I offered to help a friend fix his '97 honda civic and after an afternoon of looking at it, I'm no closer to a solution than I was before. I've never worked on a honda before but was hoping someone could give me a little help.

Problem --> engine sounds fine unless the car is moving and your foot is on the gas peddle. Then you can hear the car knocking... it gets worse the faster you go/higher the engine revs. However if you're sitting still you can rev the engine all the way up and everything sounds fine. It only knocks when in motion, and it's only noticeable at higher rpms. Not to mention it's slowly getting worse as the weeks go by. I want to say timing problems... but the timing issues I've had to deal with before aren't quite as inconsistent as this.

Any help or advice would be great. This is the first honda I've looked at so pardon my ignorance.

Thanks a lot I appreciate it!

I don't have much Honda experience either but try to help some from general knowledge. I wonder if the knock sensor is bad and the ECM advances the timing too much resulting in knocking when under load. If you can find it, try disconnecting the knock sensor. Disconnecting any of the sensors should throw the ECM into open loop where it falls back on default settings. If that stops the knocking, you know that at least one of the sensors is bad. A bad sensor will not throw a code if its readings are in range, even if wrong. Some of these problems are very hard to solve unless you get a readout of the sensor readings, not just the error codes.

Ok.. when I Turn My Car On.. it Immediately Is Already Revving At 3500 Rpm.. and It'll Redline If I Don't Turn It Off.. but If I Rev It... it Sometimes Will Drop To 2000... but Then Will Rattle. Also.. it Won't Let Me Put It Into Gear Sometimes.. and Im Not Sure If It's the Throttle Body Or Not.. help?

Wouldn't hurt to hit it with some carb and choke cleaner, could be sticking

Wouldn't hurt knowing what car you're having.

Did you check your error codes? When did it start happening? Give us more information on how it started happening.

OK...

Car: 1990 honda civic 4dr lx

1. I bought carb, choke and throttle body cleaner.. and it didn't really work
2. the car turns on OK.. it still idles and 2500.. but doesn't go anymore unless I step on the gas
3. there is an electrical problem and I don't know what it is and I have checked my main relay.. all my fuses.. and my ecu says that everything is fine.. which obviously its not because if I open my right side door.. the stereo dies.. and id greatly appreciate any help

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Originally Posted by sean7457

i offered to help a friend fix his '97 honda civic and after an afternoon of looking at it, i'm no closer to a solution than i was before. i've never worked on a honda before but was hoping someone could give me a little help.

problem --> engine sounds fine unless the car is moving and your foot is on the gas peddle. then you can hear the car knocking...it gets worse the faster you go/higher the engine revs. however if you're sitting still you can rev the engine all the way up and everything sounds fine. it only knocks when in motion, and it's only noticeable at higher rpms. not to mention it's slowly getting worse as the weeks go by. i want to say timing problems...but the timing issues i've had to deal with before aren't quite as inconsistant as this.

any help or advice would be great. this is the first honda i've looked at so pardon my ignorance.

thanks a lot i appreciate it!

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are 100% its coming from the motor? Sounds like transmission to me is the car auto or manual ? Also it can't be knock sensor because sohc civic's don't have them but if you can rev it in park and there's no knock the motor is not knocking I would think maybe input shaft /flywheel/torque converter