87 civic problems

[jwaj2002]

ok I own an 87 civic with the 1.3, theres not a stitch of electrical stuff requiring a computer on this car, and since no one around here(as in where I live) work on cars without computers I'm in need of help, first off, the battery light is on and won't go out, battery is good, and new, alternator is new and good, so that needs help, second off, and this is the biggie, you get the car running, go to get it up any incline(which it must do to leave my yard) it stalls and dies, and if you manage to get it on the road, it won't go up inclines at all, 1 degree or better, if your trying to go anywhere, you have to drive in second gear, with the pedal to the floor, and the most it will do is 20 mph, are there any suggestions? I've had the car a year, and 3 months after I got it I started having problems back to back, it has a new timing belt, timed perfect, new alternator belt, plugs, wires, destrib cap, rotor, battery, seats, radio, and the list goes on for a long time, thanks for the help

[KrisSmithRocks]

well the first thing that i would check is where did you buy your alternator... if it was schucks then take it back get your money back and buy one somewhere else they have a %40 return rate the shop i work at wont install them anymore because of warrenty problems... next check your base timing you mentiond that it was dead on but the most of the symtoms resemble timing issues. At one point a friend of mine did a timing belt on a car and after a week or so the car started running like shit... like the timing was off but when we checked it was dead on... what happend was the harmonic balancer bolt backed out and the bottom pully started to walk and eventually sheared off the key so that it moved... so looking at the timing marks everything lined up but if you compared the mark on the flywheel with the crank it was deffinately off. so just make sure that the timing is bulletproof... next i would check the ignition timing... Make sure that when the distibutor cap was put on they didn't screw up the timing... well those are my sugestions so far...hope they help...

P.S. On my integra the crank has 2 timing marks if you line it up with the one it says to in the manual it runs like shit if you line it up with the other one it runs just fine. good luck.

[jwaj2002]

bought the alternator at an alternator rebuilding shop, it works perfect, I've had it tested, as far as the timing goes I know its dead on because the timing belt was done a year ago, and its still tight, and perfect, it only started running like crap back in may, and I did the belt back august a year ago, same goes for the distributor, oh and one thing to add to the original post, in order to get it to stay running when you come to a stop light/sign, you have to push the pedal to the floor, and let it sit in the red on the rpm, its got guts when its sitting and your giving it gas out of gear, give it gas in gear nothing, no guts at all, it won't idle even for 2 seconds

[lxndr]

Check your coil.

[jwaj2002]

ok I fixed the problem as of wensday september 28th, I traded the car in for a new car

[lxndr]

Well, that's one way to fix a car! LOL!

[jwaj2002]

Originally Posted by lxndr

Well, that's one way to fix a car! LOL!

yep, and you get that new car scent for no added cost, the downside I'm in debt for the next 7 years

[lxndr]

Originally Posted by jwaj2002

yep, and you get that new car scent for no added cost, the downside I'm in debt for the next 7 years

But think of all the money you'll save by not having to fix your old car for the next 7 years.

[jwaj2002]

yea no kidding, in 9 months on my honda, I spent 3 grand keeping it running, and it still ran like crap