Civic - Honda :: 1998 EX - Power Cuts Out Then Pops Back On
May 7, 2014
'98 Coupe, manual trans, zipping along, car lurches, tach dial drops to zero, power comes right back on. Lights on dash don't go out. Happens randomly, no rhyme or reason and no code. Once it a while stalls out, then can be rough re-starting. Checked VIN, no recall for ignition switch. Last time I went to start engine, heard clickety-click, a burp, then started.
If I rev the engine when it happens, that tends to keep it from stalling out. Problem's getting worse.
Been to two service stations and dealer. They tell me to keep going til it quits, then get towed in and they can run the diagnostics. But what if, the next day, they start it up, it runs okay and won't blip or quit on them? More driving along til it poops out and then gets towed again and again?
Distributor, TD-80, not the original. Could be igniter or coil? Ignition switch? Main relay? Fuel pump? Bad ground?
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The power steering on my 2001 Honda Civic intermittently cuts out and the wheel becomes really hard to turn. The belt is tight and the fluid level is correct.
The weird thing about it, is it only happens in cold weather. Everything was fine all summer, but now that the weather has turned colder the problem has reappeared. Same thing happened last year. . .
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1998 Honda Civic EX. This has been a great car and have got a ton of good miles on it. The problem that I am having now is with the temperature gauge. The measurement is completely all over the place while driving. While moving around town, the gauge shows the temperature VERY hot. As soon as I reach a consistent speed, the temperature drops back to normal (moves very erratically!). The gauge seems to get even hotter while idling. Another issue (may or may not be related) is the heat coming out of the vents is only working while the car is in motion. While stopped, it pumps out cold air. The temperature immediately changes when I get going again. Both problems seem to be getting worse. The car has coolant, and all other levels of fluids are normal.
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My car is a 1998 Honda Civic DX hatchback 5 speed manual. About 180,000+ miles. For a while now the car seems to have a problem with power under load. If I am on an incline the engine will start making a metallic gurgling noise as I push on the gas. It increases as I give it more gas, or the hill gets steeper; at which point the car usually begins to slow down depending on my speed. It is most noticeable when I shift into a higher gear and then my speed drops into the range where I could downshift. It also happens often however at 60 mph+. On inclines at that speed, the car will gradually lose speed down into the 50's if the hill is long enough/steep enough even with the gas pedal floored. I'll need to shift into fourth to keep at 50 mph until I'm over the hill.
I've been told by a few friends/mechanics that it may be the catalytic convertor. Hard to test it or just weld on a new one though since the cat is integrated into the manifold, etc. So I took it to a trusted mechanic who did a bunch of work. He said it was only firing on three cylinders instead of four due to carbon tracking, but wasn't concerned with the cat. He did a tune-up and replaced the distributor cap and rotor, spark plugs and wires, valve cover and gasket (leaking), air filter and fuel filter, and cleaned the throttle body. Also replaced both rear strut assemblies.
Until now there had been NO check engine light signaling a problem. I got the car back and it felt good at first, but still seemed to make the noise albeit quieter. The power was better, but only for maybe a couple days. The engine again started making the noise more often and losing power in the same ways. Also, the check engine light came on a few days later. Blinking the first time, then it would come on for a couple of days, then off for a couple, etc. Now it has come on and stayed on constantly for a couple of weeks. I had the engine codes read and got three codes:
P1456- the usual emission control system leak... fuel cap possibility, etc. I'm guessing it isn't this for the most part...
P0141- "secondary HO2s12 (Heated oxygen sensor- bank 1, sensor 2) circuit heater malfunction.
and the strangest of all since I'd expect it to be fixed...
P0301- "cylinder number 1 misfire detected" ...
So it could be something else with the cylinders going on, O2 sensor having to do with cat. stuff, etc.? I also will be due for a timing belt change soon I believe, but that would not be causing any of this I don't think. I'll be bringing it back to the mechanic to have a look again, but haven't had the time yet.
