from the point of measurement to the battery negative terminal. Anything higher than that either means a damaged wire or a dirty connector.

Slammed95civic

I haven't checked mechanical timing, the plastic timing belt cover is gone so I don't have anything to line the dashes up to. Unless there are timing marks stamped on the block. The spark plugs are intact just very worn and burnt from running rich. As far as checking grounds I see two engine to chasis grounds and a few on the thermostat housing. Are these all of the grounds? I really need to get a manual lol. Also engine light isn't on since I repaired the ECT wires.

apexi_rsx

FYI the sensor on the t stat housing is the fan switch not the ect. ect is the sensor on the head farthest to the front of the block. 2 prong plug with a red and white wire i believe. but i see u figured that out. have you tried bumping up the idle with the idle adjustment screw?

Slammed95civic

Yea I found out which one was the actual sensor thanks to google lol. I posted it a few posts up. The wires I repaired were for the actual sensor. Im waiting to get off work so I can put the plugs and fuel filter in, of course this particular day is draaaaging by.

Edit: I tried the idle screw buts stuck and I don't want to strip it. Does tightening raise the idle

apexi_rsx

you will need to clean the honda bond they put all over flat head screw to turn it. maybe put the screwdriver in and tap it with a hammer to make sure u have the screwdriver head is all the way in the screw. No, tightening the screw will lower the idle. backing the screw out (loosening)will raise the idle.

Slammed95civic

Adjusted the idle screw out its idling much better now. It still misses at idle though, and when driving, if its under 2000rpms it misses and sputters pretty bad, like its not getting fuel or spark. But anything above 2k is fine. Im suspecting ignition timing, does anybody know what the ignition timing is supposed to be? And when im shooting it with a timing gun am I aiming it at the crank or the cam pulley, I also am missing the.timing belt cover so unless there is stamping on the block im kinda screwed. Like I said im pretty new to hondas sorry for all of the redundant questions. Ill get a manual soon.

fleabag

This could easily be a vacuum leak... Replace PCV valve and the vacuum hose going to it... also replace old and other vacuum hoses... don't ignore my post on the electrical grounds either. Ground point from the body of the o2 sensor to battery negative should be less than .2 ohms. The o2 sensors uses the exhaust manifold as a ground fyi.