Ill start with my car. Its a 95 civic coupe, 1.6l Vtec, 5 speed.

I recently drove across the country and had my timing belt go out on me on the highway. Long story short, I got it fixed and had a valve and head job done. Now my car runs and I drive it everyday.

The issue:

My car has a rough idle. Not the kind that the rpm's go up and down but like it skips a beat (misfire?). I can feel it and hear it when it does it and its every couple of seconds. It doesnt seem like it will die or anything.

Here's the funny thing. I took it to midas to have them set the timing and check a few other things. I noticed that as soon as I left midas that the rough idle was gone and it ran and sounded much better. 100 some odd miles later my rough idle is back. Im not exactly sure where to start but I'm going to start checking for vacuum leaks.

Could the timing belt have skipped a tooth?

Bad dizzy? I bought one off of ebay a while ago and im not sure if it had a name.

Plug wires and plugs have been changed recently.

In all honesty I think the issue of a bad dizzy or the timing belt skipped a tooth.

 

Did you check the compression?

 

Prime suspect

 

I have no idea how to do that

 

Its not too hard but if you don't have the confidence to do it watch a video on youtube or something. Better yet watch a couple videos on it. If you still don't think you can do it take it to your mechanic mine does it for $60 which is about an hour of labor. So you can spend the money and buy the tools and use your time and get heeps of feel good attitude or you can have your mechanic do it for you while you sip a sweet tea and watch.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_tbk...feature=relmfu

try this.

 

Who did the timing belt?

Any cels, with a misfire if bad enough will trigger cel.

Were the valves adjusted properly?

 

No codes that I know of.

Was replaced by a shop that did the valve and head job too. I first noticed the rough idle after I drove off but didn't want to mess with those guys anymore since they took 3 weeks to work on it. I had the timing done and was working flawless until a few hundre miles later. It's progressively getting worse but not to the point where it's seems like it will die.

I tried to take the cover off where the timing belt is to check but I can't slip the socket in there. I'm not 100% sure where to begin but I'll prob start with checking the timing belt to make sure it's on then move on to vacuum leaks and checking sensors.

 

I also noticed after the head was fixed and timing belt was on that the engine sounded like it was knocking. After the timing was set at the dizzy, the knock went away. Now that the rough idle is back so is the knocking sound.

 

Anyone?

 

3 weeks that is a red flag........wondering if they screwed up.

Are they local, can you take it back?

Did they send out the head to a machine shop?

 

They told me it would be two weeks before I could even get it in the shop. They were the cheapest by $100. I should have brought it to someone else.

They sent out the head to a machine shop.

 

Im buying a timing light tomorrow. Last time it was timed the rough idle was gone. Im also going to check to see if the timing belt is on right.

 

So I timed my distributor. I still need to check the belt.

I am also experiencing engine knock. Im hoping its not something bad. I don't know much about engine knock. I tried using premium fuel but havent seen a decrease in engine knock. Can engine knock mean something catastrophic?

 

Possibly do a valve adjustment?

 

After doing some reading, I really hope it's not a spun rod bearing

 

Even though no one has responded in a while I'll still post this so that it might help others.

I did a valve adjustment and so far from what I can tell the rough idle and engine knock are gone. I still need to check my FITV and IACV.