Yesterday I was driving home in my 92 Honda Civic, I was going up a hill and I was loosing power quickly and then the cars oil light came on and it died. I got the car towed and I'm now trying to figure out whats wrong with it.

When I start the car it will jump to about 300 RPM and then die, unless I give it gas it will just die, the oil light is still on but there is no overheating. When I rev it up to about 2000 RPM it sounds a little more normal but there is this very loud CLUNK sound that happens every now and then.

I checked the oil and its fine, I just had an oil change. I replaced the spark plugs and the spark plug wires and just recently bought a new distributor literally 2 weeks ago.

I was told it could be the catalytic converter so I disconnected the catalytic converter and tried starting the car but the same thing happens.

When I replaced the spark plugs the 3rd and 4th cylinder was filled with oil so I was a little worried about that, I took the spark plugs out and let the oil drain. I talked to my brother thats a mechanic and he told me they replaced the head gaskit and when you change those sometimes you have to tighten the head bolts because they will become loose after replacing the head gaskit, they were pretty loose but I tightened them up and tried to start it again but the same thing happened.

My brother told me to take off the top bolt of the fuel filter and turn the key to see how high the gas was shooting out, he explained that the gas should shoot out and be hitting the hood but after turning the key the gas maybe went up about 4 inches. He told me I wasn't getting enough power and that I needed to change the fuel filter. I bought a fuel filter and replaced that and retried to start it.. still the same thing and the gas is still only going about 4 inches high.

He told me its probably the fuel pump so I bought a new pump and today I will be replacing it (I'm not that great of a mechanic) I got the diagram on how to replace the fuel pump off of autozone so hopefully it goes well.

I'm wondering if anyone else has any theorys or anything that I can check and get back with.. I'm hoping that its a fuel pump but to me it sounds like the engine is misfiring and thats why I changed all the electrical. Its been sitting with old gas so could it be from the old gas? did the head blow? Is it the fuel pump? When I start it I hear a lot of rattling coming from the right side of the engine where the timing belt is.. every now and then its a really loud CLUNK sound coming from the right side looking down at the engine.

I'd appreciate the help.

 

Thanks for the detailed post.

The major issue is that your oil light is on. This means there is no oil pressure in the motor. So even though your oil level is fine, the oil isn't flowing through the motor. Since this was a sudden thing, it sounds like the oil pump has broken and stopped flowing oil through the motor. The other option would be a rod bearing failure.

Have the oil pressure problem diagnosed and do not keep trying to run the engine. Remove the spark plugs and turn the engine by hand, counterclockwise. Listen/feel for any noises

Unfortuantely it sounds like a major engine failure. Don't keep replacing parts at random. Your brother's diagnosis is incorrect.

 

Stock motor? If so, time for a swap.

 

^^ this guy said it all there's really no need to be dumping a bunch of money into random parts when the main problem lies within the motor.......

 

Thanks for the reply. How do I go about diagnosing the oil pressure? the car is sitting at my house and obviously I cant bring it anywhere. The fuel pump was $70 so should I replace it or get my money back since u dont think thats the problem?

How much would the oil pump be and how hard would it be to replace? Is this a huge problem? I JUST bought this car for $900 and I've put about another $1000 into this car so far.

You also mentioned the rod bearing? what is this part and how could I check if its the problem?

 

It is the stock motor it has about 180,000 miles on it.

I have a acura integra DOHC head that I put $500 in it for a valve job and to be completely redone.. If I have to redo the engine could I change out the top end with the acura integra engine head?

 

The first step should be to remove the oil pan and check for metal shaving/chucks. This could be pieces of the oil pump gear and/or bearing material. Do not replace the fuel pump. Return it.

The pump itself is about $100 but you will need to also replace a lot of gaskets and seals along the way. But the engine may be permanently damanged from lossing oil pressure. You would need an experienced mechanic to confirm this. Then the engine could be rebuilt or replaced.