1st - 5th Gen Honda CivicAs these Honda Civics get older and older they become harder to find in great condition and less popular to modify. By no means does this make them less of a contender on the track or car audio competition. Don't forget the roots of what made import tuning what it has become today.
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Newb here, don't know anything about cars besides changing my oil, but I've got the desire to learn. Looking for help on this problem - I've read a ton of threads on here trying to figure out what I should do but still haven't found a plan for a beginner.
Background -
I've had a problem with my Civic not starting occasionally, sometimes after running a quick errand and sometimes after it sits outside all day when I'm at work. Then I either wait 10 minutes or come back a couple hours later and it starts up fine. From what I've read, it seems like this could be a problem with the distributor (with multiple things possibly wrong inside the distributor).
More recent -
It still occasionally doesn't start but what matters to me more is for the last few months or so, the car starts to "miss" as I climb the gears, especially in 2nd and 3rd gear. It cuts in and out but usually gets better if I just shift up. So I've been babying it and trying to shift at 3000 at the max. I've also noticed as I'm cruising on the highway, the tachometer "fluctuates." It goes up a few hundred and just kinda bounces around. Nothing noticeable in my power, it almost seemed like the gauge was messed up or something.
Now -
The problems have become more severe. As I'm cruising the highway, sometimes the RPM bounces around and then suddenly drops down to like 1000 and it cuts out like it does when I'm climbing 2nd and 3rd gears (still cuts in and out here too). It even died once (luckily in the city, not the highway) but yesterday it was TERRIBLE on the highway. It got into its funk and was bouncing all around, up to like 4000 and 5000, then dropped down to 1000 again, and back up. I just nursed it and dropped my speed, praying I could make it home okay. It was fine after a few minutes (although I didn't push it by driving faster).
I'm so sick of this intermittent problem and it's so hard to figure out since it's so hit or miss. I don't want to get charged out the wazoo for having it looked at and have them not find anything.
I bought a distributor yesterday from Napa for $220. The guy told me I could get a coil or cap individually but said those could be up to around $100 themselves, and since it seems like there are so many things that could go wrong with the distributor, I just decided to get a brand new one. I haven't decided if I want to put it in though - is it worth the risk on a car with 217k miles? Should I wait till the problem gets worse? Tough choices. I think the car is in good shape otherwise and I change the oil more than enough. Another thing I need to think about is getting the timing belt replaced since I'm not sure when it was done by the previous owner. But if it craps out anyway due to this problem, why spend the dough?
It seems like some kind of cylinder firing problem, like one cylinder is not getting a spark every time and this messes up the engine's timing, but what do I know. I appreciate any input. Like I said I don't know squat about fixing cars, but I'd love to learn all I can.
Also, if I do decide to replace the distributor, does anyone know a DIY page or have any suggestions? Is there a manual on this somewhere? I saw some manuals for 7th gen Civics but couldn't find anything on a 93.
THANKS
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I decided to get a distributor cap to see if that was the problem (fingers crossed). I'll let you all know what happens when I install it since you're eagerly awaiting my response.
The original symptom of not starting after short intervals of being turned out was the result of the master relay/fuel pump relay going bad. Although a bad fuel pump relay could be the cause of the 'missing' you describe, I'm not 100 percent sure. The fuel pump relay is relatively cheap and easy to replace so you might try that. You might also try checking the fuel filter.
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