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My manual 98 Honda civic hatchback has 435,000 miles. But for the past 5 months, it has had a reoccurring problem: it loses power at unpredictable times while I'm driving. The gas stops responding and the check engine and battery lights come on. Have to pull over, turn the car off and usually have to wait on the side of the road 5 minutes before it will start again. Lately, it can take as long as 15 minutes. Sometimes, it will restart immediately or after only two minutes.
So far, trying to get at this problem, the car has gotten: new battery, new alternator, new spark plugs, new coil, new distributer, new ignition switch, diagnostic testing (that indicated the coil [replaced] and the catalytic converter). There does not seem to be any consistent environment that goes along with the car turning off while driving. It happens regardless of how full the gas tank is and regardless of the weather.It's pretty bad to be going 70 on the highway and suddenly have to throw on the flashers and pull over... especially when there is no shoulder because of winter weather. What this is? Or is the car just old and tired?
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My 1998 Honda Civic has been dormant in my drive way for about a month and a half with very little gas. I went out to try to start it the other day and it struggled for a bit and never turned over. It isn't the batter considering the headlights and radio work just fine, thus I sought out the nearby gas station and attempted to solve the problem by putting gas in it, yet when I returned and emptied out my gas can into the tank it was the same ol' story. What it could be?
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I have a 1998 honda civic LX that slips very very seldom upon acceleration. It happens under light acceleration and medium acceleration (I dont accelerate hard enough to see it slip at high acceleration, it might!)
What happens is, the car stops accelerating and simply idles. As the motor idles the car drifts and slows down. I have never done it, but I bet in this state I could come to a complete stop just by drifting if I keep my foot in the same spot on the accelerator. When I change my foot, and accelerate harder, the car wakes back up and keeps accelerating like nothing even happened.
I don't think it is the transmission slipping, because in that instance revs would climb and acceleration would halt and that is not the case. I recently gave the car a huge tune up, here's the list
Valve adjustment
Oil and filter change
Cleaned throttle body and IAC
New distributor and cap (Plug wires aren't really in good shape)
New spark plugs
New air filter
Set the timing
New belts
Cleaned injectors
Cleaned battery terminals
I don't know what could cause this problem! The only thing I have come up is the Possibility a TPS (Throttle position sensor) going bad. The only thing that I know of that is wrong with the car is the exhaust manifold has a big crack in it right before the upstream 02 sensor. No doubt this leak is messing with the cars readings of the AFRs. Could this be part of the problem? It is throwing a code for the catalyst system.
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I have 1998 Honda civic 2 Dr and i was trying to switch cd players in it and blew some fuses so i checked all and replaced the blown ones but now it won't start.
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I've been checking my oil every morning for a few weeks now because of a worry about it burning off. I check it at the same time each morning, in pretty much the same parking spot, before driving it. Every time I take out the dipstick, wipe it off and put it back in to check. What's weird is that the level seems to fluctuate. Some days it's up over the higher dot. Some days it's down closer to the lower one (though it hasn't been under). Most days it's somewhere closer to the middle between the two. Is it common for it to fluctuate that much on a day to day basis? Is it something I should be worrying about?
In case it matters, it's a 1998 Honda Civic LX.
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I have an issue with my 98 honda civic lx, with 197000 mils. Recently I had my Check engine light on. I ignored it for a day. The next day started my car and in the middle of the road it stopped moving, meaning in spite of accelerating it doesn't move. So I stopped at the shoulder, turned off the engine. After a while I started again, the car moved but later on it stopped moving when I was accelerating. The Engine did not turn off during the stall. Couple of weeks back the car was shaking on the front side when I was driving, it felt like the car was about to stop as if it was short of fuel.I changed the spark plug 15000 miles back. Water pump and timing belt was changed 25000 miles back.Car has a highway mileage of 32 mpg.
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My 1998 Honda Civic has oil in the radiator. And even stranger, the oil winds up in the overflow coolant reservoir. What is the most likely cause of this?
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My car drives fine till it heats up then if I come to a stop it won't go into gear.....
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My 98 Civic ex runs and shifts perfect to have 200,000+ miles but when you try and shift to reverse it grinds. It acts like it's gonna shift into reverse but doesn't. When you shift back into park or neutral you can hear it still spinning. Sounds like a card in spoke of bike. We have drained fluid twice and replaced also added trans-x.
