- Nov 18, 2004
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I posted this a long time ago, but the problem went away, and now it is back. Car in question is a 2001 Honda Civic EX Coupe with 140k miles on it.
First problem I ran into with this car was when the bottom half of the catalytic converter heat shield rusted and fell off one day. No big deal but the top half would rattle ungodly loud at about 2000-2500 rpms. One day when I was getting my oil changed I asked if they could just take it off. They did, no big deal. Fast forward a couple of weeks and the CEL pops on. I take it back to the oil change station and ask them to code it. Turns out the O2 sensor had been unplugged. CEL goes out, keep driving the car.
After a while the car starts acting up. On cold start, the engine will start just fine. It will sit for about 30 seconds at idle (9k-1.2k rpms) and then the problem begins. The rpms will drop low, sometimes hitting maybe 100 or 50 and the car feels like it's shaking itself apart. As soon as I tap on the gas, the RPMs will sky rocket up to 2-3k rpm before settling back at idle (1k). Then it happens all over again. Drop down to low rpms, sit there for 5-10 seconds, pop up to 2k-3k rpms. If I hit the gas when the rpms drop, it'll pop out of its funk, idle, then repeate the same process.
It will repeat this cycle anywhere from 6-12 times before it runs perfectly fine. 10-12 times if it does it on its own, 5-7 times if I'm sitting on the gas revving it whenever the RPMs drop. After the engine warms up there isn't a problem and it doesn't do it if it's been turned on in the last 6 hours or so. The gas mileage has also been terrible, getting 28-31 gallons with very conservative use of the gas pedal. I should be getting 35 or so.
Any ideas? I have my bike which I use for my DD but I drive the civic every weekend for errands.
First problem I ran into with this car was when the bottom half of the catalytic converter heat shield rusted and fell off one day. No big deal but the top half would rattle ungodly loud at about 2000-2500 rpms. One day when I was getting my oil changed I asked if they could just take it off. They did, no big deal. Fast forward a couple of weeks and the CEL pops on. I take it back to the oil change station and ask them to code it. Turns out the O2 sensor had been unplugged. CEL goes out, keep driving the car.
After a while the car starts acting up. On cold start, the engine will start just fine. It will sit for about 30 seconds at idle (9k-1.2k rpms) and then the problem begins. The rpms will drop low, sometimes hitting maybe 100 or 50 and the car feels like it's shaking itself apart. As soon as I tap on the gas, the RPMs will sky rocket up to 2-3k rpm before settling back at idle (1k). Then it happens all over again. Drop down to low rpms, sit there for 5-10 seconds, pop up to 2k-3k rpms. If I hit the gas when the rpms drop, it'll pop out of its funk, idle, then repeate the same process.
It will repeat this cycle anywhere from 6-12 times before it runs perfectly fine. 10-12 times if it does it on its own, 5-7 times if I'm sitting on the gas revving it whenever the RPMs drop. After the engine warms up there isn't a problem and it doesn't do it if it's been turned on in the last 6 hours or so. The gas mileage has also been terrible, getting 28-31 gallons with very conservative use of the gas pedal. I should be getting 35 or so.
Any ideas? I have my bike which I use for my DD but I drive the civic every weekend for errands.
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