hesitation and stumble

blackdemon88

New Member
Hi again guys. I hope someone can give me an idea on what could be causing a problem on my 1989 Civic DX 3 door hatchback 1.5liter. When I drive it and come to a stop sign and it idles it will just suddenly start stumbling and hesitating like it wants to die. Sometime it clears up and other times it don't. Could that be a fuel relay problem?? Everything else has been replaced. Fuel filter(are there 2?) plugs, wires, Dist, fuel injectors. I can not figure it out!! Thanks for any help you can give me!!
 
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blackdemon88

New Member
Well since no one has an answer for my question I will give a sort of update on what is going on now. I bought a new Distributor and installed it and it still had the miss and hesitation at idle. However the Dist. I got was making alot of noise inside like it had a bad bearing. So I will have to send that one back and wait to get a new one. All this time working on it my timing belt broke!! Being that it is a 1989 "interference" engine I figured the engine was going to need new valves amongst other things. But my mechanic took it apart, replaced the belt and water pump, and put it back together and it started right up!! Still hoping someone can give me some advise on why the engine misses at idle. It would be greatly appreciated!
 


blackdemon88

New Member
Thank you for replying lowslowb5. I appreciate it! Yes I have changed EVERYTHING but the fuel pump! I tried checking for vacuum leaks with carb cleaner and the one thing I ran into is if I sprayed the line that goes from the Idle control valve to the manifold the engine almost dies. This one hose has antifreeze that goes threw it. But every time I spray that particular hose the car almost dies. Does that make sense?? Could that be the reason it is hesitating at idle?
 


blackdemon88

New Member
I hope I am posting in the correct spot. I haven't been getting any responses for my problem except from one person which I do appreciate! I would like to add that I just took my IACV off and cleaned it with carb cleaner real good. When I put it on the car it wouldn't idle at all. All it does now is start and shut off unless I hold the throttle down a little. I plugged it in and hooked everything up correctly. When I did get it to stay running at a real low idle and I went to unplug it, it immediately died. Any ideas anyone? If I am posting in the wrong place please let me know so I can correct it. Thank you!
 

lethal6

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You aren't getting responses because forums as a medium are dying out, even the once very busy titans are slowing down substantially. I suggest getting a shop manual, google, and any other resource you can find for help instead of sitting in waiting for a response on a forum. If all fails, take it to a shop. It's what they are there for.

Could be a bad IACV or a bad ECU. Especially if cleaning it made it worse. Also could be dirty/bad FITV or air in the cooling system (found during a very simple google search of the problem). There are more trouble shooting tips out there all over the net. Just have to do some research. I would recommend research and troubleshooting instead of throwing parts at it. As you are finding out, it gets expensive and isn't the best way to figure out what it wrong.
 

blackdemon88

New Member
Well thank you for the advise. I have been doing searches on the internet about the problems I'm having. There just isn't a whole lot of info on these older civics. I have done all those things like bleeding the system and I have found those on the internet as you have said with a very easy search on google. Do I even have a FITV on a 1989 civic? I have done some searches on that and really haven't found anything saying if I do or don't. If I could ask you one more thing is there something I can do about my Idle screw on my throttle body. When I bought the car I noticed it was bent a little and if I tried to turn it it wouldn't move. Almost as if it was seized up in the hole. I will be spraying it with penetrating fluid but I don't think that will help. Thanks again for your help and advise!
 

91 LX

New Member
IACV is a good possibility, along w/a vacuum leak which it appears you have checked. Odd for an ECU to do this but I have seen it happen. You may also have a restriction in either the intake or exhaust which could cause this. How many miles ya got on this?
 


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