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Hi everyone! Im new to this as of today but im looking for some help. On Sunday my car would not start no cranking or anything, i tested the battery it was fine, I also tested the voltage from the battery to the starter and solenoid which was also good. I then proceeded to replace the starter which i successfully did today. The car starts fine now but a more serious problem has emerged which i believe to be due to my amateur mechanical work. After driving the car for a total of probably 20 minutes the check engine light began to flicker. After i parked the car for 2 hours i began to drive it again, the flickering of the CE light continued and jerking of the car was added to the flickering of the CE light. The jerking seems to happen more in lower gears at a lower speed but it also happens randomly in any gear and i feel like the jerking is becoming more violent. Ive heard this is a misfire though im not certain. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what is wrong with my car, if it's safe to drive, and most importantly how can i fix the problem?! Any help or feedback at all will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!!

 
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IF this is not a troll thread, then...

at this point it would be best to tow it to a shop?

j/k

Check the job again. Make sure you did it right. Then take it to autozone and get a free engine diagnostic. They will tell you the error code and possible reasons.

 
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I would love to have it towed to a shop and have an actual mechanic service it but im 17 and i barely have any money as it is and i need my car to get to school and work. I bought the Haynes Repair Manual for my Civic and I'm trying to spend as little money as i can to fix it im just not sure how or where to start. I went to advanced auto and they told me it was a misfire.

 
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Yeah, driving with the CEL blinking means major misfire within the engine. You are having serious issues and should get it looked at A.S.A.P. DO NOT continue to drive the car this way unless you plan on buying a new engine. I'd even go as far as getting it towed to someone that can thoroughly check it out. It could be from as simple as a new throttle body to needing a whole new engine I cannot stress enough NOT to drive the car under those conditions!!!

 
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Okay thank you for the advice ill work on getting it towed to a friend, now the car has never had an issue with misfiring or CELs since I have owned it until today when I replaced the starter. I'm wondering what the odds are that the misfiring is due to something I did and can be easily fixed, or its a totally unrelated problem that just happened to occur at the same time the starter went and the same time me an armature mechanic replaced it? Maybe I knocked something loose?

 
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You should get the codes read and post them when you can. It would make sense you did something, but I can't think of anything off the top of my head you knocked loose during the starter replacement. Maybe you knocked a connector on the transmission side, but I really can't think of a connector that you could've broken/disconnected to cause the CEL to blink.

Go back in and do a general inspection of your work and see if there's anything obvious going on.

 
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So I had the computer scan for issues and it returned no codes and it stored no codes. I gently drove it to my mechanics house and I got there with one small misfire that was barely noticeable. Once I got there, the car idled for a bit with no problems, he test drive it with me and about 10ft from his driveway it started sputtering and after an aggressive acceleration through first gear it sputtered worse than it ever had before, we pulled up to a stop sign and about 20 feet after we turned the corner the car stalled due to misfires. The car failed to start after that, it cranked but didn't turn over, it turned over a couple times but then choked itself out with misfires. I then ended up pushing him and the civic 200 feet back to his house in the 10 degree New York weather. Along with the misfires there is a clicking sound in which my mechanic says it is pertaining to the fuel delivery system but I'm unsure of what he called it. Anyways we are doing spark plug changes tomorrow and then going from there. Anyone have any ideas what's going on so I don't have to throw away money replacing parts that I don't potentially need? Again any help or feedback at all is extremely appreciated!!! Thanks a ton everyone for your advice and support!!

 
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I really have no idea what is going on there with your car at this point, but I can tell you this: Almost everything on the car can be tested and judged to be good or bad, saving you from unnecessary replacement.

Trouble is, many people can't do this.
Don't know, don't want to know.

Then you're stuck with........







(Y'all knew it was coming, right?)

Sometimes the cannon can't fix it either. Not all problems can be resolved by replacing parts.

 
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Did you have any other major work done on it prior to the starter issue? Valve adjustment might be a good idea. Cheaper than just blaming the spark plugs right away. EGR valve and passages clogged on the intake? Worst case maybe a blown head gasket and coolant maybe leaking in to the cylinders causing the misfire. Have you checked your reserve tank recently? Is your coolant in the radiator full? Just some thoughts.

 
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I might take a fuel sample. If there is water or something OTHER than fuel in the tank, it may act like what you described.

If, for example, the fuel pump sends a slug of water into the fuel rail, every bit of it must exit through the fuel injectors because the system is "returnless".

Just a thought.



BTW, the correct spark plugs are good for 100k+, no problem unless the engine fouls them.

 
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The only work I've had done on the car since I bought it in August was I had the front end rebuilt all new bearings, bushings, ball joints, brakes, brake pads and I also had the clutch replaced a couple months ago because it crumbled due to age. Also I had the transmission rebuilt with all new bearings. Other than that nothing else other that 1 synthetic oil change. The cars run fine since the clutch was replaced, and I drive it to school and back, to work and back, and my girlfriends and back all are within 10-15 miles of my house. A few days before the starter went I put half a tank of gas in it and the only time it sits is in my garage when I'm sleep I'm not sure if there water in the fuel though there could be. Also I checked my antifreeze levels last night and they were full, the lines and the reservoir. Oil is also full. My car has 187 thousand miles on it and the body is in great shape no rust. I'm replacing the spark plugs tonight I don't know when they were last chafed but I'm going to start there. Ill keep everyone updated on how things work after I change a factor. In the mean time any other feedback or advice is again appreciate, thanks again!!

 
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Won't run:
Compression, fuel, spark.
In the right amounts, at the right times.
What part isn't perfect?



Is it losing fuel pressure? A pressure test might be one of the first things to do. You can probably rent a gauge from the Zone, along with adapters.
If you find no fuel pressure, you better think carefully about what might cause it. Hondas fuel pumps are damned reliable. These aren't GMs.

Is it squirting fuel from the injectors?
Is it actually fuel.....or something else?


I can't think of anything that would only show itself as a problem after a hard acceleration other than something got pumped into the fuel rail that can't burn.
I'm stuck on this idea for the moment.

But I could be way off base too.

So I'll give you some of what I might do when confronted with water issues.

Taking a fuel sample is pretty easy, just pop the gas line off from the engine and stick it in a clean glass jar. (You can do this while hooking up the fuel pressure gauge.) Have someone cycle the ignition key a few times until the jar is (half?) full. Cap the jar, let it sit. See what settles out of it.
If ANYTHING settles out, that's a problem.

I can't picture what you could have done while replacing the starter to cause this either. But then I have no idea what all you might have touched to get the job done.

Anything else happen shortly before this issue started happening?Ask if the gas station had any other complaints about contaminated fuel?

"Water in the tank" usually comes from a gas station that has an in-ground tank problem.....unless you happened to leave the gas cap off at some point.

Water sort of "puddles" underneath the gasoline, sits on the bottom of the gas tank, and can slosh around as the car moves. The fuel pump doesn't always suck from the very bottom of the tank, and the tank may have a large flat area on the bottom. The fuel pump can pick up the water (depending on how much in in there) as it sloshes by, like on turns/acceleration/braking....depends on how much water there is, and the construction of the tank and pump.
It's sort of unpredictable and every car design is different.


Because of how (plain) water acts when in a fuel tank, taking a fuel sample from a fuel line in the engine compartment might not show the problem, depending on circumstances.
If you have it in a mode where it cannot run, I might pull the injector rail off and dump it into a clean glass jar to see if there is water evident in it.
Next step might be to pull the pump out and look all the way to the bottom of the tank with a light.



Just some thoughts.
Like I said earlier, I might be way off base.