I am up in arm in awe. I dont know what to do. Losing all hope.

I have a 96 Civic EX 90Kmiles stock everything. Thus far, I have replace everything I can think of to get this car in shape for my wife. It is a great commuter car for her, but it needs to be reliable because my kids ride in the car with her.

The car surges intermitently when taking off from a dead stop. I place it in first gear and give it gas. At first the car accelerates, but then it lunges forward and does not accelerate even after I give it more gas. After a few seconds, it accelerates to top speed to catch up here I have the gas pedal positioned.

I have replaced spark plugs and wires, distributor cap and rotor, gas filter, and all belts. I verified timing with timing gun pointed to cam shaft, used gas additives.

Any suggestions? I was told to test throttle positioning sensor, but I cant figure out how. I looked at the Helms manual, but I cant figure it out. Searched this site, but nothing documented. I have a very good multimeter, but honestly do not yet know how to use it.

I can pay a mechanic, but I wont learn a thing.

Any help teaching me would be appreciated.

 

I'm having a hard time with your problem description, but is it auto or manual tranny?

 

Is the A/C on? My car barely runs with it on, and will 'surge' with the compressor when I'm in first gear stop and go traffic.

 

The car is manual 5 speed. Problem occurs in first gear.

It doesnt matter if the air conditioning is on or off.

I also cleaned the iavc/eavc.

I could swear the problem goes away when the engine as been running at least 15 minutes. It is at normal operating temperature at this point, if not, hot.

Thank you both

 

u might wanna swap ur ecu...and see if that helps...

 

Can u please explain the logic why you would think an ecu needs replacing? Is this a part that is known to go out? How would I know my ecu is broken? Thank you... I am learning.


Okay, I see ecu's in ebay. What should I pay for one and how do I know it is not modified or be another broken one?

thanks again

 

I dont think it would be an ECU issue. U would probably encounter more problems than this, IMO. Sounds more like a MAP Sensor or something like that if it was electrical, my thoughts anyway.

Sounds like the Idle is low or not getting enough fuel(<--- this could be MAP too)

 

Can you give me a quick lesson how to troubleshoot a Map sensor problem? I know where it is, just not how to troubleshoot. Yes, the idle does dip low. In fact, I was sitting on a steep hill and the engine almost died while I was waiting at the light. Scared me shitless.

 

That happened to me to once. And I could get running again after I parked it. I finallyu got it started again

Thought is was the main relay, since it was in the middle of the summer, so switched it.

Well, I did a clutch and suspension swap, and I couldn't get the car started again, replaced a lot of other stuff: fuel pumps, Dizzy's, relays, etc. It turned out to be the MAP Sensor.

I tested by unplugging sensor, reseting ECU, and try start car. Mine started up, and car wouldn't operate on it, got new one and runs fine.

 

its your turbo spooling up! J/K! mine does the same thing w/ the a/c on, but you said it was happening either way . dirty fuel filter may cause this , clogged catalytic converter, extreme exaust leak, dirty or worn fuel inj. , vaccum leak. their are so many things to check, Get a haynes manual for your car and read through the trouble shooting guide in the front! good luck.