'88 Civic runs great for 30-50 minutes, then hesitates and stalls...

annointed · 12-19-2003, 02:36 PM

I bought an '88 Honda Civic 1.5 liter fuel injected hatchback w/4 speed tranny this week. The previous owner was told it suffers from vapor lock, but I don't think this is the issue the car has.

It can drive for up to an hour like a champ, and always starts up fine. But at some point after driving at least 20 minutes, it suddenly starts hiccuping, and hesisitating while cruising or accelerating. This gets more and more severe, until the car stalls out completely. It will start back up for a bit, but progressively gets worse until it won't even start back up. If its given time to cool down, it will start up and run like a champ again. I'm planning to check if its getting proper fuel and spark this week, but wanted check in to see if anyone else here has experienced this problem, and what the remedy was.

Her service records indicate that the distributer rotor, cap, and ignition coil was replaced in '02 due to customer complaint of "bucking." Six months later, she has a reciept from another shop complaining of "bucking" again, and they replaced the o2 sensor, plugs, wires, and called it a day. Then another shop diagnosed vapor lock, but she didn't have them fix anything.

I don't see the fuel pump ever being replaced, and it seems like I can keep the motor running for a bit when its trying to stall by spraying Carb cleaner in the throttle body, so I'm thinking of finding a fuel pump at a local junkyard, and trying that out.

Thanks.

Ricochet · 12-19-2003, 02:57 PM

Sounds like a fuel problem to me. Have you replaced the fuel filter? Check your injectors too, by doing an ohm test on them. Any Haynes manual or whatever will provide an acceptable range of resistance for them. I hope you figure out the problem, '88 hatches are awesome in an old-school kind of way

Quote:

1.5L of NA fury

annointed · 12-19-2003, 03:33 PM

Her service records show the fuel filter was replaced on 8/16/00, which was about 28k miles ago, so its due for a new filter. Where are the filters on these cars, under the body in the fuel line, or under the hood?

The distributer also has a funny spot where someone filled a dime sized hole w/clear silicone

Would testing the injectors be a matter of pulling off the connector to each injector, and connecting the leads accross the injector and checking how many ohms of resistance each one reads?

It is also amazing how well it drives...just all of a sudden it starts hiccuping, and within 10 minutes, its scary to try to drive due to continual stallling out...then it just decides not to start any more, period, until it sits for a while, then it acts like nothing ever happened...kinda like moody women.

mreff · 12-19-2003, 07:46 PM

sounds like vapor lock. Change your pcv valve
and replace your distributer cap. (silicone=bad)

QuakeWork120 · 12-19-2003, 09:00 PM

What octane gas are you using? It sounds like when it gets hot, it might be knocking severely. The carb cleaner you spray into the engine must either increase the octane, decrease the temperature, or it may just prevent the gas from combusting by taking up space that air could be taking up. Try putting 91 octane in it and getting some octane booster and try that. Other than that, I think the other peoples suggestions are probably what is causing it.

jweller · 12-19-2003, 11:13 PM

my guess is your fuel pump is overheating. probably does it worse when you have a near empty tank than a near full one right?

replace the fuel pump

Ricochet · 12-20-2003, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jweller

my guess is your fuel pump is overheating. probably does it worse when you have a near empty tank than a near full one right?

replace the fuel pump

I've never heard of an overheated fuel pump, but it sounds pretty logical.. Hopefully it's not in the wiring where it will burn out a new one.

annointed · 12-20-2003, 01:20 AM

Well, considering I spent a whopping $650 on this car, I don't want to put any unneccessary $$$ into it...so far, the two main culprits seem to be the fuel pump/filter, and the main relay (from my internet reading). I'm thinking I need to get a fuel pressure gauge, and check if its getting proper fuel pressure under these conditions.

Its most likely not vapor lock, because it doen't experience a total loss of power, but rather burps and hiccups...then cuts out for a couple seconds, like hitting fuel cut in other cars feels, for example. This progressively worsens 'til she won't start anymore.

Also, I noticed that the car pings audibly on regular (87) if I open it up, so I put in $5 of 89 the one time I've had it in a station. Its back toward empty now, so next time I'm putting in my GTA fuel enhancer along w/a fill up of 89.

I'm tempted to fill 'er up and see if that does prolong the time it takes for this bucking issue to set in, like jweller suggested.

mreff · 12-20-2003, 11:51 AM

That would be the simplest solution. Hopefully that fixes it. I have heard of some fuel pumps overheating when the tank is low, but I've never heard of it happening to a nissan. might as well check it out.

Ricochet · 12-20-2003, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mreff

I've never heard of it happening to a nissan.

pssst, it's an '88 Civic...

civiclover94 · 12-22-2003, 02:11 PM

My 1995 Honda Civic EX will not start. What is happening? I can turn the key and the starter is working but the engine aint fireing. I checked the spark plugs and there is no spark. So it must be electrical. I checked all the fuses and none of them are blown what the fuck do i do.

Ricochet · 12-22-2003, 02:24 PM

hey fucker how bout you make your own post instead of jacking this one for your own use

96Civ · 12-22-2003, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by civiclover94

My 1995 Honda Civic EX will not start. What is happening? I can turn the key and the starter is working but the engine aint fireing. I checked the spark plugs and there is no spark. So it must be electrical. I checked all the fuses and none of them are blown what the fuck do i do.

Get your own thread?

mycivic · 12-22-2003, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricochet

hey fucker how bout you make your own post instead of jacking this one for your own use

anyway, what about cleaning the engine. something about putting something in the fuel or engine (dunno...not sure) and it cleans itself out or something like that.

annointed · 12-22-2003, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mycivic

anyway, what about cleaning the engine. something about putting something in the fuel or engine (dunno...not sure) and it cleans itself out or something like that.

Well, that's what the GTA fuel enhancer will do. It'll boost the octane and clean out the system, kind of like a smaller scale version of MotoVac machines that shops have. I use GTA with every fill up with my '94 Impreza, because its programmed for 95 octane.

lol...and no hard feelings toward the guy who tried to hijack my thread, he probably doesn't realize forum manners of starting your own thread instead of derailing someone elses.

While we're at it, if you KNOW that there is no spark, then maybe check your distributer and/or ignitor, even the spark plug wires. It could even be the ecu, but that should be the last thing you replace. Also, confirm that you're getting fuel, and make sure your method of checking for spark is valid.

And while you're at it, start a new thread for yourself.

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