I have a 2001 honda civic lx, automatic. It had 76,000 miles on it when purchased. It now has 82,000. Our car has always had trouble starting in the morning. It shakes and stalls. Sometimes idles low. We recently had our oil changed at a crappy place. They didnt tighten the bolt on something while changing it and it fell out, and poured oil everywhere. It didnt blow the engine. We didnt completely run out of oil. Ever since then it idles way too low and stalls out a lot. We have had several people look at it and they cant figure it out. We have had a compression test 120, 124, 140, 155. Weve had the idle thing tweaked up and down, throttle body cleand, and idle thing cleaned. It will seem ok, then all of a sudden the idle drops and the car almost or does stall. Also it only happens if the car is in drive or reverse. Not when in park. Does anyone have a clue what could be wrong here? Someone said the alternator maybe, I just dont want to start replacing things when Im not sure.

 

make sure the spark plugs arent roasted. do a full tune up. change the oil with a honda oil filter, make sure its at the full mark. simple things like this and go from there. i dont wanna go and say engine damage on something that a simple thing could take care of possibly. that compression test seems alittle low to me. BTW change ur fuel filter! one of the most overlooked things ever, and load test the battery as well

 

I definitely need a tune up. I had one done by that crappy place so Im sure it didnt get done correctly. This shaking thing may have started right after we got the car. Our battery died and needed to be replaced right when we got the car. Could that be a contributing factor? It didnt even cross my mind till you mentioned the battery. Its weird tho how it has gotten worse since the oil incident. And also that its not consistent.

 

I'd have the charging system checked out.. having the car run low on oil is never a good thing even just at idle.. you could have messed up a bearing or ring very easily. Next do the tune up..

Your compression isn't even enough for my liking for a car with that little mileage, but it could just be your battery getting weak during the test.

After the battery replacement you have to "program" the ecu.. but I doubt that is the cause of your crappy idle.

Good luck