Civic - Honda :: Engine Keeps Quitting When Either Stopped At A Stop Light Idling Or RPMs Really Low
May 9, 2011
I am desperately seeking info about my 1998 Honda Civic. My engine keeps quitting on me when I am either stopped at a stop light idling or the rpm's are really low. This seems to happen at random with no warning or check engine light. I keep my tank more than half full with gas so I don't believe this could be it. I have been to my mechanic and they said it could be a multitude of things wrong with it so it doesn't make sense to put money into the car if it won't necessarily fix it. I am desperate to figure something out so it can get fixed because I have to drive to work everyday and I'm sick of feeling anxious while driving all the time!
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I just changed the engine in my 96 Honda civic, 1.6 base model. The change over went well and had no problems. When I have the car idle and it gets up to temp, the RPM's go from 2000 down to 500 then jumps to 2000 then down 500 again. When I put it into gear, drive or reverse, it stops jumping. What did I do wrong?
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My car has been having idling issues for about a year now. While idling the RPMs oscillate between 1 krpm and almost 0, with a frequency of about one oscillation per second. That got worse over time, and it started dying while idling too. I ignored the problem because it wasn't that bad, until a few weeks ago it died about 7 times on a 2 mile trip. (I developed a technique of using my right foot to press the gas and the brake simultaneously so I could come to a stop while keeping the engine going. But that only gets you so far.) I took it to a garage, they said I probably need a new IACV. Instead of having them do it, I just bought one and put it in myself. I'm not an experienced mechanic, but this seemed fairly easy; I'm pretty sure I didn't screw it up.
So, now it's displaying almost the exact same symptoms. It's not oscillating like it was before, but it's still dying pretty frequently, only on idle. I'd like to know if there's anything else I can try before I take it back to the shop.
A little more information about my car:- Replaced the motor about a year and half ago, put a few thousand miles since then. I don't know what other parts were replaced as part of the motor, but probably not many considering what I've had to replace. - Since the motor replacement, I've had the following replaced: rear main seal, clutch, distributor, distributor again, and water pump- The odometer reads 223k miles, but I don't know how many miles the new motor has. - 1990 Honda Civic LX 1.5L
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In the Car Talk column on 1/3/2016, it sounds like Lynnette's 1991 Honda Civic wagon was experiencing very similar symptoms to my wife's 2001 Honda Odyssey (189,000 mi) a few months ago. Rough idle, engine almost dies sometimes at stops, groans during acceleration. Additionally, accelerating between 40-60 mph our Honda would feel like it was "loading up," running rich or in the wrong gear climbing hills. I replaced the idle air control valve, which fixed the rough idle but not the other symptoms. Turned out I needed to reset (power cycle) the ECM and go through a curb idle/rev warm-up procedure so it would relearn the throttle position sensor's operating range after replacing the IAC valve. I disconnected the battery, removed and reinserted the hazard fuse, then reconnected the battery. Then from a cold start held the throttle at 3000 rpm until the engine warmed up to normal or the electric fans kicked on. Since then it's back to smooth, strong acceleration we expect from the Honda we love.
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I have a '03 Civic DX 5 speed. It has 128000 miles on it. I've notice now that it is getting colder, my engine ticks when it is warm - I can hear it at idle and low rpms, but not at higher rpms. It sounds perfect when it's cold, but once it is warm, it has a "tic-a-tic-a-tic-a-tica..." sound. Tom and Ray talked about a Dodge Dakota that made the same sound when the engine was cold (about 8 episodes ago). So what does it mean if it only does it when warm?
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My wife drives a 2002 civic (mostly around town). when the car is at running temp.with the heater on and she gets top a stop sign or red traffic light, the heater starts to blow out cold/colder air. We took the car to a dealer and asked them to flush/fill the radiator and fix the problem. Well they flushed/filled the radiator and said "Yup, it still does it. Would you like us to diagnose the problem more for a minimum of 1 hour labor cost?" What could be the problem with the reduction in heat?
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The low fuel indicator light has quit working on my 1999 Honda Civic. My wife ran out of gas one night and I want to fix it. The fuel gauge itself still works.
