95 Honda Civic Hesitation/shaking when accelerating

#11

Jacob wrote:

Quote:

CORRECTION: I had the ohm meter on the 200k setting, which is why I
could not get a reading. I didn't expect the resistance to be so high.
I tested them on the 20k setting and got 7.0 ~ 10.0 for all the wires.
I assume that is ok, since I read that below 25k is good. I wiggled
them around and the resistance did not change much.

doesn't mean much - it's /leakage/ that's the problem and the average

ohm meter doesn't test that at all. at $34 for a new set of leads that
need replacing periodically anyway, i'd replace them to eliminate them
from the equation.

#12

Jacob wrote:

Quote:

I just finished installing a new distributor cap and rotor. It made
things worse. now my car idles poorly. You can hear sputtering coming
from my tailpipe. It's a very erradic idle. up and down. It almost
sounds like it's going to stall at some points. I have no trouble
starting the car though.

I made sure the cooling system was bled properly. I let my car idle
for almost an hour. It took a long time for the fan to come on but it
did twice.

I did not see any arching when I looked at the wires while it was
running in the dark.

I tried checking the wires (which I did not yet replace) with an ohm
meter. I don't know what the problem is, but I cannot get any
continuity accross any of the wires. I put one lead in the spark plug
end, making sure I had contact with metal, and I put the other lead on
the distributor end touching metal, and nothing. The meter did
nothing. I even stuck a screwdriver into the sparkplug end to make
sure I was toughing the right park of metal.
I don't see how the car would be running if there was no continuity at
all, so i must be doing something wrong.

I guess I could try replacing the wires, but I hate to keep throwing
money at this and only making it worse.

Thanks for your help though. I appreciate all the information. and I
would appreciate anymore help you can provide me with.

-----------------------------------------

Hmmm. I wonder if you've been pursuing an untamed ornithoid. A Honda
automatic will give the symptoms you described if the ATF is old, or has
been replaced with non-Honda stuff. I'd do a drain-n-fill with Honda Z1
and see if it shapes up. Actually, at your mileage I'd do it at least
twice,and I'd fill the coolant reservoir to the MAX, because the owner's
manual says you should after any rad work.

'Curly'

#13

I spend most of my life chasing an untamed ornithoid.

So your telling me that it could be my transmission that is causing
this? My car has a manual transmission, if that makes a difference. I
am also noticing the problem while my car is idling in neutral which
leads me to believe that the transmission is not the culprit.

My cooant resevoir is filled to the Max line.

I did not yet change my spark plugs. Does anyone know if autozone will
lend you a sparkplug socket? I have sparkplug sockets, but they arent
log enough to reach these plugs. Is there a trick to this that I am
not seeing?

I suppose I will replace the wires, then the plugs, and then maybe go
for the 02 sensor. I am avoind the 02, not because of the cost of the
sensor itself, but because the last one cost $250 to put in becuase I
couldn't do it and they had to retap it. This is getting expensive. I
wonder what would have happened if I just took in into a shop?

I have heard that a bad catalytic converter could cause this. Is there
any reason for me to consider this?

#14

"Jacob" <jlongton (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

Quote:

I spend most of my life chasing an untamed ornithoid.

So your telling me that it could be my transmission that
is causing
this? My car has a manual transmission, if that makes a
difference. I
am also noticing the problem while my car is idling in
neutral which
leads me to believe that the transmission is not the
culprit.

My cooant resevoir is filled to the Max line.

I did not yet change my spark plugs. Does anyone know if
autozone will
lend you a sparkplug socket? I have sparkplug sockets,
but they arent
log enough to reach these plugs. Is there a trick to this
that I am
not seeing?

All you need is a sufficiently long, 3/8-inch drive
extension and one of the long 16 mm sockets. The extension
is just a long rod with one end that fits into the ratchet
and the other, into the socket. Very common. Autozone should
sell these for a few dollars each. Or you can buy a whole
extension set. You'll use these again, if you continue with
your car repair work.

Take a measurement to see how much extension you need. I
think it's around ten inches.

Harbor Freight is a tool store whose prices may beat
Autozone. True Value and Sears also seem to beat or have
very similar prices for tools compared to Autozone.

Quote:

I suppose I will replace the wires, then the plugs, and
then maybe go
for the 02 sensor.

I would start with the plugs, especially if they're over a
couple years old. They will cost you about $15. Don't go
cheap. Buy the NGK brand but non-platinum.

