Just recently purchased this 89 Honda Civic. it has a little problem with muffler but ran fine. Recently the car has been stalling while driving at any speed and restarting immediately or seconds later. I thought it was the gas so I switched from hess to mobil and bought a higher grade. It worked for a couple of days and then has started stalling again. Today it stalled again and wouldnt start. The smell of gas is prevalent in the car. Please someone give me an answer I can remedy the situation with??????

CroCivic91

When was the last time you did a tune-up on it? Like spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor, fuel filter, air filter? If it's fuel injected, pull the injectors out (together with the rail), point it to something that will not ignite the fuel once fuel squirts out, and have someone crank the car while you look at the injectors squirting gas out. Then search on the net and see what it should look like when injectors are good. Then compare what you saw at the car and at the web page you found.

Also, measure resistance on the 2 injector terminals (with the 2 pin connector disconnected). Let us know how much you measured.

I'mdyinghere

Thanks for the advice. I just changed the cap, rotor, wires, and plugs not the fuel filter yet though. But Its still stalling. When I changed the plugs the threads were covered in oil. Could this be part of the problem or do I just need to replace the valve cover seal?

CroCivic91

Was it only threads that were covered in oil, or was the tip of the spark plug also covered in oil? If the tip was oily, that means you get oil in your combustion chambers. If only threads were oily, it probably got there through the top. Also, when did you have your valves adjusted last time? My valves were never adjusted in 14 years (140k miles) and compression was poor before i adjusted them. Compression jumped up after the adjustment.

I'd definately change the fuel filter if it was a long time since you did it. It can restrict fuel flow to the injectors, if it's clogged.

I'mdyinghere

I did go ahead and change the fuel filter. It needed it badly. As far as the valves...I just bought the car a little while ago and dont know when the last time they were adjusted. How is it done?

There was oil on the tip and on the threads. When I cleaned off the spark plugs and dried up the resevoir the spark plugs fired and the car drove ok for a few hours. It then started having the same problems. Stalling out while driving and not starting and not sounding like it was getting gas. And at times making a gurgling noice when stalling. I pulled the plugs again there was a little oil on threads and a little oil on the napkin I was using to clean the inside of the resevoir where the sparkplugs had been. The tip of the plugs looked relatively clean but were a little black like the were getting soot on them. Again it started up and drove alright but still had moments of hesistation and stalling. Any ideas???

I'mdyinghere

I did not go for the injectors yet. How exactly do I do that step by step please? I'm a noob. Thanks.

CroCivic91

Hm...very strange. Let's try a different approach.

I'd like you check your ECU for error codes. The ECU is located under the passenger's feet. Pull the carpet back a bit (under the glove box, where passenger's feet would rest while driving) and you'll see a metallic box with a circle in the middle. The circle is a red LED which will blink once you put the key to II (when the Check Engine Light turns on, but you still don't start the car). Look at the circle and turn the key to II. It will blink once (sort of saying "Hello, I'm alive..."). Look if it will blink again after that. Count the blinks. It can blink, say, 16 times. It can also blink different error codes. Anyway, just count the blinks. Bigger pause between blinks means another code will be reported after it. For example, you might get "blink-pause-blink-blink-blink-blink". It would mean error codes 1 and 4. Get back to us with the error codes.

After you do that, I'd like you to remove your negative battery cable for half a minute, and connect it back. If you check your error codes after that - there should be none. You've just cleared ECU memory of error codes. Now drive around until it starts stalling and let it shut down if it wants to. Then check for error codes again and let us know.

Now for checking the injectors. Whether you have only 2 injectors (Dual Point Fuel Injection) or 4 injectors (with the rail - Multi Point Fuel Injection), the procedure is the same. There will be a 2 pin electrical connector attached to each injector. Disconnect the electrical connector and you will see 2 pins on the injector. Take an ohmmeter and measure resistance between the 2 pins. Let us know how much resistance is measured (for each injector). Also, let us know how many injectors you have (2 or 4 - makes a difference as to what the resistance should be). Also, tell me the engine code if you know it - it would help me see how much resistance there should be.

Perhaps, if the car was sitting for a long time, the gas in the tank has gone bad. Labman could tell you more on this, since i never had experience with this. But if it's been sitting for a while, try to flush the tank and put new fuel in it.

Well, when you get back to us with more results - we'll see what the problem might be.

I'mdyinghere

I just checked for codes. Its not throwing any. It blinks once on 1 nothing on 2.
I did not get the ohmeter yet. I pull the plugs clean out resevoir and the car starts and works for about a 1/2 mile and then sputters and stalls again. I did do the valve cover gaskets thinking that might be the problem but that wasnt it. I have driven the car for roughly 3500 miles so I dont think its the gas

charlie011

I need to change my fuel filter, where is it?