Help my civic idles like crap!

its a civic

Have you found out your problem yet? I am having the exact same problem with my 92 Civic.


By the way where are the IAC and cold start valve and how do I clean them? And will they be causing the problem with a '92?

how many miles on the car? when was the last time you changed spark plugs and wires? have you ever changed the head gasket? i just blew the head gasket in my toyota between 2 cylinders and before it actually blew i had times when it would idle rough and run at reducde power until i got on it good, then just yesterday it finally blew all the way and was only running on 2 good cylinders. when you get on it do you notice any out of place knocking sounds? if you hear a little knocking that means you've already cracked that head gasket between the cylinders and have a little exhaust being transfered between the two cylinders. of course i'm not a honda guy so this is probably something common and alot less complicated than i just made it out to be. but check the basics first, plugs wires injectors, run some injector cleaner in your next tank.

Any cel's? My guesses would either be the distributor, the coolant temp sensor, or the 02 sensor.

Yager-

i have checked for a vacuum leak and there is none

*points to his above post*

answer da quarstions so's i can getcha an idear of whats goin on *spits*

i have a 92 and 95 civic, I had the same problem with the 95 and it was a sensor that was causing it. I dont know the name of it but its around the back of the intake. my engine light never came on either. good luck. i will try to get the name of that. check the map sensor.

Originally posted by VICS22



VICS-UTM.

ok wtf does this mean cause thats what you post in every thread.

ok the check engine light has been lit on my car since i bought it, it had a cold air intake, header and timing advanced 5 degrees. the head gasket was also blown when i bought the car so i replaced it, the car has 95,000 miles on it, and 2 months ago some how my back two valve cover bolts broke and i lost oil and spun a rod bearing, so the bottom end is also new.. i have put about 2,000 miles on the engine w/ the rebuild w/ no problems, oh and i have not done anything to plugs or wires. i has just started sputtering when i got really cold out, but there has been a few days where it did get up to like 60 and still idled like crap, or sounds like crap.. when it idles the rpm gauge does not jump up and down, but it does not idle smooth at all, never backfires, but kinda sounds like it wants to sometimes.. if i missed any questions let me know. i want to get this figured out.. thanks for the help guys!!!

here is what i found out today.. i hooked it up to a obdII code reader and it says that all 4cylds had misfire, something about knock sensor and that was about it, so i went a reset my timing and i am going to replace cap rotor plugs and wires tomorrow.. it is running really really rich... i had a small exhaust leak since i had the car and when i did the overhaul the exhaust pipe was all clean, now i had it on the lift today and where the small crack in my exhaust pipe it was black all around it