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My car started sputtering and losing power. It started kinda out of no where. It was after this brutal winter here in WV. Super cold winter and i drive mon thru fri morning in cold and one day i over exerted the motor a lil bit trying to get up the icy hill. Sputter problem will come and go but car is usually ALWAYS sputtering & rumbling with low power and poor acceleration. Sometimes when i'm cruising with the sputter or accelerating with the sputter, the sputter will suddenly disappear for a second and gain all its power and normal sound, then it will start sputtering again. then normal then sputter then normal then all sputter... Other times it will just run totally normal and nice for hours like a whole day, then suddenly next day super crappy the whole day. Now its running crappy basically all the time, but getting great gas mileage.
IT IS THROWING NO CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CODES. When I turn the key. I see the CEL come on for like three seconds then it goes out so I know the computer is working correct. Correct? WHen i jump the service connector and try to get codes any way, the ABS light flashes non stop like it needs checked. and the CEL light stays on solid. So that is all good. Correct? OBD1 here.

Car is a 95 honda civic ex 1.6L VTEC SOHC. 2 dr coupe. 5spd manual all stock. 300k miles. Switched motor and tranny many years ago. Had car since 2003. Has a 4 channel amp hooked up its like 600 amps.

Me trying to remedy the problem did
Plugs (NGK same as what hayes repair manual recommends and checked gap.)
Wires were done but before this brutal winter, Since been tested with a multimeter & all tested good that way.
Fuel Filter
Air Filter
PVC Valve
Cleaned throttle body best i could
Cleaned the Idle Air Control Valve (IACV) best i could.
Changed Manual Transmission Fluid
Changed the fuel pump filter sock thing (changed fuel pump years ago and forgot to get sock)
Checked all my fuses.
Replaced Coolant, Bleeded all the air out.
Replaced negative battery wire holder terminal thing to a brass one, the old one was not tight and crumbling.
Upgraded coil to an Accel thing for no good reason, except i lost the little spring terminal on my old one.
Upgraded my amps power wire to 4 gauge because I was using to thin of a gauge of wire for a while.
Still need to upgrade and tighten amps ground wire probably has nothing to do with my problem i know.

Hooked up a Vacuum Gauge Diagnostic Test and all was good except slight vibration of the needle during idle. Which i heard is either worn valve guides, or piston rings? Anyway the oil stays clean and i never really need to add any oil. I determined from this test that the exhaust is not obstructed and the timing is ok? Cant really confirm that though because i'm not an expert.

I also changed the CAP and IGNITION ROTOR like first thing. (thats when i lost my coils spring terminal. If the spring falls off, it is ok. just press the spring back in. it will stay. no need to buy a new coil.) Then when i still had the problem. I look at Cap and Ignition Rotor again and they looked funky to me. especially the rotor button thing. the metal had black on it again. I returned the cap and rotor and got new ones but the employee didnt really argue with me so i dont know if the return was really necessary. So then i replaced my coil too with the accel upgrade. I still have my old coil which tested good but the spring terminal doesnt stay on it. (i ended up putting back in my original coil after i fixed the spring. i was having a hard time testing the accel coil so i took it out. Now today i look at my rotor and inside my distributor cap and it they look funky Again so i'm thinking of trying to take them back AGAin. I just today (3/11/14) did a power balance test by removing spark plug wire ends one at a time and noting decrease in idle. All seemed to decrease the idle when i removed them so all cylinders are good? I noticed one of the plug wires wasnt sparking or clicking when i put it on metal, so i replaced them for free for the second time in like 3 months, although they tested good with a multimeter back when problem started. I also replaced cap and rotor again since they were looking funky again i replaced them again for 3rd time. It didn't help any. All my NGK Spark plugs are still in great shape. one might have had a lil drop of oil on it but it was nothing and its not burning oil and i never have to add oil. SO I decided that because the rotor button seems to keep going bad, I would check my ignition timing for the heck of it since i have a timing light. I then learned that my idle speed should be at 670rpm + or - 50rpm and i was idling at around 400rpm when at normal operating temperature. SO I learn i need to turn my idle adjustment screw counter clockwise to raise my idle, but it is so stuck that it will not turn. It takes a flathead screwdriver. How do i loosen this thing to raise my idle speed to the proper level?