For about the third time: Did you spray down the wires with
misting water, with the car idling, to see how it responds,
per Tegger's site?

Quote:

I am avoind the 02, not because of the cost of the
sensor itself, but because the last one cost $250 to put
in becuase I
couldn't do it and they had to retap it.

Since it's fairly freshly re-tapped, it should be easy to
replace. You can borrow (for a fully refundable deposit) an
O2 sensor wrench from Autozone and try it, first, if you
like.

PB Blaster is a penetrating oil that greatly helps free
rusted parts, especially one's exposed to the heat and
chemicals of exhaust. You might spray a little of this into
the threaded region of the O2 sensor. Capillary action
causes it to be sucked into the threads. Four bucks a ban at
Wal-Mart.

Quote:

This is getting expensive. I
wonder what would have happened if I just took in into a
shop?

I have heard that a bad catalytic converter could cause
this. Is there
any reason for me to consider this?

The plugs are vital to the car's operation. You haven't said
how old they are.

You need to fathom why cars are regularly tuned up ( = new
plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, air filter, fuel
filter, timing check). If the plugs have been neglected, you
bet this will cause running problems.

#15

"Elle" <honda.lioness (AT) nospam (DOT) earthlink.net> wrote

Quote:

All you need is a sufficiently long, 3/8-inch drive
extension and one of the long 16 mm sockets.

Correction: Of course if the socket is 1/2-inch drive,
you'll need a 1/2-inch drive extension or an adapter set.
Just describe what you're doing at Autozone, and they should
take you right to the tools you'll need.

I use my 3/8-inch drive tools much more than my 1/2-inch
drive ones. I'd go with the 3/8-inch drive extension and the
appropriate adapter(s).

Plus the 3/8-inch drive tools are cheaper than 1/2-inch
drive ones.

#16

Elle wrote:

Quote:

For about the third time: Did you spray down the wires with
misting water, with the car idling, to see how it responds,
per Tegger's site?

I was going to try that test, but my car was idling so poorly already
that I didn't think it would help me determine anything.

Quote:

Since it's fairly freshly re-tapped, it should be easy to
replace. You can borrow (for a fully refundable deposit) an
O2 sensor wrench from Autozone and try it, first, if you
like.

That is a good point. I will see if I can get it out and then consider
replacing it.

Quote:

The plugs are vital to the car's operation. You haven't said
how old they are.

The plugs are very old I'm sure. They have not been replaced as long
as I have owned the car (6 years). So that is something I should
consider.

The only thing I am unsure about is checking the timing. I do not have
a timing light and have no idea how to use one.

#17

"Jacob" <jlongton (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

Quote:

The plugs are very old I'm sure. They have not been
replaced as long
as I have owned the car (6 years). So that is something I
should
consider.

For the 95 Civic, the spark plugs are supposed to be
replaced every two years or 30k miles, whichever comes
first.

Do you have an owner's manual? It has a maintenance schedule
that, you should follow, assuming you want the car to last
and be reliable.

Or print out the maintenance schedules for the 95 at

http://autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/14/0c/b5/0900823d80140cb5.jsp

Quote:

The only thing I am unsure about is checking the timing.
I do not have
a timing light and have no idea how to use one.

#18

Thanks. I will try some more thing and report my progress.

#19

Jacob wrote:

Quote:

Elle wrote:

For about the third time: Did you spray down the wires with
misting water, with the car idling, to see how it responds,
per Tegger's site?

I was going to try that test, but my car was idling so poorly already
that I didn't think it would help me determine anything.

It will if your car stalls out...

Quote:

Since it's fairly freshly re-tapped, it should be easy to
replace. You can borrow (for a fully refundable deposit) an
O2 sensor wrench from Autozone and try it, first, if you
like.

That is a good point. I will see if I can get it out and then consider
replacing it.

The plugs are vital to the car's operation. You haven't said
how old they are.

The plugs are very old I'm sure. They have not been replaced as long
as I have owned the car (6 years). So that is something I should
consider.

The only thing I am unsure about is checking the timing. I do not have
a timing light and have no idea how to use one.

#20

Grumpy AuContraire wrote:

Quote:

Jacob wrote:

Elle wrote:

For about the third time: Did you spray down the wires with
misting water, with the car idling, to see how it responds,
per Tegger's site?

I was going to try that test, but my car was idling so poorly already
that I didn't think it would help me determine anything.

It will if your car stalls out...

True. I might try that before I replace the wires. Thanks.