LONG POST SO i'm SORRY in ADVANCE

My 02 Civic DX has 173k on it. A couple months ago the engine started rumbling when I'd start it and stop rumbling after 2-5 seconds, car would run great in idle, no acceleration issues. Before i go any further, by "rumbling" I mean the engine would shake - you could feel it in the stearing wheel and see the front of the car wobble. The check engine light would go off and on so I had it checked out and the mechanic could not determine what the issue was. I also took it to a transmissions autoshop - they couldnt find anything.

This is not an engine mount issue as they were checked and no issues were found.

So, a couple weeks ago I was at a honda dealership and had them check it out. They came back with a couple suggestions: timing belt, full system cleaning, and something else that i am blanking on. Because the estimate was so high, I took it to a trusted mechanic, gave them Honda's perceived problems and told them to look at it. They didn't find the issues that Honda did, said everything checked out and i took it home.

A week or so goes by, same issues, i'd start the car, it would turnover, rumble and then the rumbling would quit. Depending on how frequently I drove the car, it would not rumble at all. For example, if I drove it saturday morning and ran errands it would rumble when i left my home but wouldnt rumble the rest of the day. If I drove saturday and didnt drive for the rest of the weekend, monday morning the engine would turn over, rumble 3-5 seconds and then it was fine.

Here's my issue: last week i drove the car on saturday, recieved a pretty violent rumbling when the car turned over but ran fine the rest of the day. I dont drive sunday. Monday morning i put the key in the ignition, the car rumbles and attempts to turn over and dies. Tried again, same thing and i start to smell gas fumes.

Battery was tested and its not the battery.

Anyone have any ideas (non timing belt related). Spark plugs? ignition filter? Anything? I want to be able to fix some of the potential issues so i can rule them out and, if need be, hand it over to a mechanic and tell them its not X Y Z..

thanks

 

you said check engine light came on at one point. does it still do this when it rumbles? if so what are the codes or do you not know?

 

I do not have codes.

When I checked the battery, I also changed the cabin air filters CEL has not come on since i changed the air filters

 

When the CEL turns on, it offers you an opportunity to diagnose a problem. The next time the CEL turns on, start by pulling the CEL code(s).

 

I have this exact same problem with my 02 EX. Start the car, shortly after that it will start shaking and when you press the gas it bogs and has no power. Then 5 seconds later it runs great and will not do it again. It will do this maybe once a week. The only difference is I have not seen the CEL come on while its doing it.

 

I concur, best thing to do is to buy a cheap diagnostic/code reader as they can be had on ebay for cheap.