Meanwhile, I have been putting stuff in my tank. 1st tank I used Lucas. 2nd tank I used Iso Heet. 3rd tank I used Seafoam. 4th tank I used Iso Heet again. 5th tank I'm on Seafaom again. and was always using Martins Food Stores gas. Now on 5th tank I switched to Sunoco from Optima of Wal Mart. BP EXXON MOBIL SHELL are all nowhere near me. Ethanol Free is no where near me either.

I can usually always get it to run good when it is very cold out, but as soon as it warms up, the problem returns. And one day it was warm and pleasant outside and the problem disappeared for couple hours then came back. Seemed to help bleeding the coolant, replacing neg battery terminal, running gas real low, replacing plugs, rotor and cap, all seemed to help reduce the but the sputter is so random it could all be coincidental.

 
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BUMP or whatever. Anybody on this site?

 
Rep Power: 209

i think the best place to start would be trying to determine which cylinder is missing/sputering

 
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thanks for the reply mikey. how do i decide which cylinder is misfiring? i already did the power balance test and all cylinders seem fine. When i was thinking my idle was off, it wasn't. the first line after 0 is 500rpm, not halfway between 0 and 1. got idle screw loose though. Then i went to check my timing and i melted the gun's wires on my header. i took it to my unofficial mechanic hopefully he figures it out but i'll let yall know what happens

 
Rep Power: 518

You'd have to do the test while the problem is present.


I bet it will be ignition related, as in cap/rotor/wires/plugs.

 
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About 1 month ago our 1993 DelSol Si decided to sputter when mywife would get on the gas hard when turning left. Then that grew to a sputtering and loss ofpower going uphill. Then a generalsputter when the car was asked to perform. No check engine light.

Startingsimple, I suspected bad fuel. I startedwith Lucas fuel treatment and premium fuel. Still problematic, I researched. We were directed to plugs, wires, cap & rotor. But they were not that old. But not knowing if the previous owner picked outsomething because it was supposedly performance… blah blah… I changed themanyway. The plugs looked horrid. The wires seemed ok and they were 8mm, so Ileft them. Tried to start the car and itdid not want to start. We got it going,but I figured maybe a wire was not on tight I started checking them. All was well at the plugs. The dist cap was some clear cheapy, and Icould see the spark through it. Something seemed off though. Itouched one of the wires at the cap to see if it was tight. I could now feel current leaching at the Distcap. Maybe the cap was cracked? So off to the store. Upon removing the Dist cap, there wasoil all over the bottom side of the cap. Had the rubber seal failed? All theconnectors were corroded and nasty. Therotor button was seized on there. I gotit apart, cleaned it up and changed both. Thecar fired up and ran better. There wasno more leaching current. So out for adrive and then the dreaded sputter… So on to the wires. Now the car was running with no sputter,finally.

Then before I get it home from its test run, it throws a code. Good grief… So this points to the Fuel Filteror pump. The fuel filter was on therelike Hercules installed it. My guess, itwas never changed. Line wrenches proveddifficult to locate and cost more then the shop would charge, so I paid theshop to do it. Code was gone and the carran great!

Maybe your fuel filter?
Also when I was researching I remember folks saying this issue could cause catalytic convertor issues. Is you cat clogged?

I mostly work with domestics... I remember that my firebird had a ghost like drivability issue. Nothing we did sorted it out. All sensors replaced, fuel pump, filter, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, wires, computer even. We even rebuilt the Distributor... better but not perfect. Then on an off chance someone sugested checking the height the Distributor sat at. Come to find out the Dist was sitting wonky in the motor. We had to get a shim kit and reshim it to factory specs. This was the secret cure that even GM techs did not know about! Is there a chance you have a distributor issue? Maybe a internal electrical component? Not sure if this happens in Hondas? Is your dizzy original. Have a freind who has the same motor and can swap dizzies for a quick test?

Only other thing I would check is vacuum... maybe you have a cracked or rotten line somewhere. If any rubber lines leave a black residue on your hands when you touch them.... I was told to swap them out.

 
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It was one of my fuel injectors. My mechanic could hear it, I could not.