Hello!

My Honda Civic has always been super reliable until this week when it randomly died on a short run to a friends house.

After driving for about 4 miles, the car stalled. It was restarted immediately with no issues and drove on for another mile then the CEL came on and the car lost power - it runs smoothly at idle, but when you press the throttle it coughs and splutters. If I then take my foot back off the pedal, the car the retuns to a normal smooth idle but with the CEL light on. The car was carried home.

Yesterday morning, I found the 2P copnnector and read a troubleshooting code 4 from the ECU. This I matched to a Cranckshaft Position Sensor fault. I then called my local parts supplier who told me there was no such part available on their system.

I started the car from cold - it ran perfectly - I reved it hard and there were no issues - it was like the fault never existed. I took it out for a run locally to see how it went. The engine seemed nosier than usual and was all fine until it again stalled. I restarted it without any problems, drove about half a mile then the fault repeated - CEL light on and no power beyond idle. I parked the car up and strolled home.

First thing this morning, I returned to the car and started it up, drove it home without any problems - the diagnosis is that the fault only occurs when the engine is warm, although I fear that the CKP sensor is part of the distributor which is a very expensive part for a car of this age!

I will attempt to perform the K-test later today, and I may get out and replace the main relay while I'm at it just for good measure.

errrm... HELP! I love my Honda and would love to get that rock solid reliability back!

Replace the distributor housing (genuine Honda only), reusing the original ICM and coil, since CKP sensors are not repairable.

Because of the age of the car, the best solution is to replace the distributor (Honda only) with a new ICM and coil.

Thanks for the prompt reply, that's exactly what I feared :(

By the loks of the distributor its been replaced reasonably recently anyway - I have owned the car for just over a year and have put about 15000 miles on it since purchase. I did a lot of work at the start of the year on the cambelt, and it has recently had a new catalyst fitted to pass its emissions test this year. I took a stack of photo's while I was working on it, the engine looks like this: http://www.rckl.co.uk/civic/Jan08%20035.jpg and the offending part looks like this: http://www.rckl.co.uk/civic/Jan08%20069.jpg

So if I remove the offending part, and wander into my local Honda parts dealer, they will be able to point out what I need to rebuild/replace the dizzy?

Yes, that should do it. The link below may help:

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/cars-trucks/faq-how-troubleshoot-repair-maintain-hondas-46563-4.html#post288473

Top Quality Post! Thank you!

As it's the weekend, there is not much I can do, but Monday morning first thing I'll get what I need, get it fitted and report back.

Thank You for your time and accuracy txgreasemonkey, I would be chasing for ages trying to find the problem otherwise!

Kind Regards

Ouch.

I was quoted £362.49 + VAT for a new distributor at Honda. The main relay is price tagged at £56.51 + VAT. The two together outprices the value of the car!

I decided to shop around and found an alternative (and probably cheap quality) distributor on eBay for £62 complete. The garage was local so I went over and collected it, bolted it on and started it up. Perfect.

I drove the car hard yesterday afternoon, and off to work last night. The fault seems to have cleared totally, and the reliability has returned.

Thank You again for your advice, it just goes to show that shopping around can find better deals, although sub-standard parts may well break again sooner in the future than an original part!