SuperbMollusk

I've been having a recent problem with my 1996 Civic. Its a 5 speed and only on occasion it wont let you stay at speed when slightly pushing down the gas pedal. When you release the pedal it jerks a couple times then you start to decelerate quickly, then when you give it gas it jerks then accelerates like normal, but if you stop accelerating it will jerk and start to slow down. Sorry if this doesn't make any sense and let me know if you need a better explanation or if you need more information. Thank you for the help in advance.

ezone

Difficult to maintain a steady cruise speed?
Runs rough only during steady cruise speed?
What speed is that?

Got fault codes?

SuperbMollusk

It's difficult to maintain a steady cruise speed, its not any specific speed it will happen no matter how fast you are going. What codes do you mean? As in check engine light codes?

ezone

Yes.

SuperbMollusk

I don't have any check engine light codes but I can see about getting it checked, I need to have an O2 sensor replaced so I would never have noticed if the check engine light would come on while it is doing this.

old97civic

I replaced my primary O2 sensor almost 3 years ago (Dec '14). In the summer and fall months preceding that I experienced progressively worse hesitation/jerkiness/loss of power but never got a check engine light or code.

Do you get the symptoms during the first few minutes of starting from cold or is it only after it's had a few minutes to warm up. O2 sensor data isn't used by computer during those first few minutes (it has to be hot). You can unplug the O2 sensor and see if you still experience the symptoms.

That will cause the check engine light to come on, FYI.

SuperbMollusk

That is why my check engine light is on, because I need to replace an O2 sensor. There aren't really any consistencies that I notice it does it, some days it happens and some days it doesn't. I'm not completely sure why it is doing which is the reason for this posting.

old97civic

Mine would act up sporadically at first. Sometimes there could be several uses of the car during which nothing would happen. Then say a week later, it would act up again. Then the frequency of occurrence increased until it was all the time (except during initial warmup).

Disconnecting the O2 sensor is easy to do and would allow you to see if the car behaves differently.

Primary sensor is right on the exhaust manifold at the front of the engine bay. Look to the left and follow the cable (toward passenger side), you can disconnect the plastic connectors. Good idea to zip tie any loose harness so it doesn't touch hot metal. Drive it like that for a few days and see how it goes.
This shows it quite well:

ezone

Does this mean you've had the CEL warning on before this new symptom started, but you never did anything about it?
What is the code number?

Now you'd never know when a new code pops up because the idiot light was already on....
(and yes an O2 sensor failure CAN make it run like crap, depending on how it fails....and they can fail without turning on the CEL too)


See if there are NEW codes.
Fix the original code, and any new codes.
See what happens after that.