Honda Civic / Del Sol (1992 - 2000) EG/EH/EJ/EK/EM1 Discussion

Car sputtering and dying.

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Old Dec 15, 2004 | 04:53 PM
  #1  
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Default Car sputtering and dying.

EDIT: problem solved, turns out it was the ignitor inside the distributor,
replaced it with one out of another dizzy i had, and the problem went away!
thnx all
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


WELL, I fixed my charging problem,
car worked coo for 2 days, then it went kaput!

I was getting some hesitation/sputting, it came and went,
usually after some heated driving/boosting.

then the other day I took the car to go get it washed,
the hesitation showed up, then it got really bad and the car just straight died on me.
Now it will start up just fine, and will sometimes hold idle.
But if I try to drive it, it'll sputter and stall. (sometimes it'll just die while idling too)

It's quick short jerks where it loses power, feels like hitting the rev limiter, but at lower rpms. Usually partial throttle.

I have no CEL's, i'm getting fuel. I checked the cap/rotor, they look ok.
And the dizzy itself, with the cap off looks very good, all the internals are like new,
i see no metal flakes.. or powder anything in there.
I have a JRSC running the JR fmu, and thought maybe the fmu was the problem,
but I removed the fmu and it still does it.

Any clue? My plugs are pretty new, wires look good,
but i have new oem wires, and a new fuel filter on the way.
fuel filter has unknown mileage on it.

Anyone out there have similar symptoms? if so LMK what your problem was.

P.S. I want to make sure whether or not it could be this, i've been driving on a
shitty Throw out bearing for a while, it squeaks alot with the clutch out.
But I can get into/outa gear and shift just fine.

THANKS!


Modified by Tad at 7:20 PM 12/18/2004
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Old Dec 15, 2004 | 09:06 PM
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up
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Old Dec 15, 2004 | 09:14 PM
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Default Re: (Tad)

the best thing for you to do is try to throw that thing on an ignition scope, amazing machine!!!

sorry but this is a hard thing to answer.

you could be flooding your engine with fuel (more fuel pressure creates leaking injectors over a period of time), get bad spark (weak coil, bad pick up). Other crap that I can't think of right now.
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Old Dec 16, 2004 | 08:16 AM
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Default Re: (ABK)

hmm, well the jr FMU is only a 5:1, and i was at 6psi,
so its not like the fuel system was seeing insane levels.
also I've only had the sc for less than 300 miles.

whats an ignition scope?
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Old Dec 16, 2004 | 08:28 AM
  #5  
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Default Re: (Tad)

most shops have them but most technicians don't know how to use them, they just start replacing the parts.

you hook it up to your ignition system coil and **** like that, plus it has a smog hook up that reads your HCs and crap like that. It will tell you what cylinder is running like **** and if you are running rich or lean, or you got a missfire.

The only thing that I would recomend for you right now is to take off the belt of your SC and disconnect the fmu. See if it fixes the problem.

if not check your coil see if it's weak (maybe ignitor but your car runs so I don't think that it would give you anything). Check resistance on your wires, car and rotor. What kind of spark plugs are you running.

if it still doesn't work replace the fuel filter, and try to borrow some 240 injectors and see if that will fix your problem. Check your fuel pressure.

Also I would recomend leak down test along with compression test.

I don't know maybe clean the iacv or fast idle warm up valve (or whatever it is called).
No CELs right?
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Old Dec 16, 2004 | 10:38 AM
  #6  
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alright,
thanks man,
yeah i already tried disconnecting the fmu.
and i get no cels (never get ******* cels, that would be too ******* easy).
don't think i can make it to a shop even if i wanted to(**** no i aint payin for towing).

anwyays, anyone have similar symptoms happen to them?
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Old Dec 16, 2004 | 10:45 AM
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Default Re: Car sputtering and dying. (Tad)

Does the engine have spark when spinning it over?

If not then I'd bet it's the coil itself.

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Old Dec 16, 2004 | 11:04 AM
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Default Re: Car sputtering and dying. (B18C5-EH2)

what do you mean by spinning over?

if you meant when starting it up,
it actually starts up fine every time, it's after startup that things get wonky

if it hard a hard time starting i'd be sure it was the dizzy.
i hope it's the dizzy actually.

cuz if it's not then I dont know wtf it could be.


