My 88 Honda Civic often sputters while at a stop sign and when taking off it will sometimes run very rough. I envision that the problem occurs more at normal operating temperature than when the car is cold in the morning. I had a little missing and sputtering at higher speeds too before putting in injector cleaner and a new fuel filter. The spark plugs look ok according to a comparison of pictures on the Internet. The car had new plugs and wires and a distributor three years ago. A fault code of "20 flashes" shows up on the ECU under the floor on the passenger side. I've read that points to Electric Load Detector which requires a replacement of fuse box under the hood.

If I get a good fuse box/electric load detector from a junk yard will my problem likely be fixed or is it more likely the Idle Air Control Valve I've read about or something else causing the fault code and my sputtering? Alternatively can I get the load detector from a Honda dealer without buying a fuse box?

There are no blown fuses either under the hood or under the dash. In case this applies to the fault code, I should note that several months back the ignition switch locked up and my friend hot wired the car. It now starts with a screw driver! Another possible related item or two . . . I think my gas mileage is suffering and it seems like it takes a long time before the car slows down to idle speed. I'm not much of a mechanic but would like to fix this car myself if possible. Thanks for helping me with the diagnostics.