I have a 91 civic hb that i baught knowing it would need some work.
221k miles
The only thing i knew was wrong with it at the time i baught it was an oil leak from the distributor. I was keeping oil in the car until recently on a road trip i let it get bone dry. The car wouldn't accelerate in any gear and began learching. I pulled over and replaced the oil.
The first thing i did when i got home was top off my oil and replace the distributor o-ring, thus fixing the leak, however, it still accelerates very slowly through all the gears and won't go passed 65 or 70mph.
The engine shakes a bit, which made me think possibly i was having a mis-fire.
I have replaced my spark plugs and plug wires, but this didn't help either.
I jacked up the car and checked each tire to see if any of the brakes had seized, and they are not.
Where should i check next?
Is this a fuel pressure issue? Could my car have jumped timing when i let the oil get too low?
Or could this be a compression problem?
I have moderate mechanical skill, but am not very good at diagnosing this kind of problem.
Can anybody help me?

 

check timing. probably ****ed something up when you ran it with no oil

 

man i'm sorry, seems like you're having some bad luck with that engine. I hope you're able to figure it out soon. Any codes being thrown out?
Have you just thought about just getting another block from hmotorsonline.com or something?

 

X2

 

I doubt the timing jummped off but check it out anyway (cant be to safe),

My ls vtec did this also. Right before It went down It got sluggish. When I tore her apart the main bearings were looking terrible and the Pistons were locking up on the rods (always had oil in there though)

You might be on the same boat.

 

Thanks man, this makes sense.

I don't think its a bad block because it ran fine before i ran it w/ no oil.
If i just jumped timing or something ill be happy with that.

My plan is to drop a b18 in it when i get my tax return anyway, so don't wanna burry all my dough on the d15 with 221k miles anyway.

 

Why would it still run fine after you ran it with no oil? Do you have prolong or something? lol

 

Timing is spot on.
I just baught a timing gun and checked it.
Looks like im gonna pick up a d15 long block on craigslist and keep the old motor for parts.

i learned my lesson the hard way: When you have a oil leak, fix it asap.

 

I hear running with no oil can make a good block go bad, kinda like hanging out with the wrong crowd you know...

Seriously, running an engine with no oil can ruin all sorts of things, why would you assume that it's still fine?

 

Im a n00b @ cars. Ive only owned my own car for 2 years, and am trying to learn more all the time.
Every time something goes wrong I make a point to fix it myself so in the future ill know what to do.
Ive never let my car's oil drop below the fill line until last saturday when i absent-mindedly went on a road trip without topping it off (knowing i had a leak)
So, yeah, i prolly F***ed somthing up in a big way, and now im gonna have to find the time and money to replace the engine.
I don't really know exactly what running w/o oil does to the inner workings of an engine block, but im gonna assume it aint good.

 

Dont stress it dude. Live and learn.

 

better that it was a D than a B ...CHEAP on C.L.

 

After doing some research, ive decided that im gonna do a full engine swap
D15b-D16z6
Ive been lurking around the web and it looks like im going to need a obd0-obd1 jumper harness and p28 ecu
But after pricing everything out
d16z6 long block on craigslist - $350
rywire obd0-obd1 jumper harness- $100
$450 seems cheep for a full swap, but im expecting some hidden costs
Ill be taking my time since this is my first swap, but you all can expect a full write up w/ tons of pictures
Can't wait either, im f**kin excited