wondering if any of you have had this problem:

92 DX 5spd:

in the past week or 2, have noticed while driving, occasionally the engine will stumble, just for a second; feels like to me a momentary slight loss of fuel, though it could be spark or something else, that's just what it feels like.

Over several months now, the CEL comes on once in a while, then it will go off not long after and leaves no code in the cpu

And now, once today and once yesterday, it had a really hard start problem; again as though it just wasn't getting fuel, I had to crank it and crank it for several minutes, until finally it just started right up like normal. Both these times I had been driving the car not more than a few hours before, and it was fairly warm outside.

wondering if this sounds like the fuel pump is going?
or any other ideas would be appreciated

 

Possibly a main relay or igniter unit on the way out.

To help pinpoint the problem, next time the CEL turns on, pull over and leave the engine running while you jump the service connector.

 

thx

where is ignitor on this model?
I had one go out on a 85 toy truck, and it was like built into the ign. coil.

 

It is inside of the distributor (see below). Pull off the cap, rotor, and inner cover to access. Many auto parts stores will test the igniter unit as a free service. May as well have the coil tested as well.

 

The main relay is found here:

 

Something I ran across in my Haynes manual yesterday, it was unusual, but in the troubleshooting section it mentioned a service bulletin:

"Abnormally long cranking time before engine starts (1992 Civic models)"

"Service bulletin 92-043 dated November 30, 1992 has been issued concerning a leaking check valve inside the fuel pump on these models."

could possibly be my problem, I bought the car about 3 years ago with 180K, now it has 220K; I guess it's possible the fuel pump has not been replaced?

 

The problem is intermittent; it has happened 5 or 6 times, but most of the time the car starts fine,
I wonder which problem would most likely cause an intermittent problem:

does a relay go out bit by bit? seems like it would either be good or bad wouldn't it?

the igniter I don't know, maybe it can deteriorate and work sometimes and sometimes not.

a check valve in the fuel pump is starting to look more possible to me, seems like that could stick open or closed only sometimes when it is not supposed to.

I can test the relay and the igniter if the problem happens again, but I think I can pinpoint it to the check valve in the fuel pump if the problem happens again because if I can hear the pump whirring then I at least know it's not the relay, and it's probably the check valve problem.

Does anyone understand specifically how the check valve malfunctions? does it stick open and send gas back to the tank when it is supposed to send to engine?

Well anyway, I will post when I nail the problem down.

 

Both the main relay and igniter unit can cause intermittent problems.

The fuel pump check valve is not a likely cause.

Try to pull the CEL code and also listen for the fuel pump not priming or check for lack of spark when the engine won't start.

 

It could also b the FPR though not common.

 

What's the FPR?

Anyway, it seems my problem has taken a break, it hasn't happened for a good 4 or 5 days now, really odd.
And the CEL has not come on for at least 2 or 3 weeks.

Which cause does this point to?

The only connection I can think of is that I changed the oil about the time the problem stopped happening. I'm not a big believer in the "change your oil every 3K mantra"; I think that's more for making money for oil makers and Jiffy Lube, but I may have noticed my Honda acting up in the past when I push the oil change mileage out there.

This oil change was close to 7000 miles since the previous one.

I will post any new developments.

 

The FPR is (fuel pressure regulator) and 7k miles.. DAMN!

 

Several years ago Consumer Reports did a very indepth study that found there wasn't any real significant additional wear on engines until they pushed oil changes out to 12,000 miles.

And my 1984 Toyota truck, the factory manual recommended oil changes every 7500 miles.

The 3000 mile thing is a very successful marketing strategy that came about in the last 10-15 years.

The only time 3K oil changes would really be called for is under very harsh conditions, like a lot of off road driving, or a lot of high revving.

 

my friend had a similar problem then it just wouldnt start anymore..
it was the main relay ...dang there was something else too but i think that was different like the ignition switch ... none of his accessory things would work like windows, AC, radio, and idk what else