Hey everyone! Been having a problem on and off with my 1989 Civic Si...

Little backstory, car has 264k, motor doesn't tick, knock, runs fine, doesn't burn oil unless beat, etc etc. About 4 months ago did a timing belt and whatnot, and threw new plugs in it. Forgot to mention I bought the car for cheap so I didn't want to throw THAT much cash into it.

With that being said, I could still replace the plug wires, cap and rotor, fuel filter, etc for the final parts of the tuneup, but the car has been running great for 2 years now, even before doing the timing belt and plugs.

Replaced the dizzy with someone's distributor off their crx since my car was idling kind of low, and sputtering sometimes at low rpm when giving it gas, I could put my foot on the clutch and rev it out and it would go back to normal...lately it has been getting much worse, anything below 5000rpm the car will buck and sputter like it's not getting fuel, violently shaking, stays at the rpms for the most part, but violently bucking and shaking....anything above 5000rpm &the car ran fine. So, figured crank position sensor, threw my old distributor back on, car ran fine for a day. 2 nights ago I was on my way home, hit a pothole on my drivers side front, and immediately after my car started bucking and sputtering just like before, so I figured let's hit another pothole, hit it, car ran fine again.... drove the car last night to a buddies garage and it ran fine the entire time...hit some bumps because it's Pennsylvania roads but nothing major.

What the hell is going on? Before i go and just drop my gas tank. Almost leads me to believe the sock/bag on my fuel pump is falling off, or I have a loose ground? Loose plug? Main relay? Ecu? TPS? Distributor relatred STILL (igniton coil? Cam postioning sensor?) I'm dumbfounded, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! Please re-read if needed. Thanks everyone in advance! This is my daily driver. 😔

Stock d16a6, still obd0

 

very well could be the ignitor. its within the distributor cap. i had a similar scenario which ended up being the ignitor. another item which could be causing this bucking is possible oil above the spark plugs. i had a d16a6 which was leaking a bit and burning a bit of oil which needed occasional toping off. i apparently overfilled and then ran it harder than it needed to be in the state it was in ended up gushing out of the seals around the spark plugs onto the valve cover and puddled oil in the top of the valve cover. this puddling of the oil would short out the spark and cause it to buck at low rpm. after cleaning up the mess it worked smooth again. if you hadn't replaced the ignitor on a used distributor its a good idea to grab one.

 

I've got this spare brand new eBay distributor that was making a loud whining sound when I had it on the car, I'll rip it apart and pull the igniter out! I'l check back shortly to let you know the redults, & does advance or AutoZone carry igniter? If for some reason this eBay distributors igniter is bad.

 

hmm im not sure if they have a comparable piece at the autoparts stores. I usually get anything i can from honda. the ignitor part number 06302-PT2-000 i think its like $120 the other piece that could use to be fresh is the coil. it is as well in the distributor the part number for this is 30500-PM5-000 i think its like $80. check that you haven't blown oil out of the top of the valve cover spark plug seals first because that could cause similar stuff to happen and most likely will correct it when cleaned without the new parts.

 

Appreciate the fast replies man, really do. I tore apart that eBay distributor I had laying around, pulled the ignition coil, igniter, cap and rotor off of it, swapped it onto the OG distributor, also checked the plugs, one of the plugs (cyl #2) was covered in blowby from one of my valve cover nuts being loose, as well as 3 of the 4 plug tubes having a small amount of oil laying on top of the plugs.

After looking a little further, my plugs are about shot, wires are pretty shot as well, looks like I'm throwing new plugs and wires on this as well. But she's running fine again for now! I'll keep everyone posted!