98 civic dx (d16y7) is throwing a code 45 (or a p0172 - running rich). Ive read it could be an o2 (but which one?) or that it could also be the cap/rotor?
Other symptoms the car has is hard start up everyonce in awhile (cranks for a few seconds rather than just firing up) and it also seems to be idleing pretty low some times as well (no tach ftl).

Its my girls car and shes driving it 125 miles back to school tomorrow and wont be back till the 15th. Im assuming that its ok to drive it since I felt no difference in the way it drove when the CEL came on (im assuming her mech that fixed the car just reset it). i just dont want the dizzy to go out on her at school and my *** has to drive up and fix it . any input would be apprecieated.

 

on your car i believe there is 2 sensor. one is called a o2 sensor (oxygen sensor) the other is called a air/fuel ratio sensor. the air/fuel ratio sensor is detecting you are running rich.

what fuel are you pumping for the car?

 

if its the down stream o2 that reads air/fuel then should i just replace it? usually there would be a code if its bad, or going out for that one o2.

i would assume its 87 or 89 octane.

 

in your manual it needs 85 octane. since i doubt US has this, 87 is your best friend. i am unsure if pumping a higher octane can cause car to run rich. i'm not sure why your car is running rich. maybe do a quick search and see some reason why some people are running rich. or maybe someone else on honda-tech can let you know why you are running rich. but i am stump for now. if anything comes in my head i'll let you know. good luck

 

thanks. i dont know why it says its running rich. when my b20 was rich i could smell and see it. I know its atleast 87 octane. and rasing the octane wont hurt it at all, if anything higher octane will benifit the fuel system.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EJ1_Sleeper &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks. i dont know why it says its running rich. when my b20 was rich i could smell and see it. I know its at least 87 octane. and raising the octane wont hurt it at all, if anything higher octane will benefit the fuel system.</TD></TR></TABLE>

higher octane will not be beneficial. that motor is low compression. putting high octane fuel in requires a higher compression to fully com bust. your motor cannot do that so the result will be carbon build up.

run a compression test. low compression might cause you to run rich.

 

Sounds like a dizzy problem to me...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Civic9390 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sounds like a dizzy problem to me...</TD></TR></TABLE>
Why would it be the distributor????

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lv6l &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
higher octane will not be beneficial. that motor is low compression. putting high octane fuel in requires a higher compression to fully com bust. your motor cannot do that so the result will be carbon build up.
run a compression test. low compression might cause you to run rich.</TD></TR></TABLE>

ok well i suppose thats good to know lmao. unfortunatly im not gona be able to even see the car till 2 weeks. lets hope it holds it.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Civic9390 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sounds like a dizzy problem to me...</TD></TR></TABLE>
You mean just the cap and rotor right? Id really try and restrain from replacing the whole thing.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 994door &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Why would it be the distributor????</TD></TR></TABLE>
Ive read it could be the cap/rotor going bad (dont know how that would cause the engine to throw a rich code tho...) But the O2 sensor is also up in the air.

 

check your timing. if its running correct then dizzy is not the problem. a dizzy going bad might throw timing off and lead to incomplete combustion of fuel thus leading to running rich. but if you timing is dead on, i don't see why the dizzy can relate to any of your issues.


Modified by lv6l at 12:37 PM 2/3/2008