My 94 Honda Civic is sputtering. Acceleration is weak and the sputtering causes a bit of a jerky ride. The sputtering happens inconsistently at all different speeds including idling. The temp gauge just shot up close to the red -- don't know if this is a different problem or not. I replaced the distributor recently, could this be related? Thanks....
Dunno - but the distributor was the first thing that came into my mind. If you check the timing I think you will see it jumping like a hop toad (technical description). I think that distributor has failed. Mike
======================= Fill the reservoir to the MAX line and check each morning before leaving. No tap water . . . Your engine needs to be FULL of coolant, since any air can throw off the computer when sensors aren't fully emmersed. 'Curly'
My aftermarket distributor is still good. The problem was simple: new plugs and wires. Turns out I was running on 3-1/2 cylinders, amazingly.
Years ago I had a Hyundai Excel. I had some routine maintenance, including a tune-up, done right before a two-day drive from Massachusetts to Florida. On the morning of the second day it was running roughly and I couldn't get it past 70 MPH on the highway. At my first stop it kept threatening to stall, so I popped the hood in the hope that it would be something obvious and easy to repair. It was: one of the plug wires had come off the plug and was dangling free. I'd been running on three cylinders. Put it back on and problem solved. I've also had a Dodge van that ran for months on five of six cylinders; finally got around to changing the plugs and wires, and one wire had disintegrated completely inside the plug boot. Modern cars, even relatively crappy ones, are impressively resilient. -- Michael Wojcik That's gotta be one of the principles behind reality. Accepting things that are hard to comprehend, and leaving them that way. And bleeding. Shooting and bleeding. -- Haruki Murakami (trans Philip Gabriel)
