I just bought a 95 Civic DX that, when the motor is cold, takes about 2 to 5 minutes to start. I have replaced the battery and spark plugs and neither have helped a bit.

When I crank it the motor turns over really fast but the car does not want to fire up at all...almost like it has no fuel. I hold the gas pedal down and after a minute or so of cranking it starts bucking up like its trying to fire (my starter has to love me). It will pop here and there (almost like a backfire but its coming from under the hood, not exhaust) and if I just hold the key long enough, eventually it will run but it is very rough. I have to keep the gas pedal down or it will die. After about 2 more minutes of coughing and spitting and giving it a little gas, all of a sudden it revs up and immediately idles smooth and perfect. It's almost like something switched in the computer.

Once I get it to idle good I can shut it off and it will start right back up perfectly. I can drive it all day, get great gas mileage, and normal operation. I just got it inspected and the emissions passed on it fine. When I park the car overnight I have to go through all of this all over again.

Outside of the battery and plugs, I'm not sure what to check next. I know it's not the starter. I have tried cycling the key 4 or 5 times before I crank and it makes no difference.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

Had that same problem, ended up being my engine coolant temperature (ECT) sensor.
May not be the same on yours, but regardless it's very likely to be a vital sensor similar to that.

See if pulling fuel pump fuse, cranking, and somewhere in the middle of cranking (after 3-5 seconds) suddenly dropping the fuse in place makes it do anything different, like start up.

Best of luck.

 

Thanks Davus, I'll give that a try.

 

Davus,

Was your CEL throwing any codes at all when this happened to you? I'm not getting any at all.

Thanks

 

I have noticed over the past week that the problem seems to go away, or is much less severe, when I have a full tank of gas. Anyone know what that may signify?

 

bump

 

sounds extremely familar........in for the answer

 

i had this problem also, mine was happening when the temperature outside was cold, and i havent run my car for like a day. it would take a few minutes to turn over and it would run like **** until it warmed up a little then would run like nothing was wrong.
until one day it stopped turning over.
id check your distributor to see if its throwing spark, mine ended up being the ignition coil. but id check your spark wires to see if they throw any spark, then check your ignition coil to see if there is spark coming out of that.