D15Z6 - Civic EK3 stock, random power loss under acceleration

LucasTheShep

New Member
Good evening fellas,
New member here but I've been following your forums for a while.

Car in question:
  • Honda Civic EK3 1.5 iLS from 1997
  • D15Z6 (vtec-e of sorts) and it's EDM (so you americans don't come shouting that engine doesn't exist like I've read everywhere :P )
  • Completely stock
  • 192.000km (around 120k miles) on the clock
So here's my Civic's problem:
About a month ago I had a problem with my main relay where it would randomly cut-off and I'd loose ECU and Fuel pump powa (not weather related as it would do this when hot and when cold, and no stored CEL code, the CEL would simply turn on when the ECU got power again like it normally does), when attempting to crank after this the main relay would just simply click repetitively so I had to wait a while before being able to crank again. After a few days I got a new OEM Main Relay (quite a price for two relays, three diodes and a resistor...) and the problem was gone.
A few hours after I got that fixed another problem showed up. Sometimes when accelerating (uphill, out of an intersection/roundabout, etc.) (I'd say between 20 to 60% throttle) I feel a huge power loss, the tachometer bounces up and down (within a 2k RPM interval from where it was standing before harder acceleration) and the car bogs, then jumps and then bogs again until it either stops rolling (momentum isn't enough sometimes) or gets going again. The work around is to let go of the throttle and apply throttle right after letting it go or combining this with a downshift, this usually stops the car from hesitating and gets it going again.

A couple of details:
  • This happens both with the engine cold (30 seconds after I get in it in the morning) or with it hot (after driving for 10-15 minutes).
  • It doesn't necessarily happen only under acceleration at low speeds, sometimes it happens while cruising at 100km/h (60 mph), I can feel a gradual loss of power (maintaining the same throttle) until I need to apply more throttle to compensate, this results in the symptoms I described above. I can usually prevent this by resetting the throttle before I even try to accelerate.
  • Spark plugs (NGK), fuel filter and oil change done in the last 8.000km (5k miles?)
  • Happens with fuel tank either "empty" or full (or half for all that matters)
  • Sometimes it's more violent if I keep insisting I need more throttle, the car will shake when the motor "jumps" (seems like there's a stroke or two of power when it jumps)
  • The TPS and MAP seem fine to me as I tested it when I had my main relay problem (TPS showing 0.5v idle and 4.5v WOT with smooth progression and I can't recall the MAP sensor values, but they seemed within spec)
  • There's no apparent problem beyond 4k RPM, it's a smooth sail till redline.
Unfortunately I can't just throw parts at it since buying Honda parts in Portugal requires me to buy them internationally, which takes time to arrive here and I don't have much spare cash as I just gave 150€ for a mother-fluffing relay.

Can you help me with this? Both distributor (possibly Coil/Igniter) and fuel pump/filter seem like a place to look, but I've only been driving for two years and had this Ek3 with me since April so I think a lot of you have way more experience with this than me!

Thanks in advance <3 and a virtual potato for the long post, figured a lot of details is better than none!
 
Last edited:

MACE

New Member
I would start at the fuel pressure regulator
 


LucasTheShep

New Member
I've checked the fuel regulator before when my car was running a little rich, the only test I found online was to see if the regulator would leak past the diaphragm into the intake but it was dry on the vacuum hose side.
Ended up replacing the O2 sensor as it was reading a steady value after being warmed up.
 


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