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I've got a 1988 Honda Civic Sedan. 151, 000 miles. Runs great,except when I have to stop for gas or I pop the clutch maladroitly to get going and kill the engine. Then it won't start up. It used to do it once or so every five times I stop to gas up. I don't drive it much and have to re-charge the battery every month or so--even the new battery. It started this herky-jerky thing last summer but the tow guy convinced me it was a bad gas problem. A gas additive seemed to clear it up, but not the starting problem.
Just last night I recharged the battery,let the engine run 15 minutes or so the next morning, then shut it down and tried to restart it; turned over but wouldn't start. In general, when it cools down about an hour or so later, it starts fine. So engine heat seems to cause it.I've giving up trying to gas up at the cheap stations. Instead I go to the local station two blocks away so I can push it aside and come back later to get it if it stalls. Could this be something simple I could fix?
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I have a '98 Honda Civic that is regularly maintained and seems fine with the exception of a starting problem when left outside. I have it in a garage normally and have never had a problem starting it. But when left outside, it usually takes a couple of hours for the car to warm to the outside temperture as it rises. The battery is new and the spark plugs seem fine so I am at a loss.
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I have a '98 Honda Civic EX with 260K miles on it. Car normally runs better than my newer cars. Yesterday on the way to work, I came up to a stop sign, and the car died. I put it in park and tried to restart several times. It cranked over fine, but sounded like it had no spark. After several attempts, I thought I would just put it in neutral and get it out of the road. I turned they key on and tried to put it in neutral, but the shifter wouldn't unlock. After turning the key on and off what seemed like a hundred times, the unlock button on the shifter finally unlocked. Without even trying to put it in neutral, I turned the key all the way, and the car started right up. I believe this same thing happened to my wife several months ago, except she just told me it died and the engine light came on. Could this be a problem with the ignition switch??
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I have a 1998 Honda Civic with 166Kmiles that is new to me. For about 1.5 months I had no issues but about a month ago I was driving and noticed something odd. If I tapped the brake, the lights would dim and the radio would cut out. Not every time but frequently. As I was coasting into my parking spot, I pushed the power window button to close the window and the car stalled. After that I started having hit and miss troubles getting the engine to crank. Either it would crank or there was NO power (i.e. no dashboard lights, radio, etc.) at all. Jump starting would work but I had to get the cables just so. Last week it gave up occasionally starting. I can still jump start but again the cables have to attached just so. Once started the car will run but I have to keep it above idle or it might stall. I replaced the battery to no avail. What is my next step in solving this electrical system problem?
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My honda just celebrated its 155000 mile and low and behold it was greeted with a vibration in the steering column. It gets worse on uneven roads and pretty much goes away on smooth roads... What it might be?
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I am at my wits' end with my 98 Honda Civic LX. The problem starts around late summer of last year. It is sporadic, so I didn't quite pay attention until one day the engine died on the highway after I picked up the kids at the school. It didn't make any sound nor giving any warnings, just suddenly died. After that highway episode, it seems like it just taken its own fancy schedule as far as when to die, so to say. In a given day, it could 4 episodes in a day. Then it runs perfectly for some weeks then it starts again and went away again.
It just quietly dies while being driven. I had to turn it completely off, wait for some moment and try to turn it on again. Sometimes it just turns on again without me being frustrated and there were moments when I had to do several attempts. Once I heard clicking sound before the engine died, only once, the rest makes no sound at all. No lights are on.
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My 1998 Honda Civic DX's RPMs are fluctuating during idle. I start the car and it is normal for about two seconds. I am assuming around 800 rpms (I don't have a tachometer). Then it jumps drastically higher, then lower, then higher, etc. Earlier tonight I replaced the throttle body gasket, replaced the spark plug wires, and cleaned the fuel injector cleaners. I took off several things in the process. I think the problem originates from taking apart the throttle body - not the other replaced parts. I have a manual 2-door 1998 Honda Civic DX with a 1.6L engine (D16Y7 engine to be exact).
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My Honda Civic 98 starts funny. It will hesitate about 3-5 seconds before cranking and sometimes after starting the starter will grind momentarily before letting go.
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