[GerryS]

My car's a 1994 Honda Civic LX and has not had any major work done on it other then having my distributor replaced last Summer. It has 160,000 miles on it and has always run fine. Since the engine light has come on my car has began to stutter while waiting at a stop light and while I'm parking.

I took it into a shop and they did a diagnostics test and received a CYP Sensor Error code. He wasn't too sure what to check out without spending some time with the car so he replaced my 02 sensor after sensing a rich smell when the car was running. On a side note, the smell has cleared up after said replacement. He said if the problem persisted then to change the spark plug wires which were still the factory originals. So I did.

While changing the wires I noticed one of them had oil on the bottom, but only one. I then replaced my spark plugs themselves which were due for replacement anyway, and the problem still occurs.

After researching on the web and asking my car savvy relatives and friends, I'm at a fork in the road. Should I take it into a dealer and suffer the labor costs? Is the problem from the oil on my spark plugs related to the stuttering or are they completely different? Should I replace my fuel pump? I'm not a car person at all, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[TxGreaseMonkey]

You need to replace the distributor. There's no way to repair a bad CYP Sensor on Honda distributors. Buy a Honda replacement, not aftermarket. You are lucky you haven't had to do this up to now.

[GerryS]

Well, my distributor was already replaced less than a year ago. Not sure if it was a Honda make or not, but my original has already been replaced.