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Hi Folks,
I am having an issue with my 1997 civic & hoping you can help me out - and/or let me know if you think im on the right track to solving it.

So, the car is 1997, ive owned it for the last 10+ years. 150,000 km. Manual Transmission. 1.6L

A few months back, my check engine light came on. I took it to my local mechanic, he pulled the code & told me it was an O2 sensor & that if i didnt want to replace it right away, no big deal, it wouldnt hurt to drive on it. So I started looking for a good deal on a sensor - got two & planned on replacing when the weather got better.

All of a sudden, a couple of weeks ago, I started noticing the car idling very rough/low. I actually stalled as I came to a stop sign. It seemed ok & I chalked it up to low-ish gas tank, filled up - didnt see any more problems for a few days. Then I started noticing the car RPM (i dont have a tach in the dash, so this is just by ear) really dropping as I braked.

I replaced the spark plugs and added some fuel injection cleaner. This seemed to help & everything seemed ok for another week or so.

Then, the last couple of days, its back & worse than ever. Now it seems like its actually an idle issue: The car drives just fine when in gear, but when I go into neutral, the engine just drops & clearly almost dies. I have stalled out only 2 times, but it sure seems like its been close a few.

As it drops to almost dying, the lights on the dash dim quite a bit and the fan (if its on) seems to almost turn off. The radio will turn off presumably due to lack of power as the engine gets close to stalling.

There appears to be no difference if the A/C is on or not or if the lights are on/not - so Im assuming its not electrical?


My plan for this weekend was:

1) Replace O2 Censors (although Im not sure how they would affect this as they havent changed) but it should be done either way.

2) Take off the Idle Air Control Valve & give it a good cleaning - my gut tells me it could be this, but im not sure.

3) Possibly Adjust idle speed screw

4) Pray a little.

5) ______________ (your suggestions) ?



The silver lining is that I will be riding my bike to work for the rest of the week...that is if my backside can handle the saddle for repeated days after so many months off :P

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!!
Justin

 
Rep Power: 0

Your plan for this weekend should resolve the issue.

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks for the agreement - lets hope it works!

 
Rep Power: 0

I had the exact same problem earlier this week. It started running rough Sunday and on the way to work Monday morning it got worse and the check engine light started flashing. The codes were ran at auto zone and it came up the same as yours. The guy there told me to do some fuel injector cleaner, run higher quality gas, change spark plugs, and check the pcv valve.

I had also changed the 02 sensor a few months ago and I run the fuel cleaner pretty regular so I didn't think it was that. I went straight to replacing my spark plugs which seemed to help a small bit. Then I ordered some NGK Spark plug wires and put those on yesterday morning. After a trip around the block the problem was completely gone and last night the light went off on it's own. The car is driving better than I can remember. I've decided it's time to stop wasting my money on the cheap auto zone crap and just start buying the name brand stuff from amazon which is about the same price.

good luck!

BTW: while at the parts store the guy behind me in line had a 96 accord with many of the same problems and his was fixed by replacing the Ignition Control Module.