Hey guys. Thankfully I found a forum that looks to know these hondas inside and out.

Today I went to start my car (98 civic ex 5spd 170k) The car immediately made a backfire like sound in the rear and tossed a check engine light along with the rpms sitting higher than normal, then dipping to around 800 and shooting back to that higher rpm zone for maybe 10 seconds only to repeat over and over.. I attempted to drive the car however as soon as I gave it gas it would bog down and want to stall. The car can idle on its own without stalling but wont simply stay put at the 850 or so rpm it normally sits at without jumping up like its wanting to warm up repeatedly.

Any idea what the fix might be? The oil is new and the plugs, wires, dist cap and coil are all about 20k miles old...

THNAKS in Advance!