son's 97 civic trouble

[Jim Garcia]

it started out with a bad exhaust leak, found out the manifold and cat was badly cracked so replaced them! code reader said po303 and po113 so i replaced injectors and plugs and the IACV from amazon for 34 bucks.. was ilding great but no power driving it. checked fuel pressure, 34psi idling and i think 40 with hose off of FPR, new fuel filter, checked fuel filter and fuel pump in the tank and they look new. so i cleaned the oem IACV and put it back on and same thing, took the throddle body off and cleaned it, the TPS on this one is rivited on so couldn't check it.. i have pulled off each injector plug and it ran rough so i would think they are working and put the ohm meter on the injectors and checked good ? compression test shows 1-155 2-145 3-150 4-156 so the missfire on 3 i used another plug wire on it and no change.. dist. ? TPS. ? 02 sensor ? has new crank sensor months ago. would the cracked manifold and cat mess up the 02's or other sensor's.. so after checking out some videos on utube i thought maybe check into the tps i checked the plug going to the tps and i have ground, the middle wire i get 0.4 and wot is 4.65 and nothing from the power side.. with key on with test light no power, but if i put the test light clamp on the pos side battery and touch the power side of plug it lights up, isn't this bad ? is that a direct short ? but what is driving me crazy is when the car is idling its seems fine, but when i give it throddle in park it will rev but stumble and trying to drive it forget it! is the goal to have power from a test light or 5 ohms on the power side of the tps plug.. sorry just trying to learn this wiring and ohm meter stuff.. i'm used to working on classic mustangs and not these honda's, thanks, and hope i didn't confuse you too much!

 

[Jim Garcia]

it started out with a bad exhaust leak, found out the manifold and cat was badly cracked so replaced them! code reader said po303 and po113 so i replaced injectors and plugs and the IACV from amazon for 34 bucks.. was ilding great but no power driving it. checked fuel pressure, 34psi idling and i think 40 with hose off of FPR, new fuel filter, checked fuel filter and fuel pump in the tank and they look new. so i cleaned the oem IACV and put it back on and same thing, took the throddle body off and cleaned it, the TPS on this one is rivited on so couldn't check it.. i have pulled off each injector plug and it ran rough so i would think they are working and put the ohm meter on the injectors and checked good ? compression test shows 1-155 2-145 3-150 4-156 so the missfire on 3 i used another plug wire on it and no change.. dist. ? TPS. ? 02 sensor ? has new crank sensor months ago. would the cracked manifold and cat mess up the 02's or other sensor's.. so after checking out some videos on utube i thought maybe check into the tps i checked the plug going to the tps and i have ground, the middle wire i get 0.4 and wot is 4.65 and nothing from the power side.. with key on with test light no power, but if i put the test light clamp on the pos side battery and touch the power side of plug it lights up, isn't this bad ? is that a direct short ? but what is driving me crazy is when the car is idling its seems fine, but when i give it throddle in park it will rev but stumble and trying to drive it forget it! is the goal to have power from a test light or 5 ohms on the power side of the tps plug.. sorry just trying to learn this wiring and ohm meter stuff.. i'm used to working on classic mustangs and not these honda's, thanks, and hope i didn't confuse you too much!

just watched a good video how to check tps volts.. put the neg on the plus side of plug and the plus side on the neg and i have 5 volts so i guess i have power.. now what

 

[Brak]

have you looked at the distributor cap?

I had a similar issue years back after a coolant hose let go.
the gasket was basically gone, leting moisture into the cap, and the rotor was all corroded.
idled ok, but sputtered when i raised the RPMs.

Easy check, couple screws, pop it off make sure rotor and cap aren't worn, and the gasket is in good shape.

Also, have you checked the timing?

 

[Jim Garcia]

the dist cap rotor looks great, timing i haven't checked.. best way to do that and thanks.

 

[Jim Garcia]

I check the timing and i did the paper clip thing on the plug on the passager side, let it warm up and ajusted the timing.. thing i dont like is to get the time on the middle mark of the 3 lines the dist is all the way to the front of the car, its always been pretty much in the middle. it stumbles when i turn on the ac now and idles nice when ac is off, but still stumbles when i hit the rpms. i pulled the 2 fuses and reset the ecu so no codes yet.. however before i cleared the ecu the light was blinking! could it possibly be 180 off ? the cap and rotor is pretty clean inside with very minumal corosion. if i raise the rpms slowly it seems fine, it runs cool.. once again, plug wires and crank sensor just months old, brand new plugs, fuel filter,e-manifold and cat, pump and filter in tank look clean. fuel pressure at idle is 34 hose on and 40ish hose off, compression pretty much 150, tps is 5v power side, ohms is 0.485 and 4.65 wide open and has a good ground. the one thing that bother me is when i test light the power side of the tps plug if i put the clamp on plus side of battery and probe on power side of plug it lights up.. is it shorting or grounded ? all the injectors sound the same and if i pull each plug runs rugh and the smooth again plugged back on. thanks

