major maintenance
 

hey everyone

ran into some problems as of late...

1) car stutters when accelerating in any gear...its as if you are fluttering your tongue (thats the feeling in the acceleration) and then accelerates... this happens in all gears

2) check engine light came on 2 days ago on the 401 but it started flashing...when i got to a red light after exiting, i shut the car off and started it again...the cel stayed on and has been until today when it started flashing again... then i shut it off and it stays on.

i tried the diagnostic thing with the green plug underneath the passenger glovebox and the cel flashed one long time..indicating the iat sensor... not sure if im reading it accurately but the temp gauge has also been going to hot as of late and then comes down to the middle temp...

car is a 98 civic with 271kms on it

is this the end or is this worth fixing... timing belt was done at 127kms and i believe the clutch is the same oem one. if the repairs are over 1k im not sure if its worth it...

any help?

thanks

Joker:confused:

The timing belt was last done at 127k and it now has 271k on it??? You better get that done asap before it snaps and you have lots of smashed valves. Do the water pump while you're in there as well. Timing belt and water pump should be done every 100-120k.

You're car is a 98 which means it OBDII. Take it to partsource and have it scanned for free. Once you have the codes, post them up here and we'll go from there.

P0302 CYLINDER 2 MISFIRE
P0304 CYLINDER 4 MISFIRE
P0300 RANDOM CYLINDER MISFIRE

those are the codes, according to this website: http://repairpal.com/OBD-II-Code-P0302

These are the symptoms according to this site that I am experiencing:

Fault Code Definition

• Misfire Detected in #2 Cylinder

Symptoms

• Check Engine Light flashing
• Rough running, hesitation, and/or jerking when accelerating
• hesitation, misfires or lack of power (especially during acceleration)

Any suggestions?

thanks

When was the last time a tune up was done?

Check your antifreeze make sure its not mixed with oil also do a compression test it sounds like u should get a "new" engine

Yes, when was the last time you replaced the spark plugs/wires/dizzy cap & rotor/fuel filter?

Any white smoke out the exhaust?
What does the coolant look like?
If you remove the oil fill cap is there any light brownish sludge?

March 2009 the spark plugs /wires and dizzy cap & rotor were done. I am not sure if the fuel filter was done also.

today i revved the engine a bit in the driveway to check for white smoke. There is a bit of white smoke, when i hit the accelerator . Coolant is clean, no oil sludge . under the oil fill cap.

check engine light is blinking, it used to stay on after turning the car off and on but now its blinking. It briefly smelt like rotten eggs , but the smell went away. I have been reading up on it and ppl are saying that smell indicates a bad catalytic convertor...the smell only came today and left

is the car safe to drive with a flashing check engine light?

Usually a new cat smells like rotten eggs, not a bad one....

How many km's have you driven since that last tune up in 2009?

probably 70,000

Dude sounds like you just need a tune-up. It'll be fixed Sunday, no worries.

IF the tune-up doesn't fix it (which I'm 95% sure it will). You won't leave my garage without a good running car, we got lots of parts/sensors kicking around I can sell to you if you do have something else wrong.

PS. E-mail me your year make model engine size (vtec or no) again. I wiped my phone.

The rotten egg smell you are smelling is raw fuel hitting your cat. Which is bad. It does not indicate you have a bad cat.. it's telling you, your engine is mis-firing or being over-fueled and that the cat is saturated in fuel. If you continue to drive like this, you will ruin your cat.

My recommendation.. don't drive it until I fix it... or you will be replacing your cat.

yea i know...thanks chris...email headed your way

Yeah. Tune up time. :nod: