Car: 1999 Honda Civic CX. D16y7. Daily Driven. 112k.

Ok, here's the deal. Maybe 2 times a month or so, after I back out of the garage and head down the street, come to the stop sign, my car kinda of idles down and acts like it wants to die. It kind of stutters/cuts out. I give it a bit of gas while sitting there, and it seems to clear up. It won't do it again for a few weeks.

Now today, I was headed to my parents house (about 20 minutes away). It did the same thing after I headed down my street. It did the same thing while in motion (about 35mph) as I was headed there.

After I left my parents house, it did it 2 or 3 times on my way back home...twice on the highway (around 50-60mph at the time)

It seems a bit sluggish as well. Now this is my DD Civic( automatic CX-d16y7). The motor is stock besides an AEM intake and exhaust. Oil was just changed, as were plugs.

I haven't changed the spark plug wires since I've had the car. Could that be the culprit?
Fuel filter? Injectors? Clogged cat. converter? Something more drastic?

I appreciate any help as this is my main transportation right now. Ideas of what to check (how to check, if possible), what it could be, etc.

 

sounds like bad spark, check your ignition system.

 

A friend of mine suggested the distributor, rotor and such. I forgot about that and will check it first thing in the morning.

I also noticed a small crack in my header where the 02 sensor mounts. Would this be an issue? Possible cause?

Would cleaning the IACV help with this sputtering? Main relay?

I'll start with the cap and it's internals, though.

 

its not an IACV issue, IACV makes the idle bounce. It sounds like your plugs or wires could be starting to go.

 

Plugs are ~ 2 weeks old, if that. I'd lean more to the wires(between the 2)...but it's not a constant thing.It's whenever it wants to,really. Especially if the car has sat a few days, and I've driven the other car, or rode my CBR. Usually, it does it at the end of the block, then won't do it again for weeks. Tonight was weird, it did it 4-5 times within less than 1 hour of driving back and forth.

Yeah, I checked more into the FITV/IAC and found out more about it. It's not related to either of those.

I'm hoping it's nothing major.

 

Ok, plans for tomorrow are:

Purchase and install new spark plug wires,PCV, Distributor cap and rotor(bug),and change the oil (since this will make replacing the PCV easier. Plus oil is due in about 600 miles anyway.)

Hopefully one of, if not all of these will help. Along with the stuttering issue, my MPG haven't been what they used to be. I think on this last tank I only averaged 29.

 

I agree, replacing these specific items may eliminate the problem. Is the CEL on?

The items above may be reducing your mileage, but the crack in the header could as well, if the crack is allowing outside air into the header around the O2 sensor.

 

I was waiting for your reply, haha...thank you. I will keep this updated once I get it all taken care of tomorrow!

There is NO C.E.L. on.

 

does it feel like the car is running but missing a cylinder or two?

It could be the ICM (ignition control module), if you take it out to get tested test it like 5 times back to back that way it builds heat in it and you can see if it fails..

back when my integra ran the ICM was a tricky little bastard to diag, the car would run fine then out of no where the car misses real bad and won't start..

but do the simple things first and see if you can't get it to do the same thing

 

Thanks Bryson, will do. I'm hoping after tomorrow everything will be good to go.

 

As of today, I was only able to change the wires. The Oreilly's I went to didn't have my PCV. I had a chance to drive it around the neighborhood, then around the main streets for a few minutes, with no issues.

I should be able to get to the other parts soon.

My cap/rotor is less than a year old, so I opted to not replace it yet. it looks brand new inside the cap still, and I compared my rotor with a new one at Oreilly's and they were almost identical.

 

^^ great job saving money..

anyways, my car is starting to cut out really really bad.. and afr's are hittin 15+.. it started doing it last week now it's getting bad .. i'm gonna change the fuel filter tomorrow cuz it's never been done and see what happens!

 

That crack in you header is killling your O2 sensor slowly and probably causing it to give a bad reading. Sooner or later you CEL will come on and it will be because of the O2 sensor. Just keep in the back of your mind that you will have to replace the manifold and the O2 sensor soon.

 

02 sensor
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