VanessaMGardner

I apologize for the length of this post; I tried to give as much information that I could to make sure that the previous problems weren’t connected with my current issue. Thank you in advance for any help that you offer me.

Okay, to start off here is a little information about my car. It's a 1999 Honda Civic EX, manual transmission with around 150,000 miles. I few months ago I was having issues with starting my car, sometimes it would start right up and drive fine and other times it wouldn't start at all. After leaving it alone for a little while it started up again. Months went by and I just lived with this annoying problem. Soon after though, I started having a new problem where I would be driving and my car would act like it's being turned off but it would still be moving..scary. All of the dash lights would come on (just like when you first start it) and it would turn back on. Soon, my dad figured out this was a coil problem and preplaced it. It hasn't done this problem since then (knock on wood). So since it was fixed I was driving my car again. I then found yet another problem. Whenever I would get onto the freeway or need to drive a little bit faster I would hear popping noises from my exhaust. I also noticed that the popping noise occurs when I hit 3500 to 4000 RPMs. My parents took it into a mechanic and they replaced the catalytic converter, right after it was driving better but not completely perfect. The popping noise came back and the popping is still there. My dad then replaced both o2 scensors but those didn't work either. Now my car drives rougher then ever and is completley undrivable. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS CAR?!?!?!!?

gordon555

If your dad replaced the ignition coil it might be possible that he messed with the timing of the vehicle which would cause it to run rough and pop when accelerating. If there is a check engine light on I would retrieve the codes first. Also if you don't have the means to test the car I would say give it a tune up. New spark plugs and wires are simple to install and could fix your problem.

anibis

You don't have to loosen the 3 bolts that hold the distributor in to do a coil so there would be no reason for it to be out of time....unless your father loosened them by accident.

Since the problem started w/the new coil I would exchange it for a new one. You could also put the old coil back in and see if you can get the car running, it may work since you said it was intermittent.

Quality control on store parts is terrible these days so it wouldn't shock me if the new coil was defective.

VanessaMGardner

Thank you both. I talked to my dad and he said he didn't mess with the bolts that hold on the distributor. He is going to put the old coil back on and see if there's an improvement with the rough driving and popping noise.

Thanks again.

gordon555

Found this on the forum and it sounds like the same problem you are having.


Re: 99' Civic Died While Driving, Wont Start.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rawmikey
Put the new coil in. took a while but it stated. Its idling fine but at about 3-4,000 RPM I think its mis-firing. Is this a sign of timing belt?
Anything is possible, but I doubt it.
Hey, it runs.
Did it have this problem prior to dying while you were driving along, or is this a totally new issue?
Now you have something else to diagnose.

Did the new coil come with the little spring that makes contact with the dist cap? (or whatever should be in there if it isn't a spring, I don't remember at the moment) Maybe you needed to swap it to the new coil?

Loose connections on the coil and/or the igniter will cause high RPM misfires. You may need use some pliers to pinch the spade terminals on the connections for the igniter. This is actually rather common, the terminals loosen up over time and miles, and when someone moves them too much they get loose.

HTH

VanessaMGardner

Thank you, Gordon555... I am thinking that this would fix the problem. Do you happen to know how to do this?

gordon555

I can't really say but their will only be a few connections in their and it would not hurt to tighten all of them and make sure their are no corrosion or anything that might cause some resistance. Just play with it a little bit, sometimes even if it's a little loose the connection may as well be miles apart. Let me know what your results are I hope you and your dad can get it running well again.

VanessaMGardner

My dad looked and tightened all the wires around the area and it still ran rough...I forgot to mention that I found out before we replaced the coil that in 02 or sometime around there, that there was a recall on ignition switches in 99 ex civics..my dad checked and my car wasn't one that was recalled..

On Thursday my Dad finally decided to take my car back into the mechanic and they believe that it is the ignition switch! Damn car..hahaha!
Thanks for all the help though, I really appreciate it.

danwat12345

Yup the ignition switch would explain why the car would act like it's off. If your jiggle the car key it would probably act up like that and that would prove that the ignition switch is worn out.
But there is still the problem of the engine missing at 3500-4000RPMS? Scan the computer, have the mechanic check timing, check spark plug wire resistance.