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Hello,

As per the subject, I own a 2003 Civic sedan (LX - Canadian model). I find very frequently when I accelerate from low speeds there is some engine hestitation and my car seems to go into gear somewhat roughly. I should add that the vehicle is an automatic.

I've replaced my air filter which did not seem to help at all. Also, I spoke to the service guy at my Honda dealership and he said that my plugs should not need replacing yet. There is 65,000 KMS on my car.

When the car was brand new I didn't seem to notice the problem, but it the problem has been there now for well over a year.

Anyone have any similar problems with their Civic, or have any suggestions on what could be wrong?

Thanks in advance!

(My apologize for posting this in another forum - i did not notice this was the correct one)

Dave

 
Rep Power: 811

tighten the throttle cable. Then you'll be getting instant response when you tap the gas.

THROTTLE CABLE. No doubt this is old news. But there is a correct way of doing this without messing up your car. Now from the factory, the cable is VERY loose. This is no good, because the car will never be able to reach WOT (wide open throttle). Now if you tighten it too much, the throttle may stay open and cause the rpms to get stuck. You want it as tight as possible without this happening. If you look in the back of the TB, you'll see the cable towards the end. Now there are two throttle levers that can be pushed to open the throttle plate or butterfly. One is black, and the other is bronze. The bronze lever can be pushed about 1/2 to 1 inch before it contacts the actual black lever to open the TB. When you tighten the cable, you want to make sure that the bronze lever sits flat on the metal base. If it is hanging in the middle, you're gonna have the problem of sticking rpms when revving. You want the cable tight enough so that pushing down on it causes the bronze plate to immediately start moving.

I'll try and take some pics for you guys if you need to do this.

Now here's a shot of the throttle cable. The blue box shows you the correct cable to adjust. Basically there is a holder in the middle and a nut on each side. First you need to loosen the right side nut so the cable assembly can be taken out of the holder. Once free, look for the nut that was on the left (sorta hiding in this pic) and turn it so that when you put the assembly back in the holder, it should make the cable tighter. In my pic, the left adjusting nut is almost to the edge to make it tight enough. Yours WILL be different. Just make sure there's enough slack that the metal throttle lever is in resting position. The manual recommends 0.5 inches of slack when you push the cable before the TB will start to move the lever. Once the adjustment is made, put the throttle assembly back onto the holder and tighten the right side nut. Go for a drive and make sure everything is fine.

 
Rep Power: 301

Change the plugs. I had some hesitation at 30k. A new set of plugs and she runs like new. These plugs do NOT last 100,000 miles. Well, yes, they do.... but Honda never guaranteed that your car will run well.

 
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yeah, maybe some general maintance, like some FP60 and that kind of stuff would help to.

 
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Change the plugs and find out if thats it.

 
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Thank you all for the responses!

I've since adjusted the tension on the throttle cable and have found a noticeable improvement.

At this point I would like to replace the spark plugs. Is this a do-it-yourself job? If so, can someone provide a few basic steps? (i.e. warm or cold engine etc)

Further, what plugs do you all recommend. I've been hearing of iridium and I believe there are platinum (factory) currently in the vehcile.

Thanks again!

Dave

 
Rep Power: 452

let the engine cool down first before doing it. Just remove that little black cover on the top of the valve cover to reveal the ignition coils. Then unclip each harness connecter from the coil and remove the coils. then remove each spark plug. And reverse the order for install, making sure to snug the spark plugs in there, if you tighten them too much they will strip the threads. I think the torque spec is something like 12-15 ft. lbs or so. In between there is good. then reinstall everything.

I have the iridium IX or IK or whatever there name is plugs which work great.