 

[Brak]

I check the timing and i did the paper clip thing on the plug on the passager side, let it warm up and ajusted the timing.. thing i dont like is to get the time on the middle mark of the 3 lines the dist is all the way to the front of the car, its always been pretty much in the middle. it stumbles when i turn on the ac now and idles nice when ac is off, but still stumbles when i hit the rpms. i pulled the 2 fuses and reset the ecu so no codes yet.. however before i cleared the ecu the light was blinking! could it possibly be 180 off ? the cap and rotor is pretty clean inside with very minumal corosion. if i raise the rpms slowly it seems fine, it runs cool.. once again, plug wires and crank sensor just months old, brand new plugs, fuel filter,e-manifold and cat, pump and filter in tank look clean. fuel pressure at idle is 34 hose on and 40ish hose off, compression pretty much 150, tps is 5v power side, ohms is 0.485 and 4.65 wide open and has a good ground. the one thing that bother me is when i test light the power side of the tps plug if i put the clamp on plus side of battery and probe on power side of plug it lights up.. is it shorting or grounded ? all the injectors sound the same and if i pull each plug runs rugh and the smooth again plugged back on. thanks

I don't know the correct answer for the TPS plug... but there very well could be a short.
if you disconnect the tps plug while its running, is there any change to the throttle response or idle?

In regards to the distributor, i doubt it's 180 out, but it could be a tooth or two off.
solution would be to bring the motor to Top Dead Center, and check the orientation.
if needed, you can remove the distributor, and clock it a tooth or two, until everything lines up correctly.

if you go that route, it might be worth removing the timing belt cover, to make sure everything else lines up properly.
one of those "while you're in there" things.

 

[Jim Garcia]

i'm going to check that today, the dist isn't ajustable in that way of a teeth off or not because of the design.. your either on right or 180 off, but i don't want to chance bending valves either. man this car always gives me a hard time because of all the BS on it.. thanks

 

[Jim Garcia]

update, So i went out there this morning and put the dist back where its been for years basically right in the middle of the ajustment. turned the crank to get it TDC the middle mark of the balancer the 3 marks, pulled the cap and the rotor is pointing at #1 , so i started the car and let it run for a few min and let the idle come down by its self, turned the ac on a few times and smooth, put it in drive with ac on and smooth, then reved a few times in park and ok.. then i hit it hard and it had a few miss's (stumbles) then just let it idle again and smooth! as it was idling i pulled the plug on i think the map sensor.. the sensor next to firewall that just has a black little tube on it thats hollow and it died on the spot! plugged back in and ran smooth again. if i start it up and let it idle you would never know it has a problem the motor is so still ? any idea's thanks

 

[nd4sped]

update, So i went out there this morning and put the dist back where its been for years basically right in the middle of the ajustment. turned the crank to get it TDC the middle mark of the balancer the 3 marks, pulled the cap and the rotor is pointing at #1 , so i started the car and let it run for a few min and let the idle come down by its self, turned the ac on a few times and smooth, put it in drive with ac on and smooth, then reved a few times in park and ok.. then i hit it hard and it had a few miss's (stumbles) then just let it idle again and smooth! as it was idling i pulled the plug on i think the map sensor.. the sensor next to firewall that just has a black little tube on it thats hollow and it died on the spot! plugged back in and ran smooth again. if i start it up and let it idle you would never know it has a problem the motor is so still ? any idea's thanks

Are you sure you did not unplug the Idle Air Control Valve on the backside of the intake manifold? Unplugging may cause the car to die. There are usually two rubber coolant lines running into the valve as well. Helps identify the part.

 

[Jim Garcia]

Well here is what happend yesterday.. i took of the map sensor and air sensor off and cleaned with CRC air flow cleaner, re-installed and started right up and sounded good, so ac off i let run for 30 min or so changing rpm's higher each time and great, same thing but with ac on and it had a miss here and there but not bad. so after running it for that time i turned it off for an hour and started it again, but this time i reved it a few times and it seemed to do good until i got in and power braked it some and it stumble all the way then put it back in park then let it idle and it was fine so but never threw a code, maybe didn't run long enough ??

 

[Jim Garcia]

no its plugged in, i've changed it 3 times and all plugs are plugged in but good idea.

 

[nd4sped]

Go to your local auto parts store and you can pick up a vacuum gauge for about $10. T the gauge in to a vacuum line and follow the instructions on the package.

Sounds like a vacuum leak somewhere.

 

[Jim Garcia]

problem fixed.. #1 wire was arcing 1/2" above the bottom of the boot and just didn't notice right away because all 4 had good spark, anyway it runs good now with replacing the fairly new wires with a new differant brand of oem wires. so i guess the 1 injector and the one wire was the issue! thanks

 

[nd4sped]

Glad hear you got it resolved! Dont be a stranger!