I removed the instrument cluster and found that the bulb does work.
I got to the top of the gas tank by swinging the back seat bottom cushion out of the way. I unplugged the three electrical connectors there and inspected the wiring. It all looked OK and I plugged things back together.
It will take some driving to get to a low-fuel condition and see if the light is somehow working now. If i does not, what next? Replace the fuel gauge sending unit in the gas tank? (It seems the switch that turns on the low-fuel indicator light is incorporated in that unit - is that right?)
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So I just bought this 08 civic LX (110k miles). After a few days of flawless driving, we noticed a couple wires NOT connected that were coming from the hood opener-sensor thing. Plugged them together and noticed no difference in the car until I let the car sit for about 6 hours then thats when the trouble started. Tried starting the car and the engine had trouble cranking then would stop. Pulled the key out and tried a couple more times and finally the engine started. The next day I had to do the same thing to get the car to start and now 2 days later the car wont even crank. No ticking, no cranking- nothing. Battery date is 10/14 so its coming up on 2 years old. When I turn the car to "On", everything works (stereo, lights, headlights, dashboard lights- everything). You would notice no difference until you tried starting the car.
I haven't gotten to it yet but I haven't tried cleaning the battery connections. Just looking at them I cannot notice any problems or visual corrosion. Im thinking that because I plugged those wires from the hood-sensor-thing, its a bad sensor and drew current from the battery while the car was off.
If this was the case then jumping the car would probably fix it but nope, not my lucky day. Jumping the car didn't work at all and before I start checking fuses and connections, what the problem could be.
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Noticed my beater Honda del Sol (177k miles) idling slowly the other day. Normal 45F day, light urban driving. Usually idle is ~800rpm (indicated), was dropping to 600rpm and even 500rpm. Holding her at 1000rpm then releasing the gas pedal yielded ~300rpm and it almost died, followed by ~500rpm. Ran fine at any other speed; it had no hesitation, no noises, and no warning lights.
So my GF said, "you're probably low on oil; my Cooper S did that once". Huh? Why would low oil, other than if it were so low that it starved the engine and caused friction, impact the idle? If anything, I'd think it would idle faster with less fluid to pump, and/or with hotter and hence thinner oil (assuming it'll run hotter if it has less oil, which it didn't appear to be).
Sure enough, I checked and it was about a quart low. I've never had a car that uses oil, plus my cars usually have oil pressure & oil level indicators (i.e. Porsche 944S2). So I've never run those lower than near the bottom of the "normal" range.
Searching "The Google" only provided unsatisfactory answers about metal-to-metal grinding and galling slowing down the engine, which is not what is happening here. There is still oil pressure, the oil light does not come on, and the engine sounds "normal". And adding oil immediately cured the slow idle.
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Weird problem on my Passat today. First the engine light came on...followed by rough idling. It smooths out when moving, but rough again when stopped. Noticed that turning ON the AC makes it a little smoother...but when you turn off the AC, resumes the rough idle.
Already made an appt with the dealer tomorrow...but wanted to see if this problem is familiar to other owners. Either way, I will update once the dealer finishes diagnosing the problem.
The car has been perfect up to 30k miles...now 2 problems in the last month.
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I recently got an oil change at EZ Lube and since then my engine seems to be running a little harder. You can feel it vibrating more than normal while idling and when stopped at a light when it turns off, it REALY turns off like it's choking out and sort of kicks the whole car a bit when it shuts off.
I just switched the air filter just in case as it seem similar to my old car that would die if the carburetor wasn't bringing in enough air, but I'm not as familiar with fuel injected engines. Could it be the fuel filter or other engine issue?
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Thinking of buying a new civic with mt. One annoying thing is many mt rev higher at speed than automatics.
Tried to find out online how high civic revs, couldn't find it though.
I'm thinking anything over 2500 is going to sound whiny on a long trip.
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My 03 civic will drive fine when the engine is cool. But after getting off the highway, or running it at higher speeds, when I put it in gear, any gear, it will start choking and bucking like its running out of gas. Once I get it above about 2000 rpms, the choking stops. The read out said it was the egr valve at first, we had it cleaned, but it didn't fix it. The readout now says recirculation insufficient or something like that. I'm wondering how serious this is, and if I should be driving it.
