Rep Power: 0

Hello all

ive got a 08 civic lx 1.8 with issues.

here’s the story lol

I drove to Utah from Las Vegas but before I left I flushed/changed the coolant & the oil, topped off all fluids, had ac checked and r34 added, new brakes, new serpentine belt, transmission fluid flush and a couple new tires.

On the way, maybe a couple hours into the 8 hour drive, the ac went out 😞

Then some time later the car seem to bog down and wouldn’t accelerate. Blinking cel on dash. Pulled over made some calls and then restarted the car. Started and ran fine.

I was a few hours into a 8 hour drive and no repair shops around. I crossed my fingers and kept driving as I didn’t have an alternative. For the rest of the nerve racking drive 4-5 hours it repeated the blinking cel and bogged down (misfires I later found out) many times. At least 9-10 maybe more. Anyway I made it there & had codes checked. 300/301/302/303/304 misfire and misfire in cylinder 1/2/3/4.

I replaced the plugs with ngk iridium and replaced all 4 coil packs as they hadn’t been replaced to my knowledge. I had the codes erased and they didn’t come back on. Had the compressor checked and it is shot. 😞

FF a couple weeks later I was driving it and flashing cel came on & bogged down. After restarting it it had a weird knocking sound but flashing cel was gone. Ran fine but the engine sound was worrisome.

A shop said the tensioner was bad. I replaced it but noise was still there. At that point the guy who helped me replace tensioner said he was pretty sure it was the ac clutch making the noise.

drove it back to shop but halfway there the serp belt broke I assumed it was the compressor that siezed and broke the belt. But they said there were a couple bolts missing from the water pump or pump pulley.

Anyway I asked the shop to get a serpentine belt for a non ac civic to bypass any other arising problems from the ac compressor since I need to drive back to Vegas for Labor Day.

the shop is also goin to see if they can find anything about the flashing cel in the computer but there wasn’t anything I could see from a code reader.

what are some things I can check that might cause the blinking cel?

sorry for the extremely long post but there’s a lot of things happening with this car rn lol

 
Rep Power: 221

Compressor locking up could bog the engine down and make it misfire

 
Rep Power: 0

aha! Ok. Good news I guess lol

so by putting the non ac belt on it bypassing the compressor may be the fix I need!

thank you for that info. I hope that’s the case and I have a safe easy trip back to Vegas.

anyone else? Thoughts on the blinking cel?

it would be wonderful if it was the compressor being the root of the problem as I am having the compressor replaced in Vegas.

thanks again

 
Rep Power: 223

Were the 8th gens even offered without A/C? Is there even a non A/C belt available?

 
Rep Power: 221

Blinking cel is a bad potentially engine damaging misfire.
you should be able to go for a quick drive with no serpentine belt to see if it drives ok. Just understand the alternator wont be charging the battery

 
Rep Power: 511

isn't it a catalyst damaging misfire condition? A more serious issue, nonetheless.

 
Rep Power: 221

I've seen both descriptions
Either way not good

 
Rep Power: 0

Well i picked up the csr with the compressor bypassed with the shorter belt and besides the drive being hot 🥵 and uncomfortable, if was uneventful! 😃

No flashing cel, no issues whatsoever besides some slight difficulty through higher elevation spots along the way.

Oh The shop checked the computer but there was no history or record of the flashing cel 🤷🏻‍♂️

But upon the way home after stopping to refuel I realized something I didn’t think of before this all happened.

On the trip DOWN TO Utah when I refueled, I did my normal choice, regular grade, of the basic selection of the normally 3 options of gas (reg/mid/premium) however, yesterday I noticed that the regular was 85.

In Vegas it’s 87/89/91. Could this be the cause of the misfires?….. btw on the way back I selected only the mid grade/87 to refuel.

Thanks for all the help

 
Rep Power: 511

You filled up in St. George, huh. I recently did a bunch of those trips (Vegas to SLC and back), and remembered from previous snowboarding trips to Brianhead that St. George has 85-87-89. Thankfully, Provo and SLC all have 91 octane that my rice rocket needed (as did Mesquite)

85 is fine while you were driving around Utah since it's all higher elevation, and as long as you filled up with 87 when you drove back into the Vegas valley, should be fine. I doubt it'd cause misfires, just a bit more engine knock than normal, if anything.