I need help honda gurus

[97hondaex]

I just bought a 97 honda civic ex with the 1.6 sohc vtec and when I test drove it, it drove great and ran fine but needed a tune up. Changed plugs and wires to ngk plugs and accel wires. car ran great afterwards. Next day, it feels like its not getting fuel or something is stopped up, so I dumped 93 octane and STP fuel additive to clean the injectors. So far, it has had no change and it only does this when rolling at a steady pace...ie 50 mph for a few miles. It starts to lunge a little and miss/skip as if fouled plugs were in it. Also, it almost stalled out at a red light. Im hoping its not the timing and that its something small. I dont think its a head gasket cause if it was, it would be running hot. It also feels like theres little power and i cant even rev the engine above 4K to feel the vtec . Im hoping something in the exhaust is doing it. It has the stock cat but headers and crappy, noisy muffler. Please help if anyone knows what it could be or has any ideas. Thanks guys !!

 

[Raabe]

your combusting too fast from the fuel your using. that motor is BUILT for 83. your sputtering and stuttering because your throwing the timing outta wack.

 

[Wax Hands]

It could be a faulty catalytic if that's the case. Over time the cat tends to clog or melt thus causing a bad restriction. Problems wont show up until you try to accelerate hard or travel at higher speeds where the restriction starts to back up the exhaust faster than it can escape.

Since you have started on a tuneup which it probably needed. Another part that is good to change when buying a used vehicle is the fuel filter. Most owners over look it during tune ups.

Clogged fuel filters can give you similar symptoms that you described. I would R&R the filter first.

 

[Wax Hands]

your combusting too fast from the fuel your using. that motor is BUILT for 83. your sputtering and stuttering because your throwing the timing outta wack.

93 octane wont cause it to run worse. I'm sure you meant 87 too.

 

[Raabe]

93 octane wont cause it to run worse. I'm sure you meant 87 too.

*nevermind, re-read it. i thought it was "octane boost" - its additive..

as for the "83", i dont even know how i typed that. the '3' is on the other side of the f**king keyboard..

im going to bed

 

[purpej1]

he could also look into the fuel pump

 

[Mugenn_civic]

i have a feeling it might be the distributor.. or possibly a map/tps sensor...

 

[purpej1]

i have a feeling it might be the distributor.. or possibly a map/tps sensor...

^ could be right when vehicles have op's problem it has to do with timing,spark or fuel

 

[Mugenn_civic]

^ could be right when vehicles have op's problem it has to do with timing,spark or fuel

yeah thats what i narrowed it down to, but since he's gettin it started, the fuel pump is priming fine so that's alright, this seems like the same issue that i went through... it ended up being my map and tps we're acting up....worth lookin imo..

 

[RonJ]

Inspect/replace the distributor cap and rotor. Then go from there. Any CEL codes?