Modified by Tad at 12:26 PM 12/16/2004
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Old Dec 16, 2004 | 12:14 PM
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Default Re: Car sputtering and dying. (Tad)

You Might wanna check the TPS Sensor its sound like it might have a short in it it happend to me also check all your vaccum lines for tears i had the same symptoms and it turns out my tps was bad Good luck
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Old Dec 16, 2004 | 05:19 PM
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cool,
i'll look into the tps.
I wasn't thinking the tps though, because I thought you would have
starting problems if it was bad? I know you do if it's set incorrectly.

anyone else?
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Old Dec 16, 2004 | 05:26 PM
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yea the tps you hook up to a volt meater while its pluged in.. turn the throttle smooth and slow and the meter should reflect that
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Old Dec 16, 2004 | 06:42 PM
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Default Re: (Tad)

if you got a any honda dizzy laying around (that supposably worked) take the coil out of it and swap them with your dizzy.

If you want to get really into changing out parts change out the MAP if you got one laying around your SC could of damaged it.
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Old Dec 16, 2004 | 11:07 PM
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well I checked my tps.
its at .37 closed, 4.3 open.

so it's not set perfectly, but definetely not completely out of wack. and it ramps up/down smoothly.

I think it's been set like that ever since I put the motor in.. I just got it close and left it at that.

Yeah I guess I've got to try swapping dizzy parts. unfortunately I have no spare map sensor to try.
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Old Dec 16, 2004 | 11:18 PM
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Default Re: (Tad)

This definitely does sound like it could be MAP sensor related. I changed a bad one in my friend's EG, it had the same symptoms pretty much. If you had a scan tool, you could monitor the MAP sensor voltage when it was running, but most people don't have scan tools... so I would suggest finding a friend with a civic that you could "borrow" the sensor from...
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Old Dec 16, 2004 | 11:58 PM
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dont have a scan tool,
but i have my trusty mulimeter
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Old Dec 17, 2004 | 01:06 AM
  #16  
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Default Re: (Tad)

yeah you can use that


here is a troubleshooting guide
http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/C...0.pdf
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Old Dec 17, 2004 | 02:05 AM
  #17  
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Default Re: (ABK)

I had a "sputtering & dying" problem. Ended up being my fuel pump. Heres the thread I created:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1062093
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Old Dec 17, 2004 | 09:53 AM
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Default Re: (Inconclusive)

thanks,
but yeah I've got a helms already.

next ima try the dizzy,
then just trouble shoot whatever else I can.

i'll write back if I hit on anything.

it would be wierd if it was my pump, but I guess thats a possibility.
i was running an fmu, and that does ask more of the pump. But it was such a short while before the symptoms started showing up.

Checking the map will be wierd tho, cuz I have the JR map hooked up,
it sits between the map and ecu, and monkeys with the signal so that it can read boost properly(does some other stuff to richen up the mixture too).


anyhoo, thanks for all the help,
i'll drop another line when I get more info.

but of course, meanwhile, any other similar encounters are welcome to be heard.
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Old Dec 17, 2004 | 11:03 AM
  #19  
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Default Re: (Tad)

Yeah I think he got the closest hypothesis. If it's a stock fuel pump those high PSIs would kill it really soon. Get a fuel pressure gauge and check your static fuel pressure and see if it's going to drop off right after you prime the car (it should only go down like 3-5 psi a minute).
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Old Dec 18, 2004 | 05:21 PM
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Default Re: (ABK)

Figured it out!

It tuns out, it was the ignitor, inside the distributor!
I swapped in one out of a dizzy I had from my cx motor this morning, and the problem went away!

Thanks alot to everyone for their input.
looks like I won't be needing that map sensor( props to PrettyLude for offering one up though!).

A few people mentioned the ignitor,
what made me try that first, as opposed to the coil, or entire dizzy, or fuelpump, etc,
was that the car would start up perfect every time, and only after that and a moment, would problems begin to show up.

From what people have mentioned in here, another post, and some searches I did,
other parts of the dizzy going bad would make it hard to start the car.

thanks again!
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Old Dec 18, 2004 | 06:11 PM
  #21  
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Default Re: (Tad)

^^
I was going to say ignitor until I say this post
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