Rep Power: 0

Hi

My hubby has a Civic 1.7ctdi 2002. The first problem it had was dying all of a sudden. It didn't want to start again, but after a few minutes it started and the Engine management light stayed on. We drove home prob 40 miles. Although the EML stayed on, it drove OK for a while. Hubby changed the oil and filter, and also air and fuel filters. He also added some stuff to the fuel (Redex type stuff that cleans the jets???). The light went off, and it drove Ok for a while, but stalled on tickover. Now it is stalling as soon as the revs go down, so stalls at traffic lights etc. We haven't done any diagnostics, but after reading a lot of forums, we thought we would try changing the Crankshaft Sensor. I ordered one from a local parts place, and my hubby went to fit it last night. The replacement part was like an L shaped part, whereas the sensor he took off was a longer sensor, and then a lead going to a 3 pin plug. I have tried everywhere here, including the Honda dealer, and have been offered the L shaped part, but not the bit that fits our car. Does anyone have any idea why ours might be different?
I will try to add a picture here. I hope it comes out (I can see it!). Any help appreciated. Thanks.

 
Rep Power: 211

I can't see your picture, but from personal experience, stalling at low rpm isn't going to be caused by that sensor. When it dies, the car goes into a limp mode, and theres no power to accelerate and the engine stutters at 3000rpm when the gas pedal is to the floor. What you need to do before replacing any parts, is confirm that it is actually the problem. Buy or borrow a scanner and hook it up under the dash to read the engine code. I did that right away, and it told me as soon as i plugged it in that it was a defective cam position sensor.

 
Rep Power: 512

He's right. The crank position sensor wing defective would indeed throw your car into limo mode, limiting engine revs to ~3700, and your car would take an excessively long time to start up, at least in my experience. Definitely get the code read if its throwing a check engine light. It'll save time and money while diagnosing your problems compared to blindly searching.

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks for your reply. I have just bought a code scanner on Ebay, so in a couple of days we should see what is wrong. It does make more sense than paying good money out to keep trying things, especially when we can't find a crankshaft sensor to fit! Hopefully we won't need one. I'll let you know how we get on

 
Rep Power: 188

Please do. looking forward to what you find out. And when you go to buy a new sensor take the old one with you..

 
Rep Power: 210

I had the crankshaft position sensor go out a couple of years ago and it did not go into limp mode. The first couple of times the car would die and restart a couple of minutes later. Took the car to Autozone where they scanned the codes and said it was the crankshaft position sensor. Eventually it died and would not restart at which time the sensor was replaced.

 
Rep Power: 0

Back with an update, and thanks to you lovely sensible people, we did not need a crankshaft sensor at all.

The fault scanner came this morning. I couldn't wait for hubby to come home, so decided to go out and check it myself. It came up with one error which is P1087 01/01 which means the heated oxygen sensor is faulty. I don't know whether the 01/01 meant fault one of one, as I could scroll to get more faults, but there weren't any. Otherwise, it might indicate which of the two sensors is faulty. Any advice welcomed

I read somewhere that that error code refers to (HO2S) 1, bank 1 - does that tell any of you which sensor it is?

I'm just thrilled that we didn't just go out replacing things to try and find where the fault was. The scanner I bought on Ebay was only £17.50 including postage - so a good bargain

Thank you again you nice helpful people

 
Rep Power: 188

I do beleive bank one is the main sensor or the primary O2.

 
Rep Power: 211

Yea, typically if you are having actual problems with the engine, it will be the primary O2 sensor, before the catalytic converter.

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks Peeps x

 
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We are completely baffled. We cannot find any sensors before or after the catalytic converter, or under the heat plates on the manifold. This is really strange, as I said before whe we tried to get a crankshaft sensor, the ones we were offered were different to the one we had on our car. It's like we have a Honda Civic, that's not a Honda Civic at all???????

My poor hubby is losing the will to live with it now. Can anyone throw any light upon why we haven't got any of these sensors? The only symptom is that it stalls on tickover. We once had the Engine Management light come on and car cut out, but started after a couple of minutes. The light stayed on, but car drove normally. He changed oil, fuel, and air filters, added some engine additive, and the light went out. It has driven like a dream since, until recently it started stalling as soon as the revs drop. It won't idle at all now, but will drive OK.

I hope someone can help

 
Rep Power: 0

I probably should add that our Civic is a 1.7ctdi, and according to the Haynes manual we have, it doesn't have any sensors on the exhaust????

 
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I have now found online that fault P1087 means the fuel rail pressure is low - which could mean the sensor is faulty, or there is low fuel pressure, which could be fuel pump, filter (although we know it's not that as it has been replaced) or injectors - so at least we have another avenue of investigation to go down. Will let you know how things go if we haven't topped ourselves before then

 
Rep Power: 518

CTDI is a Diesel. Right?
That wasn't offered to the US market.
What market is this car for? I'm guessing Euro or Japanese?

I have no info available from Honda for non-US market cars.
Same deal looking in Alldata.
I can't get info for non-USA cars from either of these sources.
Unless it is from google, and that isn't exactly reliable info all the time.

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks for your reply, yes it is a diesel, and we are in the UK. I drove the car last night (hubby was drinking!), and it does just die when the revs drop. It drives fine otherwise, starts well, pulls well etc. Someone has posted somewhere about an idle relearn, so I will try and find that, and maybe try. Otherwise we will have to go down the fuel problem route.

That's the problem with Google, you find others are having the same problem, but the answers given vary! Thanks for your time

 
Rep Power: 285

I wish we could give better advice, but it being a diesel model, very few if any of us have any experience with your engine. Sadly, Honda doesn't offer diesel engines in the American and Canadian markets, I wish they did..

I will try to think of an explanation for the engine stalling, but I'll be extrapolating from my knowledge of gasoline engines..

If you test the fuel line pressure, that will tell you whether there are issues with the pump or filter.