Hi, I'm new to this forum so I should probably introduce my car first. I have a 1988 Honda Civic EF Sedan with a D15B2, relatively stock other than the header and exhaust AFAIK. Previous owner didn't take care of it and made a lot of questionable decisions that I have been unravelling and fixing... typical civic BS. I bought it as a daily driver not a project, drove it home and from the next day onwards it has been something I've needed to work on every week for months so ... kinda at my wits end haha, any help would be appreciated. I have changed/fixed:


Parasitic drain from a glowshift cluster, Gauge cluster bulbs, ALL fuses, Main relay, ALL grounds cleaned, Alternator rebuilt, Battery replaced, Distributor replaced 3 times, entire fuel pump assembly, all hoses near gas tank were updated when I changed the fuel pump as well, Fuel filter, Spark plugs, Spark plug wires, Valve cover gasket, O2 sensor (previous owner deleted it and some wiring next to it was sketchy so I repaired that too), other stuff like motor mounts and brakes too


It was running really rich before I fixed the o2 sensor situation and showed codes 16 and 8. After the o2 sensor fixed I started her up and the 16 was gone, still running not great but just showing code 8.I drove it to my shop so I can do an oil change and coolant flush this weekend and on the way there it threw code 1 in addition to 8 , it is still misfiring under high gas / high rpms on the highway and actually died right before we arrived at the shop. Battery light came on before that, we started her up again and it went back to just showing check engine light. Nothing has really changed. It used to sound worse but still sounds like a 2 step or even a rotary sometimes haha. My husband said maybe it's the cam timing , he's a honda guy so maybe he's right idk. I think I am also missing a ground, not sure. It's weird because when I first bought it, with really bad gas and a weak fuel pump, a clogged fuel filter and old battery it drove home at 70mph just fine without any strange sounds. The distributor timing has been copied when putting on the new ones so that hasn't changed. Really hoping this is just something dumb I'm overlooking. Any insight would be amazing, thanks!

 

I don't know if this is related but here goes.

I have an 88 Civic hatchback. I have a D15B1 with a manual trans. The previous owner had someone performing maintenance at irregular intervals I think. Anyway. There were some issues before I bought the car. The exhaust had lots of carbon, car running rough at idle, etc. Drove it and was repairing suspension problems for awhile. Wound up experiencing a detonation and lost two exhaust valves in number 3 cylinder. Replaced all exhaust valves and all valve seals + head gasket, intake gasket, exhaust gasket, coolant hoses, rotor, cap, plugs, coil, timing belt, alt belt, wires, misc seals, etc. Running rough for a bit afterward but, RUNNING GREAT at highway speeds. I proceeded to clean the heck out of the idle air control valve. Worked a little better but not quite. Finally just replaced it with a new one. Now running terrific. I'm not 100% sure if the original problem WAS the IACV and the ignition coil (spring broke and coil lead was only arcing) but it all seems fine now.

I bought my IACV from Amazon. I have reservations about my part sources but this seems to be okay for now.

 

Code 1 is for O2 sensor, Code 8 is for TDC (crank position) and code 16 is for fuel injectors (According to the 1.5l section of my 89 service manual - hoping it isn't too different for 88)

With code 8 showing, you want to double check the mechanical timing first. Make sure the marks on the crank and camshaft match up where they need to be.

If that checks out, maybe try swapping around distributors - if you are using remanufactured units they may be hit or miss.

Anecdotally, last time I had issues like that I had to replace my fuel filter and clean my MAP sensor, but I wasn't getting codes.

Sort the mechanical timing, and then invest in a service manual since you'll need to follow the troubleshooting flows for each of the suspect systems. Otherwise you'll be throwing parts at it forever.

 

When mentioned that the timing was copied, was that just bolting the new distributor in the exact same position as the old one because that could be the problem. Need to use a timing light and adjust the distributor accordingly, not just copy the old.