Hey Guys, Ok so i recently bought a 95 Civic DX with a stock D15B7. The car is in immaculate condition from inside out. The engine is super clean with the exception of one big problem:

While driving the car I often place it in neutral and roll down a hill or what have you, im sure many people do. As I slow down the car shuts off and basically just rolls to a stop. While its turned off I can jump-start the car by putting it in gear and hitting the gas pedal, pretty much a classic rolling start. That is when the check engine light comes on. First thought was fuel injectors and I got them cleaned yet still the same issue. I just had a new timing belt and water pump installed as the car is at 94k. The previous owner had just done a tune-up which included a new distributor and spark-plugs. What should I check first? Distributor? I can't check the ECU for the engine light cuz it is an OBD1 and not an OBD2.

Thanks in advance!!

 

Does it also stall out in neutral with the car stopped?

You can read OBD1 codes by using a jumper wire to put the ECU in test mode, it will blink out the code numbers on the CEL.

Rolling down hills in neutral is not recommended (it's even technically against the law in many places). When you roll down a hill in gear, the ECU will cut off the fuel injectors completely so you aren't burning any gas. If it's in neutral the engine must burn gas to keep running.

 

Yes the car also turns off when stopped at a red light and in neutral. I am not talking about going "downHill" particularly, but just in general. I've owned a couple of manuals and everyone i know that has and we were under the impression that when you put the car in neutral the clutch and the pistons are not engaged and the car is just rolling so how would it burn more gas? I've driven my own civic like that for 220,000 miles without any turn offs or any other sort of issues.

 

^because its using gas to keep it idleing.
and when your rolling downhill, (if your not pushing the gas pedal) the ecu sees that there is no air coming in and cuts off the fuel.
or at least thats my understanding on it..

 

Fundamentally then, your car does not idle. The first thing to check there is the Idle Air Control Valve, which is located on the back of the intake manifold near the throttle body. It has a 2 wire plug and two water hoses. First check that the plug is plugged in. If that's OK it could have dirt in it. Unbolt from the intake manifold (no need to remove water hoses) and clean out the passage in it with carb cleaner. Also clean the holes in the manifold.