1996 Honda Civic LX - Rough start and shddering issue when in drive

[Klyu23]

I just recently purchased my 1996 Honda Civic LX and it was in pretty rough condition. The issue I am currently having is it seems to run rough - shudders and shakes - when starting and when put into drive. When I am sitting in traffic it shakes and when I hit the gas lightly it shudders. It also jerks when shifting gears up or down most of the time (which I figured was a motor mount issue as I found one was broke and another was on the way out). If I switch it to neutral while sitting in traffic the shudder and shaking goes away.

Any ideas on what I can do to fix or remedy this? I am very new to Honda and don't have all the money to spend on it at the moment. I just need it to run smoothly as a daily driver.

Thanks!

 

[lethal6]

When was the last time it was tuned up? Sounds to me like it was poorly maintained and needs to be brought back to correct shape. I would suggest a full tune up and go from there. It is very hard to diagnose something engine related when there are crappy old parts sitting in there that could very well be the culprit or could be masking what is really wrong.

Tune up should be the first thing done to a used car purchase. There is no way of telling how the last person took care of the car unless you know them personally. Records don't mean squat to me as I have been burned. Guy told me on a car I bought in the past that it had just been tuned within the last hundred miles or so. I decided to check and the air filter was nasty, spark plugs were destroyed, and the inside of the cap was very corroded. Needless to say, I don't trust "records" anymore. They can be faked to pad the sale.

Going off the motor mounts, did you actually replace them? You said 2 of them were bad but didn't specify weather you replaced them or not. This would cause nasty vibration depending on how bad they are and if they are the main torque mounts or not.

 

[Klyu23]

Thanks for the reply ! I have not replaced them yet - the rear near the firewall is completely broke and the left one is starting to break. I will be replacing these shortly. As for a tune up - You're completely correct. I have stuff ready for this weekend to do an oil change, replace sparks, water pump and timing belt. What else should I include?

 

[lethal6]

For a full tune up, I change spark plugs (only NGK for Honda, they don't run well with most others), wires (again NGK), distributor cap, rotor, oil change, air filter, pollen (if equipped), fuel filter, pcv valve, adjust the valves if needed, and run a BG44K in the gas tank. I also do a BG injector flush if it hasn't been done in a long time, but that is me and I have been using BG stuff for over 15 years now. Most people don't even know what it is. Excellent range of products.

If the car is new to me, I also do a manual trans flush (never have and never will buy an automatic civic), flush the brake (and clutch) fluid out and put fresh stuff in, and flush the coolant refreshing it with new stuff.

While I have the wheels off, I rotate them and also check the brakes out. Depending on the condition and what brand, I change them out.

Me being me, I expect to be doing all this when buying a used car so that plays a big deal into the buying/negotiating of the price so the money is already there.

This all may sound crazy to some, but *knock on wood* besides my old school beetle that had a turbo motor in it (which the turbo motor wasn't even mine, I was just breaking it in for a friend while his track bug was being built), I have never had a vehicle (of my own) leave me stranded. I am also huge on preventative maintenance and catching a problem before it becomes an issue. I do stuff before it fails if it is getting close to the mileages that they are known to fail.