Hi all,

Have a stock civic EX with no upgrades, save for a CAI that was there before.

Anyway, my problem. Just took the car in to get the head gasket replaced, since it had been having oil and coolant mixing within the reservoir. Had the head resurfaced, OEM gasket installed. Everything was running fine, no problems what so ever. Next morning, after around a 8 hour rest overnight, the car started no problem as usual. Drove down the street to the first stop sign, and the car died on me. Complete stall while sitting idle. Started the car back up, and everything was perfect; good idle, good power, etc.

Timing is fine, valves are adjusted to spec. Had it double checked already. Not sure what could be causing the problem. Just replaced the IACV with a new one, and has yet to help my problem.


Any idea what could be the problem? Thanks a lot all help is appreciated.

TL;DR

car dies when cold in the morning; has begun to die when the motor is cold period. The car doesn't stall since it also happens when in neutral, but rather the battery indicator comes on, and the car loses all power. Can't be the battery because I still have power inside, along with working headlights.

Distributor problem? Thanks again.

 

forgot to say, just replaced the spark plugs with fresh ones. Guess I should have said that sooner. Also did a tune up around half a year ago.

 

Check the coil.

Did you check the wires as well (condition how old)? Didn't mix up the firing order?

For the aftermarket CAI, id the IAT hooked up?

 

I'll definitely check the coil. Could replace . The wires are fairly new and in good shape. Had them replaced when I did the tune up so age is roughly less than 6 months. . Firing order is good. And the iat is hooked up also.

Not sure where else I can move to next.

Thanks btw.

 

Update. Noticed this morning the problem happens when i throw the car in neutral from going roughly 25 MPH. Throwing the car in neutral puts the RPMs to zero, causing the car to stall out and die.

Noticed that the "Maintenance Required" light/switch on the cluster turned to red. Any ideas what this could be?

Thanks again.

 

pretty sure thats just a lets you know when you should do like an oil/tranny change. if im not mistaken honda put it there and every so many miles it changes color, from green to yellow to red. you can reset it with the key by pushing it in the spot on the cluster. thats how mine is.

but its not like a cel its kinda just a sign that after that many miles they advise changing oil and what not. im not POSITIVE but pretty sure thats what its there for

 

maint has nothing to do with it, it for oil changes, green goes to yellow about 6k miles then to red.

So when you start it, does it ever stall?

 

Gotcha. And no, never does. Start it, and does the warming idle around 1500 RPM. From there, I'll drive it get to around 30 MPH, put the car in neutral and the car dies out while rolling.

Also notice there is occasional kick back so to speak coming from the exhaust when sitting idle (after the car has already done its process of dying out and has been restarted).

When I say kick back I feel a little roughness coming from the exhaust area. My RPMs stay the same (around 800K) with no movement. If this makes any sense.

 

Got it thanks. ill reset that then.

 

bump for help please.

 

You didn't have this problem until after you had the head gasket replaced?!?!

This is what catches my attention.

I would double check all the vacume lines, to make sure you don't have a leak somewhere. Does it stall after the engine has warmed up? Will it stall out every time, or just once in a while?

Look at the things that got moved around during the head gasket replacement. Vac lines, timing belt maybe off a tooth, or intake manifold gasket leaking.

 

Yes, this happened after the fact. I am thinking there is potential vacuum leak since I also have a P0505 CEL that comes and goes.

Lastly, I noticed one of the belts have begun to squeak/squeal in the mornings. Just noticed this today. Could this also cause the problem?

ANd the car only stalls in when cold..usually have to warm her up for a couple minutes, but didn't before. And stalls always when cold (like leaving the car for more than 3 hours).

 

also, along with squeal, the RPMS drop extremely low if I even turn the wheel while the car is warming up.

 

Fixed the CEL, problem still happening.

Taking in the car for the squealing from the belts. Should I look into replacing the distributor?

Firing order is fine. Spark plugs and wires fine as well.