Rep Power: 0

2001 Civic EX Coupe, 1.7, 5sp, 165k

I'll describe the systems "car talk" style:

I noticed last spring that every once in a while (like once in a blue moon), when drive at constant speed, the engine would shudder real hard just for a second. At first it was so brief that it almost felt like hitting a potthole or something, I thought I was losing my mind. Then one day I happened to be looking at the guages when it happened and the tach/temp dropped to zero for just a split second, then back to normal. All summer and fall went by no problems.

About a month ago, driving through the Ohio snow, it started again, this time with increased frequency. Then one day about 2 weeks ago, it shuddered and the tach/temp guages dropped to zero and didn't recover - and the CEL came on. The car kept driving, but with reduced power - I could only push the accellerator so far and then it just sounded like it was bogging down. If I took it out of gear and revved the engine, it was like it was hitting a rev limitor, except at like 3500 rpms. I drove it straight to Advance, never shutting it off. They hooked up to the computer and couldn't get a reading - they told me I must have blown a fuse or something to the computer. Well I turned the car off, checked all the fuses, nada. Turned the car back on, no CEL, ran normal.

Then last week it happened again, shuddered, gauges dropped, loss of power...I kept driving, turned the ignition off and back on for just a second and viola - back to normal. Then it started doing it daily, then multiple times throughout my commute, and now when it start it up it experiences the condition - hard to get started, very rich gasoline smell, hard idle when cold.

I can't come up with the right search criteria to find the solution online...help!

 
Rep Power: 0

1. Bad ground
2. bad ECU?

just guessing. I've had that exact problem. It was my ECU.

 
Rep Power: 0

UPDATE:

Took the car to Advance with the CEL light on - they were unable to pull a code, or even connect to the ECU. Told me to check my fuses/relays - they are all good. Yesterday, took it there after I had gone through the whole shut-the-ignition-off-while-driving and the CEL went off and back to normal operation - the scanner said NO CODES!

So I'm thinking has to be a bad ground? Probably going to upgrade/replace all the grounds anyway...could a bad ground cause the car to operate in "limp home" mode and then go back to operating normal?

 
Rep Power: 0

I don't think a bad ground would cause you to go into limp home. did you say the car starts right up as soon as it dies or no? If it takes a little bit to start back up try this:
First, when the cars dies get to somewhere safe to get out of your car.
Second, try to start the car again if nothing happen's continue below.
After trying to restart the car and it fails to start but you can hear the starter pop your hood and unplug your battery on you car and then wait like 30 secs. After you've waited 30 sec's connect you battery again and try to start your car again. If it starts right up then it could be your ECU. That's how I found out mine was jacked up. Also test your spark. I checked my sparks and found that three of the cylinders where hardly firing which was causing the problem. I just got another ECU and had honda sync it. Also during this condition I wouldn't pick up ANY codes at all. In fact I even ran my scanner WHILE it was happening and still got nothing. there where times where I would leave it plugged in and it would never pick a code up. I talked to the head mechanic at the honda dealership in San Diego and he told me they wouldn't pick anything up and that more then likely it was the ECU. he said it's commen for the ECU to go bad because water follow's the wires in and will mess up the ECU.

This problem seems to be VERY commen so it seems likely that it happen's all the time.

 
Rep Power: 0

It never actually dies. If it jumps into limp home mode while driving, I click the ignition off and then immediately back on and it goes away. CEL goes off engine performs normal. Only one time did the problem occur when I was initially starting the car. As expected, it was difficult to start. But 99% of the time it happens while driving. I'm replacing all the grounds, so that will eliminate that issue...what's a new ECU run and how/where do you get one? Should I consider a junkyard?

 
Rep Power: 0

Dude I have the exact same problem, it happened 3 weeks ago for the first time. I was driving down the highway and while at 100km/h I pressed the gas pedal and the revs went down to 0 and the car loss all of its power, engine light turned on, I stoped and checked oil and temp, waited 15 mins and started it again, everything normal, 4 days ago I was driving 40km/h and when accelerated, the same thing happened... I really don't know what's happening and feel like I need to find the problem and fix it... im checking all fuses and taking the car to de Honda dealership to see if they find something wrong in the car's computer... btw it's a 01 automatic sedan with 65,000 KM. Good luck with your's and keep us updated with this issue!

 
Rep Power: 0

This exact problem just happened to my 2002 Civic LX. I didn't get as lucky as you did though. Just as with you the problem happened while driving. I turned left onto a street and suddenly my check engine light came on and my rpms dropped to 0 as well as my temp gauge. My car would not accelerate at ALL it rolled to a stop. I called someone out because everytime I tried to start up the car would turn over and violently shake my whole car! They checked all fluids and added water to the reserve tank for the radiator I guess it was, finally it started. The tachometer and temp gauges never worked again and my engine revved up normally but my car was not accelerating even half as fast as normal. I drove it straight to a shop, they couldn't get any codes and told me to take it to the dealer. The dealer was too far so I took it across the street to Tires Plus and they came to the determination that my ECU was bad. After 2 days of waiting for the part and $1,040.00 later I now have my car back working perfectly. Evidently the random engine slips and jerks that randomly happened when the car switched gear and went between drive neutral and reverse were all from this because too which I previously thought was just my car getting old. I hope this helps out someone else in the future.

 
Rep Power: 0

I bought a 2001 Lx automatic 4 door with 60K miles for my girlfriend. My exact problem was that the engine would cut out suddenly. It would restart right away or after a few seconds and be completely normal for weeks or present the problem many times a day and then go dormant again. By day, by night, driving hard or slow, with full tank or almost empty, with a warm or cold engine, it was impossible to predict. This problem was driving me and my girfriend crazy.
I changed the fuel pump, cleaned the tank, got a new gas cap, checked the ignition switch, the main relay,the cables, changed the crankshaft sensor which according to the scaner code (at Autozone) was the problem. Everytime I thought I had finally solved the problem but a few days or weeks later it would do the same thing again.
Finally and thanks to a forum member from Venezuela, I discovered that the problem was the TDC sensor (Cam shaft sensor) It is fairly inexpensive and easy to change. I got to know some lousy mechanics and wasted some money but finally the car is working flawlessly. Hope this helps somebody....good luck and thanks to this wonderful forum and its generous members...