Just picked up a 1997 hx that has obviously not been taken care of. Guy told me it had no issues I drove it to only notice when I drive it home that it shutters and shakes while it idles. And i can hear that it's not running correctly thru the exhaust. Has CEL for cylinder 1 and 4 misfire and knock sensor. It has aftermarket exhaust as well as aftermarket headers. Don't know if that could be an issue with it? The spark plugs wires to the distributor were not wired correctly, and I'm thinking it jumped a tooth in timing. I started it until to drive it to work the other day. It got a little warm, shuttered and I put it into drive and it died, cranked for a while and started again. I bought a lemon and obviously someone else's problem just would like a second opinion on what I need to replace. First thing I did when I got the car is went to orielys to replace spark plugs.

 

Clear the CEL codes from the ECU. Do the same codes return after driving the car?

Did you do a full ignition system tune after the purchase? If not, start there.

How high did the temp needle rise?