Hey there. New to this forum. Just bought a 01 Civic 5-speed.

No CEL on at this time, but got the computer checked just to go over everything. It came back with 7 error codes. The only physical symptoms of anything being wrong that I experience are idling issues while stopped. Cold start, I'm usually at 1 RPM or right below it, but as soon as vehicle is warmed up, it idles down at 500 and below, sometimes dropping down to like 200 and shuttering a bit.


Error codes I got were:
P1259 - Variable Valve timing electronic control system malfunction

P0420 - CAT system efficiency below threshold

Multiple misfires, and Emissions leakage (canister area)

Trying to figure out where to start, and if figure out if there is any single repair that would impact most of these issues.

And lastly is it OK to keep driving it with this stuff going on?

Thanks in advance for all help, I appreciate it!

 

have you checked your timing?

 

Brought it in to shop.

They replaced a bad ignition coil, new plugs, and cleaned the throttle body. Picked it up today, and after car warms up, same problem appears. Not sure what the next step would be?

 

Problem seemed to go away after a few drives. I continued to drive it, just dealing with the CEL coming on and off randomly.

Now it's March, and problem has re-appeared. MTX required light has been flashing as well as CEL. Idle became very rough, and car started dying at every stop light. Brought it into the shop and they replaced ignition coils 2 and 4. I hope this does it for a while.

 

First thing to check with P1259 is to see if you have enough oil.

For P0420: Are you having poor acceleration? Climb under the car and LIGHTLY tap the catalytic convertor. If you hear stuff rattling around you need a new cat and O2 sensors. You're lucky, your year/model doesn't have the 3-way cat and O2 sensors are only $50 or so.

 

UPDATE:

Had to take car in - they replaced two ignition coils. Argued with them about the low idle. They claimed it would be good. It drove good for maybe a day. Same problem now - intermittently cutting out at stoplights or when coasting in neutral.

Crawled under car and lightly tapped CAT - heard a buzzing sound - but not a sound like anything was rolling around or anything. Unsure if that buzzing sound is what I'm looking for as far as replacing the CAT.

It appears to be doing the same progression - where it starts to cut out more and more over the course of days/weeks until the ignition coils burn up again and I'm stalling at every stop light. Does this sound like the CAT failing?

Let me also add that it only starts this stalling at stop lights/jumpy/low idle after the car warms up. While it's cold there is no problem for the first 10-15 minutes of a drive.

Thanks Lazlong for the tip about tapping the CAT.

 

UPDATE

Replaced the IACV this weekend - super easy to do with the Hayne's manual.

BUT this did not fix my problem!
The old IACV had a ton of carbon build up on it - the car now does better, by not stalling while coasting to a stop, but while at a complete stop the idle drops to between 250 and 500 and then sputters and sometimes (50% of the time) dies. before replacing IACV it would do that even while coasting.

I've read about the TPS being an issue but that would mean a whole new throttle body as apparently you can't just get the TPS by itself for this model.

My thoughts moving forward are - fuel filter, TPS, or back to the CAT being clogged.

Any thoughts are welcomed and appreciated.

 

Decided to sell vehicle

 

Sounds like a bad vtec and a bad cat to start