my fiance has a 1991 honda civic 1.6 L hatchback manual transmission.The car starts but has rough idle and once shifted into gear and given acceleration the engine dies.We have already replaced the fuel pump,fuses,spark plugs,fuel filter,and have checked the main relay and all the hoses and belts.what could be causing it to do this??
Bench testing ICMs and coils is not reliable. I have seen many test okay that don't work at all. These are the two most problematic components on Hondas of this generation. I recommend replacing them every 120,000 miles or 10 years, whichever comes first.
The ICM acts like "electronic points." A microprocessor inside, which gets destroyed by heat and electron migration, opens and closes the coil's primary electrical field. This causes 12 voilts to be stepped-up to 40,000 volts in the secondary field of the coil. This symphony is directed by the ECM (computer). When the ICM starts to fail, it "fires" erratically and not when it's supposed to. I deal with performance problems, like your's, every day on this site.
Yes, if the Check Engine Light does not stay on, when the ignition switch is turned to ON (Position II). Do a search on this site and check out my track record on replacing Ignition Control Modules and coils. Then, you can decide if you want to spend your hard earned money on my recommendation.
Do you have an accleration screw? Sometimes just an easy move of the screw one direction or the other will make it raise the idel and keep the car running.
TX GREESEMONKEY do you think it could be the screw?
No. The car dies upon acceleration, which is not affected by idle rpm. If the car died while idling, then the idle rpm might have to be raised--provided nothing else was wrong.
I believe the problem above is classic ICM and/or coil failure, especially if the Check Engine Light comes on and goes off normally.
where can i find the ICM and coil??and i just went out to start the car and it idle for a minute and shut off and i wasnt trying to accelerate...could it still be the ICM??
Absolutely. The ICM is located inside the distributor--remove the distributor cap and leak cover. Just follow the instructions I provided; then, you'll have your car running flawlessly in an hour. The coil is located outside the distributor cap, with a high tension wire from the coil going into the cap.
Linear Mode
