So I have this 97 civic and when I turn the ignition the engine starts and runs fine.

But then trough the course of about 8 minutes, the rpm drops gradually, ending with the engine stalling. After this its impossible to get it running again without waiting several hours.

-it stalls at ≈970 rpm, which is way above the normal idle for this car-

Also the car has incredibly little power. If I take it out on the road in the short timespan that it works, it basically needs flat ground or down hill.
Also the CEL works, but is not on.

Could this be a clogged fuel filter or something else very obvious? (not an expert so I would really appreciate tips)

 

Could be a variety of things:

-could be low idle (set idle according to the link in the FAQ)
-fuel pressure drop? (check fuel pressure)
-when it doesn't start will it start with the gas pedal depressed?
-when it doesn't start are you getting spark and fuel?

 

Edit:
The idle is not low. See next post.
I havent been able to check fuel pressure yet, but remember that the car starts up fine if given some downtime. Wouldn't that be a problem if the fuel pressure was lost previously?
Gas pedal will not aid startup. It will crank but not start. Also it sounds like fork in a pencil-sharpener. As if it doesn't get oil. That being said there is actually plenty of oil on it.
Pretty sure it gets spark in either case. Again, not sure about the fuel pressure.

 

I noted the rpm as I started the engine.

It starts out at 1500 rpm, which I think is ok. Its supposed to drop down from here.
Then it jumps up to 1700 for a second and drops back to 1500
After 4 minutes the car has experienced 2 misfires and the idle has dropped to 1050 rpm.
After another 4 minutes it has dropped to 970 and stalls because of a misfire.

The haynes manual states the engine in question (d14a4) should have an idle speed of 750 after warming up.

TL:DR: This car does not reach the supposed idle speed because it stalls at higher rpm for unknown reasons.

Does anyone have any sort of input on this?

 

bump please?

 

I jus had the same issue that pop up with my car..

I was drivibg and all of sudden my civic just shuts off.. I try to restart it up wudnt start, and nothing on the dash nor the hazard lights wud come on and after a few times tryn to restart it wud finally start up.. iv read around and few ppl say to
replace the main relay.. good thing I have a few at home hopefuly I wont have any problems after wrk

 

Hey let me know if changing the main relay works. Also where do I get those, the guy at the honda shop said they dont sell them commercially any more.

 

http://www.car-part.com/
http://www.picknpull.com/check_inventory.aspx
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trks...at=0&_from=R40

 

After some search I came across this.. if u can get a ignition switch, swap out ur old one..
I got one local.. I havent swap out the relay yet.. I jus swap the ignition switch.. im not 100% sure yet if it help until it happens again
http://techauto.tripod.com/