Rep Power: 0

Ok, this is weird... my 2k2 Civic EX is at 8200 miles and I've only been in one accident. After I got my car back, I just noticed the tranny seemed weaker after not having the car driven for a lil' over a month and the car would not start as quick as it did before the accident. It came back from the dealer last week from it's 10,000 mile maintenance check-up and the transmission and everything felt like new.
Tonight, I drove the car tonight for about 45 minutes, mostly on the freeway and then I come back home and park my car outside. I get hungry and decide to go out again like 20 minutes after just getting out of my car. When I get back in my car and try to start it, it took a full 5 seconds for the ignition to start the engine! WTF is this about? My car also had a lil' over 1/4 of gas in the car and when I park the car in the driveway, the car faces up and I think that negatively affects the gas gauge. On my way out to get something to eat, I stop at the gas station, put gas in my car, and start it again... it starts fine this time... so tell me... what caused my car to take so long to start like that? It makes me worry. This car is still pretty new, yanno! I hope it's nothing, though but I just wanna know the cause of it. Thanks.


-Zell

 
Rep Power: 417

Don't panic - the civic fuel tanks are pressurized and when the tank is near empty (less than 1/4 tank) they need up to 5 seconds to be pressurized... until that 5sec is up, you can forget about starting ur car [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

Now - as for your car facing up or down, I believe that would definately affect your tank's ability to get fuel to the engine sooner.... namely I believe parking on an incline might make it as if you have less than 1/4 tank... anywho, I hope this makes sense... lemme dig up a few more posts on this

 
Rep Power: 417

here you go

Intermitent Starting Problem

pay attention to djlunatic's post

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks a lot, Brill! [IMG]i/expressions/beer_yum.gif[/IMG]

Yeah, now that I remember it, a while ago I read that Hondas do have a problem starting when the tank is under 1/4 full.

And I also remember hearing (somewhere else, like the news) that driving on a low fuel tank is not good for your car... but I cannot exactly remember why... (obviously has something to do with there not being enough gas in the tank). I'm not sure if that affects gas mileage or what... anyone got an answer?

 
Rep Power: 417

well I have an answer that applies to my area (Thompson-Okanagan, BC, Canada) but might not apply to you...

I saw a newscast a little while about the high amount of fuel filter replacement that takes place in my area. In fact the rate is so high that the news people started sniffing around about it, anyways... What they determined is that all of the gasoline for this area is brought in via a pipline which leads to Kamloops... This pipeline is also used to transport other substances and consequently is very dirty... From that point, this dirty gas goes to basically every single gas station in the area and thus, we're supplied with grubby gasoline... To save a car from having to replace the fuel filter after 10,000 kilometres (which is how old some of the vehicles on the news cast were), the news people advised to keep the fuel tank above 1/2 full as the contaminents in the gasoline will stay at the bottom of the tank and not be pulled into your system.

That's my area anyways... might not be the same for yours... anyways, I've only had my fuel low once which was yesterday because I was waiting for the "Low Fuel" light to appear - I was determined to know if i had one or not [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

hope this helps

 
Rep Power: 0

I had the same problem with my 2002 EX it only has 5400 miles on it. I asked the Dealer about it and he said that the signal from the chip in the key can sometimes be interfeared with if you have a lot of keys on your key chain. He told me that all you need to do is to take the key out and try to make sure that nothing metal on you key chain is in the way and try again. This seemed to fix my problem!

 
Rep Power: 0

I have an 02 DX and I have had that happen a few times. The first time I was kind of confused, but someone told me about the tank needing to be more than 1/4 at all times. I usually have it full all the time but I get kind of lazy sometimes in the cold weather.