Car spits and sputters once like once every day...electrical or fuel related?

[HondaCivic4358]

It seems to be getting worse. i take off from a stoplight once in a while and it will spit and sputter so i rev it in neutral for a couple seconds and it seem to go away. and lately.....my car has not been wanting to start every once in a while. my check engine light is on....but i turn teh car off and back on and sometimes it goes off....i restart it and it bogs down and dies. Ive done everything i think it could be. It has newer accel 8mm plugwires, new cap and rotor, newer plugs. Could my fuel pump be going out?

[forcefanad]

Originally Posted by HondaCivic4358

It seems to be getting worse. i take off from a stoplight once in a while and it will spit and sputter so i rev it in neutral for a couple seconds and it seem to go away. and lately.....my car has not been wanting to start every once in a while. my check engine light is on....but i turn teh car off and back on and sometimes it goes off....i restart it and it bogs down and dies. Ive done everything i think it could be. It has newer accel 8mm plugwires, new cap and rotor, newer plugs. Could my fuel pump be going out?

check the resistnace in your coil and compare it to the oem specs. if its out of specs replace it....sounds like what my car was doing when the coil was going bad and its easy enought o check. once t gets really bad the car will shut off while driving then you have to wait a minute before itll start again.
hope this helps
adam

[superbluecivicsi]

why dont you pull the check engine light, if you know its on?

[HondaCivic4358]

Originally Posted by superbluecivicsi

why dont you pull the check engine light, if you know its on?

what do u mean?

[HondaCivic4358]

could my fuel pump be going out? they usually dont just go out. usually it happens like this. thats why i was thinking it could be my fuel pump. but i was lookin in the haynes under trouble shooting and it was talking about fuel pump, egr valve and fuel pressure regulator. could this have something to do with my cars idle going up and down once in a while? it will go up to 1500 then drop to 500 over and over at a stoplight, but usually only after the car has been warmed up or driven for a good 1/2 hour

[dagoEF]

Originally Posted by HondaCivic4358

what do u mean?

Pull back the carpet on the passenger side floor, you'll see a metal plate/shield thing with a hole in it. There's a LED in the hole, turn the key to "on" without starting the car. The LED will blink once, the count the blinks and let us know, that will be the ecu code telling you what's wrong. FYI long blink=10 and short blink=1. example: 1 long and 2 short would be code 12.

[livinincalifornia]

actually 12 short would be 12, our ecu does sequential only.

[HondaCivic4358]

i turned the key on and it blinked once. then i waited and saw nothing. am i doing something wrong?

[HondaCivic4358]

the car only does it once in a while. liek sometimes it wont start and i gotta let it sit 5 minutes and try again and sometimes it will start then bog down and shut off. when i just checked the ecu light...the car was acting fine..maybe thats why i didnt get anything. should i just check it next time it acts up?

[turtlecrxsi]

Originally Posted by HondaCivic4358

i turned the key on and it blinked once. then i waited and saw nothing. am i doing something wrong?

That means it's okay. Why is your CEL on? Reset the ECU. Pull the ECU fuse under the hood for 30 seconds and replace, start the car, do not touch or use anything and let idle for 5 minutes, shut off and should be reset.

As far as your erratic idle, it could be a bad hose or something going to your intake manifold. Spray them with water to find a leak. You can also clean your EACV on the back of the intake manifold. I may need to clean mine cuz my idle is loppy but I have a cam so I'm used to it... GL