1994 Honda Civic
 

A friend of mine has a 94 Honda Civic EX coupe., with a 4 cylinder engine. I have been enlisted to help fix it. It has always ran well (its a Honda Civic, they always last forever) but as of last night, all of a sudden, the weirdest thing wil happen. When you try and start it, it will start for about half a second and then turn itself off. Normally, when an engine wont turn over, it either just relay clicks, and wont being to crank, or it will crank without catching. However, this engine catches and starts, but will not continue to run. It doenst stall out either, it just turns off. What could this be? I pulled the spark plug wires, and it looks like the spark plug need replacing, and I disconnected the battery, but now it starts allright. If this should happen again, where should I look? Everything else looks ok, nothing is cracked, disconnected or broken. Also, does the civic ECU "learn" like our SVX ones do? Because now its idling pretty high, and I told her it would re-learn what sped to idle at.

The solution will take several large guys, but should go fairly easy. You will need to start by opening the drivers door.

Once the door is open remove drivers hands from the stering wheel, some times previous installer over torques the attachments, so be prepared to to use a breaker bar if the driver is really attached.

Next, with one guy in the back seat and one in the passanger seat remove driver from car, carefully transport to waiting impreza and reinstall. Be sure to use loctite and you may need to temporarily tape the hands in place due to upgrade resistance.

Have a nice day :p

How many miles are on it?

I'd start with the cheap solutions and go from there. Plugs and wires are a good start, then I'd replace the fuel filter and gas cap. If the car only runs for a second or so after startup, it's probably either fuel or spark.

LMFAO!!!!
She actually wants to replace it with a Dodge Durango, and is saving up for that very trade as we speak.

Good.TheCivicIsGarbage.IDontKnowHowThe****TheyGot
SuchAReputationForBeing"Reliable"
EveryOneISeeisEitherBrokenOrHas"Cool"Stuff3MDouble SidedTapedToIt
MySisterSpentLike5kInMatinenceForThe6YearsSheHadIt ....AndDamnedIfIKnowHowToFixIt.
IMeanComeOn...TheyDidntEvenPutTheMotorInTheRightDi rection...

may sound crazy... but, check the coolant. ;)

Never answered the milage question either....Hondas are notorious for a timing belt every 100k miles.....but otherwise was beautifully reliable while I had it.

Sounds like very weak fuel pressure. Either fuel filter, fuel pump, or the regulator is controled by It's just Eric's keyboard.

Come on Eric, you can get a used keyboard for $5 if you have a used PC store near you.

The problem with it shutting off sounds like the ignition switch to me... my friend's '95 Civic had this problem about a month ago. You'll need to try and pull one from a junked Civic since any shop will want to replace the tumblers and make you have new keys made up. This will cost $300-$400 instead of the a few bucks for the switch module at a junkyard.

How high does it idle... and does it stay high for more than a couple minutes?