Good evening all,

Car in question is a 1998 Civic LX. Completely stock engine. No CEL. All usual maintenance has been completed (fluids/belts/accessories etc).

This problem has only started arising now that that the summer has taken full effect. In the mornings, when its 70-80 degrees out, I have no issues. Perfectly smooth acceleration, no bouncing idle arriving at at stop sign or stop light. After work, when it's now 105/110+ outside, both of the issues pop up on the drive home. No CEL pops up while driving. No other issues, sounds, or problems arise.

To start, I took off the throttle body and cleaned it up along with the IACV. Both were pretty dirty, and I feel like it drove really well right after putting it back together. Problem unfortunately reappeared after about 10 minutes of driving in the same afternoon heat.

I'm not too sure where to go from here. I'm 100% a shade tree mechanic, and haven't encountered this issue before. Being there is no CEL puts me even more in a kerfuffle as I don't even know where else to begin!

Thanks in advance any help!

 

I once had an encountered an issue like yours, turned out being the distributor though it had no codes being thrown aswell.

 

Hey, thanks for responding.

Did your issue happen all the time or only in hotter weather as well? I'm not opposed to getting a new distributor and wires. Plugs have less than 10k, but unsure on distributor or wire mileage.

Also wondering if I just swap out cap, rotor, and wires for good measure.
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When I had the problem it was in the summer aswell but the car had sat for months prior to the issue. After getting the car ready for the road and getting it running again, the problem started, I went over a few things, couldn't really find anything wrong so slapped in the spare dizzy and all was good. I take it maybe something inside the dizzy was on its way out or just acting up, maybe shielding wires inside were deteriorated or the ignitor was dying idk.
I went straight to the distributor for the first to be changed out because it was easy to change, I had a spare and I know it affected drive ability and the tachometer and I got lucky.
I would doubt changing the other components you mentioned will make any difference as to me they would only help with a sputtering or miss fire issue.
Wouldn't hurt to take a peek inside your distributor and check for corrosion at the wire terminal connections or anything obvious that looks worn out or abnormal.
Just keep in mind that distributors are not cheap so if you have access to anyone you could borrow one from to swap and see if resolves the problem then you know what to replace. Make sure to set timing correctly when changing. Just some thoughts of mine.