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The mechanic I use told me how he repaired a fault with the Honda Civic hybrid battery that kept the check engine light on and indicated a code for a faulty battery. It appears that if the different cells in the battery have a voltage variance between them that is outside of the parameters set, the light will come on and stay on. The customer was told by Honda service that he needed a new battery, but the car was out of the warraqnty period.
The mechanic theorized that he could remedy this if he drained the battery down and recharged it. After two cycles, the check engine light went off. I wonder if this would work for other hybrid owners?
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I have a 96 Honda Civic CX. The check engine light came on the other day while it was raining (don't know if the rain had anything to do with it) and now it comes on every time I start the car until it warms up. Once in a while it comes back while driving but that's rare. I tried to get the code with a cheap reader and it didn't show that anything is wrong. I then took it to an auto parts place and they used one of their nice readers to scan it and told me that everything is fine. What's the next step?
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RPM's will not get above 2000, in 1st and 2nd gear. No power....
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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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I've had my 2000 Honda Accord V6 for about 3 years now and have had an idling issue pretty much since I purchased it. After driving for at least 50+ miles, and if its hot out it can easily have this issue as well, and leaving the car be for around 15 to 30 minutes, on start up the car drops RPMs immediately and dies. Multiple tries and it will do the exact same thing. Recently I found out a trick to make it work correctly which is revving the engine to 2000RPM for about 3-4 minutes, slowly dropping it down to 1500 RMP for around the same 3-4 minutes and finally down to 1000 RPM for an additional 3-4 minutes and letting off the gas. Usually after doing this the engine idles fine, car drives great. However, it must be noted that on Summer days with temperatures in the 85+ range, if I'm climbing (going up a hill for a long distance) the car might bog down on me, will not go above 50MPH and I have to pull off the side of the road for 45+ minutes before the car will run correctly again. This has happened about 3 or 4 times in the 3 years I've owned the car.
I would rather not have to rev the engine in hopes this fixes the issue each time so I'm wondering what could be the cause in the first place? I've replaced so many things including spark plugs, ignition coils, battery, idle air control valve, gasket, fuel pump, fuel pump relay and on. I gas the car up with Chevron gasoline, I've dumped in I don't know how many different fuel injector cleaners and have also tried Heet as well as Sea Foam cleaner. I've also had the car checked for vacuum leaks.
I've asked multiple mechanics if this could possibly be a vapor lock issue, but they all turn that idea down. They tell me that since the car is fuel injected this can't be the issue..but, I don't know, could it be the issue?
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I have a 2001 Honda Civic with 190K miles. Usually runs fine. The other day it was torrential downpours as I'm driving on the highway. After about 100 miles of rainy driving, I lost the ability to accelerate. All accessories still on, but no response from the gas pedal. At the same moment, the check engine light came on, then -- while coasting off an exit ramp -- the car made a loud squealing noise for about 10 seconds.
I turned the car off, and was able to restart it without problems, although the engine was idling strangely with a faint knocking/fluttering noise. Drove to a Sears where they ran diagnostics on the engine -- the only code that came up was that the TDC Sensor was picking up noise. But the car ran, so we kept driving and the check engine light shut off on its own.
Managed to drive 2 hours to our destination, but had one incident of squealing from the engine (about 10 seconds while slowing down and then speeding up), and lost ability to accelerate again, this time accompanied by the Battery Light coming on as well as the Check Engine.
Today the car is in the shop, with Check Engine light off again but Battery Light still on. Mechanic suggested it might be the Alternator, but that seems odd to me because we just replaced the alternator, battery about 5 months ago and all accessories worked fine when we lost ability to accelerate, and the car was able to restart.
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Driving on highway, check engine light goes on, speedometer drops from 60 to 0 but nothing else happens. Come to a stoplight and engine light stays on and speedometer works again. Any diagnostics?
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So I drive a 2001 civic 5-speed and recently my check engine light doesn't go off right away after I start my car. It'll blink for a good 5-10 seconds then stops. Thought it might be the oil, changed it didn't do anything. What it can be?
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