civic97SI500k

Hello all,

I'm a newbie on this forum, just got registered but in the past I have used the advices from members postings.

Last few days the car started bucking and jerking in lower gears, but as you pressed on the gas it would go away. Yestrday however it came to the point that I could not go pass the second gear, had to pull to the side of the highway and turn the car off. Even in neutral pressing the gas pedal it would not go above 2000 RPM. Waited a minute turned it back on, drove for another 500m until the closest turnoff and parked the car.

As I lifted the hood I noticed white smoke coming from the back of the engine, luckily I had some water with me and started spilling it on the area. I even went and looked from under the car to see what it was and the part that leads into the muffler was lava red and smoking.

The car got towed away to Canadian Tire and they ran a scan and told me that the crankshaft position sensor is gone.

They however had no explanation as to why the car was smoking, and reading through the message on this forum for the past 24 hours I haven't found one similar incident.

Any help or suggestion would be appreciated, as I am about to do the labour myself (did 3 honda timing belts last summer)...

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

Start a timing belt job and if you find the timing belt is broken take your head off if you find your valves are bent you will need a new engine. I have however never ever heard of the muffler being red??

MelJ

Yeah. Neither have I. I've heard of CATs glowing red, but never mufflers. If you poured water on the engine, don't you run the chance of cracking the block? I know we splash water underneath the car going over puddles and it does nothing, but I'd assume that pouring that much water in a concentrated area can't be good.

civic97SI500k

MelJ and tbohar thanks for replying,

Now looking at the videos and info I think MelJ is right it was the catalytic converter. I was trying to pour the water behind the engine to cool of the area which was glowing and smoking - not directly on the engine block. However it still makes no sense why did it start overheating and smoking white if a Crankshafr Position Sensor is the part not working? Is there any connection I am missing between the two of them?

tbohar - it wasnt the timing belt, I have changed it last summer and have driven less than 15000km since. What also tells me its not the timing belt is that I was able to restart the car and drive it for another 500m without a problem (well besides the catalytic converter glowing red and white smoke). Those 500m the car drove smoothly like the problem just a minute before never happened.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

Catalytic converter is probably plugged ...

lazlong

The CKP isn't working. Which is causing the engine to mis-fire and run lean. A lean running engine will cause the cat to get super hot.

*FYI: Letting the cat get red hot, even once can severely reduce the life of the cat.

MelJ

Not to mention a major fire risk.

civic97SI500k

First of all thanks everyone for posting, your advise and suggestions really helped me

I have just finished the work so here are the updates:

If you are looking to buy a crankshaft position sensor for EX model civics 96-00 take the 20mm diameter one not the 18mm...(Both Lordco in Canada and O'Riellies in the States offer these two options). Where ever you buy it dont go to the dealership as they are asking 227 CAD for the part - which is just ridicules and should be against the law.

I followed again the same instructions from last summer on how to do a timing belt which are also located on this forum. Took of the plug wires, disconnected the battery, then took off the engine cover, unscrewed the cruise control and moved it to the side, removed the power steering unit and the belt, removed the motor mound, and as I was heading underneath to start loosening the alternator I noticed that the crankshaft position sensor's wire fell out of its casing and was rubbing on the alternator belt. This was causing all the problems.

So the job took a turn for the better, as I split the wires, reconnected them, resealed the tubing taped it really good (this time zip tied it so there is no way of ever rubbing against the belt) and reconnected the plug.

Then I put everything back to normal, started the car and it works like a charm. No previous symptoms discussed bellow were present and today I even drove the car some 100 plus km.

Thanks again and all the best,

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

Great glad you got it working! Sorry my advice wasnt on the mark

civic97SI500k

tbohar

thank you for replying, I dont think anyone here is a certified mechanic so inputs from people are very important when you are troubleshooting the potential problems. Eventhough it was not the problem at least searching through stuff and reading up on it I could have eliminated it from the equation... and even more important is that I learned more about it in case something goes wrong in the future

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

Great response!!! Wish we had more people like you on this forum!!!

MelJ

^Hahaha. Yeah man. Glad to hear ya got it fixed!