Fuel Problems???

Hope sombody can help me out here ....I got a 87 honda civic wagon 1.5L 2WD My car runs fine at an idle but keeps losing power while driving and it's progressivly getting worsesome times it stalls and will not start I have to let it sit for a few hours and then it will finally fire up.......I figure either fuel filter or fuel pump.......There is a black canister on the firewall with a fuel line going into the bottom of it and a line in the top one to the carb and the other goes through the firewall also the toip has a little diaphram of some sort I figure it is a fuel filter but none of my local parts stores show it Any help would be great thanx!!!!!

have you checked for fuel pressure,could well be your coil giving in when hot.

There is a fuel filter on the fire wall, I would start by changing that and inspecting the fuel pressure.

i am not sure if what you are describing is the feul filter, in m y83 wagon 1.5l there are 2 filters, one at the tank which is just a canister with a line in and line out. the other is s secondary one that is under the hood and has one line in and 2 out going to the carburator, if you go here http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/uploads/100616/1_5filter.jpg i have a pic of what mine looks like, it may not be exactly the same tho.

Thanx for the replies ppl........I checked my primary filter by the tank and it was clogged solid i guess it's the original filter so........Just one more question my car keeps failin an emissions test due to high NOX anyone know what it could be??

well for emissions there are a few things you can do for civics, pull out your pcv valve and give it a shake, if it dosnt rattle replace it, it will cost like $5. then make sure you are using good gas, clean oil, (if you really want to go all out get new plugs, plug wires and distrubutor but i am not convinced that that will fix anything but its what i am told) for the idle test it helps if the idle is set high since the fuel burns more completly at a higher rpm, when i took mine thru in sept i turned it up to 1200 or 1300rpm and had no problems. one last thing you can do is (warning, be carful, a mechanic told me about this and i have done it to my car but carelessness could cost you) remove one of the vaccume hoses from the carburator (on my 83 i took one off the drivers side near the bottom where there are a bunch coming off a stemlike thing going directlly into the carburator) and attach a 1/4 hose to the fitting you removed the vaccume hose from (so that your 1/4 hose is now going into the carburator) now start the engine and either have someone sit inside or get a long enough hose that you can get your foot to the gas pedal. put the end of the hose (that is now sucking air) into a clean bottle of water and let it suck until you engine is about to quit (keep rpm's at about 1300 or a little higher) when the engine labors pull the hose out of the water until it runs naturaly again. keep doing this until you put about a litre of water thru your engine. this will not hurt anything if you do it controlled (ie do not put too much water thru at one time) what it does is it breaks up all the carbon build up in the combustion chamber for a cleaner burn during the test it will also help prevent detonation as an added benefit. oh yeah, and there will be a big cloud of steem coming out thru the exhaust, dont worry, it will go away when you run it around the block. if you or anyone have any questions about this feel free to let me know.
ps where in canada r u from?