i have a 2003 honda civic and as we were on our way home from purchasing a 2009 honda crv we encoutered a problem with the civic. The engine lost its power and the engine light which has been on for awhile started flashing .Its a 1.7 ltr engine that has worked fine since we've had the car(approx. 4yrs.). We just had a recent tune-up last july/12. Anyways while the engine is running (almost...appears to idle ruff) if i pull the wire off of the coil(#3) there is no change in the engine. The other wires when pulled off will make the car quit. As i mentioned before the engine light was on solid and the mechanic said it was a censor by the fuel tank and not to worry about it, its common for them to go. I have changed the coil and the spark plug which was covered in a hard black something(carbon deposits...maybe) just tonight and the engine light still flashes and the engine might have a little more power but it still chugs. Also it smells like a snowmobile...like gas fumes while its idling. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks

 

Have you done a compression check on cylinder #3?

 

How many miles are on the car and what was done on the tune-up last performed?

Seems that the car has lost spark on at least one cylinder and by removing the other wire, the car doesn't have enough spark to continue running.

 

i have not done a compression test, and there is 177,000kms on the car, a new timing belt, spark plugs, coils, and filters where changed. We only took one wire off at a time when we tried removing the wires off of the coils, but the car almost died when we did remove them. #3 didn't do anything to the motor as its running ruff anyways.

 

no fire at all going to #3 coil