I recently bought a civic and it was fine when i got it but i’m learning to drive manual , after driving around i came home and heard a popping noise when my cars in neutral , as a cold start it starts on 1.5k rpms and drops as the temp gets warmer , when it’s halfway it drops to 1k rpm and starts to pop and shake the car , i don’t know what’s wrong and i need to get it fixed , plus i’m getting into the car scene and need to learn more about common civic problems , i think it might be the clutch or something wrong with my exhaust, maybe a misfire ?

 

Check the ECU for any codes, do you have a check engine light on?

 

Yea i do but the guy who sold me swapped it with a b16a2 with 160,000 miles

 

What's the code on the OBD scanner?

What ECU is being used?

 

I don’t know to be honest , is there any way to check?, i’m still a teenager so i’m not familiar with much stuff , it’s my first car.

 

No worries, You can go to any AutoZone or most mechanic shops and ask them to scan your computer or ECU to see what OBD2 codes pop up! you might have multiple codes, take down the codes that are in the scanner, these codes should look like P116 ect. Harbor freight sells a cheap OBD scanner for around $25 I picked one up last year. It will plug into the OBD port located under the driver side dash.

Located the ECU on the passenger side behind the kick panel and pull out the ECU and take a pic or post up the ECU model # for us.

Post up the codes so we can search what they are pointing too, the codes will give a very accurate idea about what's going on with the engine/ECU and will point you in the right direction.

 

I will see what i can do and thanks for the information it means a lot , i’m excited to drive and do so much to this car , as soon as i get the obd scanner i’ll post it, in the meanwhile i’ll take pictures of the ecu and hopefully resolve the issue soon !

 

I just scanned the obd and there aren’t any codes , i did this twice to make sure but there isn’t any codes ?
I don’t know the identification of the ecu so i’ll post what’s on it and hopefully you can help me

 

Does this help ?

 

That's the correct ECU to use for the B16 engine.

You said it drove fine when you got it?

You mentioned your learning to drive it, did you by any chance miss shift and rev the engine all the way up to redline?

Check the spark plugs in case they are fouled or have oil on them.

I think your next step if you have no codes stored in the ECU is to check the mechanical timing! You need to find a buddy to help you if your not mechanically inclined but its not very hard at all, remove the valve cover and rotate the engine buy hand with the spark plugs removed and get the engine to TDC and check the timing marks on the cam gears as well as the crank.

 

Yes it did when i was in the car with the seller test driving me in it , vtec worked and it ran well, i live on an up hill so it’s harder to learn and i stall for a bit , at first i burnt the clutch a bit because it smelled like the clutch , when i was driving it around in 1st it barely grabs onto the clutch so the rpms almost drop to 0 and the engine naturally revs to stay on , even in neutral , i thought it was something wrong with the clutch but when i tried turning it on it wants to crank but makes a pop noise from the exhaust like a misfire so i thought that may be the case , it happy often now the popping and then the issue of it in neutral and shaking as if it’s stalling is also the issue as well as turning off from the rpms dropping , at one point i was in second and downshifted to 1st but didn’t rev match so that could also be the case . I dont recall reving it to redline and miss shift . It might take a while but i’ll see if i know anyone who could help me with the mechanical timing , and i’ll check the spark plugs , thanks for the helpful info !

 

Yea check the basics first, check the spark plugs and take off the distributor cap, its 3 small screws and look to see if the ignition rotor is still intact and in good condition. Then check the mechanical timing you may have skipped a tooth or two..

 

Does this look right to me , it seems off by like 1 tooth or maybe 2 , so i just have to do the mechanical timing to fix it right ?

 

You need to go and grab a manual from an auto store for a 99-00 Civic SI, this manual will have all the info you will need to repair the engine.


Get the engine set to TDC properly! search anything your not familiar with on google.

Make sure both crank and cams line up properly! you have aftermarket cam gears but they are set to 0 so timing has not been affected so its as if you have stock cam gear settings. Just go by the top middle line with the circle to represent the arrow with UP on it
that would be on the stock gears and line up the side markings even like the pic.

 

So tomorrow someone is gonna help me and come over with the timing he says the timing is messed up and we took the valve cover off and cranked the engine and one cam didn’t want to rotate he said so he’s coming tomorrow to help me , he says we have to get to the bottom and line up the teeth but i’m worried if he’ll mess anything up , he’s worked on cars before so i have faith but is there anything i should do first , like u said i have to move it to TDC first ? and if so i have to turn the crankshaft pulley until they all align up and that’s it ? or is there still more to it because you definitely know what you’re talking about