Hey all im a stand still with this problem and was hoping for some suggestions. I just bought this 95 Civic about 5 weeks ago for 1k and it ran like a champ up until about a week ago.

The problem I was having was a bad fuel injector and the mechanic that fixed it said on his test drive the distributor crapped out so that was another $200. On top of those two things the timing was off which I guess is true cause now the valves dont tick like they did. So after this was all said and done it cost me $500 which sucks cause ive been laid off this whole month.

The mechanic is out of town for the holidays and the car now has another prob which when he gets back I plan on taking back in but thats not for afew weeks.
The problem is when I first start the car it wants to run really rough like a missfire. If its in park just idling the rpms will bounce around like drop to 500 act like its gonna stall then bounce back up to around 1200 and when im driving its like im feathering the gas pedal and will even stall out if say im backing out of the driveway. Weird thing is itll only do this for the first 3 or 4 minutes its running then it runs great. Whether its hot or cold. If I drive 20 miles, pull over, shut it off, and start it right back up itll do the same thing.

Ive changed out the spark plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter, pcv valve, distributor cap, and the rotor. All on top of what the guy had already done. My compression is excellent the guy said and I have no CEL so im confused.
I just cant afford to take it to this guy and have him tell me another $200 part has gone bad so if anyone can give me any advice my wallet and I will be very grateful.

 

Does your CEL work at all? It should light up for the bulb test when you turn the key on but don't try to start. Rather common to find the bulb removed on a used car.

 

Now that you mention it no it doesnt come on. Guess first step would be to replace that bulb. Which means I have to pull the cluster right? With my luck it was removed cause it has 8 billion codes. Thanks for the quick response.

 

Okay I pulled the cluster and sure enough the cel was gone. So I put a new bulb in and checked to make sure it worked by turning the key to the run position and it works.
Even with it running like complete **** the light will not come on. I drove it for about 10 miles and shut the car off about a dozen times. I did the 2 pin connector trick just for the hell of it and its not kicking me any codes. Guess cause its a 95 I have to do it with the car running or itll lose the code. So now I am back to square one which is being stumped.

One thing I did find weird is when I disconnect the map sensor the cel will come right on and give me the 3 short blink code but the engine doesn't change its tune at all. Guess maybe Hondas aren't as dependent on their map sensors as American cars? Because whenever I would disconnect a map sensor from a gm it would either sputter real bad or cut off completely but my civic is just like eh I dont need that.

 

Ok finally got this thing to kick me a code.
Was driving down the road and my car had a major loss in power like I hit the brakes. The CEL kicked right on so I pulled over and did the check.
It was 2 long blips followed by the gap then seven short blips. So two codes 20 and 7
20-Electronic load detector
7-The tps

The 7 code is straight forward for me but the 20 code I dont understand. Is that telling me there was a short? And if thats the case cant that also cause the code 7 to be kicked because im sure a short can have all sorts of crazy effects on the system. Any ideas as to what I should look at first? I was gonna start by cleaning my connections wherever I can and maybe pick up a tps from the junkyard.

 

Code 20 is often falsely triggered when there's really nothing wrong.

Check TPS with a voltmeter. Connect voltmeter between center wire and ground with the sensor still plugged in. Turn key on but don't start engine. Voltage should vary from 0.5 to 4.5 smoothly as you move the throttle from closed to wide open.

 

Thanks for the advice and quick response man. Ill do that first thing tomorrow.