I bought a 95 4 door manual civic a while ago and the exhaust was shot and was loud. I drive a lot of highway miles, and switching roads the car would putter for a few seconds on when shifting down to third gear accelerating up. Happened about 3 times in a week.

The day I went to go get a stock exhaust, that putting sound was often, every time I would accelerate, but not so much keeping a steady speed of 55 or 65. Sounded like it was bogging down.

I fixed the exhaust and I can't hear the puttering as much unless I'm flooring the gas. On a highway going up a hill, it's hard to keep up speed.

When the exhaust was off and I could easily hear the difference, in neutral it puttered like a big muscle car. When before it would smoothly be loud.

And my gas mileage has gone to crap. From mid 400's to low 300 per tank.

I'm sure it can use a tune up, but anything else? Can anyone lead me to a good thread with pics and instructions? I'm learning with this car and enjoying all the work I'm doing myself and just need guidance. Thanks.

 

Misfiring mostly at low rpm and heavy throttle is usually weak sparks. Replace spark plugs. Replace spark wires, especially if aftermarket ones are on there now. You can't tell if they are bad by looking. Inspect or replace distributor cap and rotor. Misfiring at high rpm and heavy throttle could be starving for gas. For that the first thing to do would be to replace the fuel filter.

 

Okay thanks. I bought the car off a 19 yr old kid who did some half *** mods. You're right about after market wires.

If I were to get new NGK (or whatever) what are good specs for the gap?

 

pretty sure you can buy pre gapped spark plugs...i know i do

 

Okay, I know some people like to change the distance of the gap with that gauge. I'm still learning. lol

 

I don't have the Haynes manual in front of me, but I believe the gap should be about 0.044". I would definitely suggest making sure the gap is correct prior to installing new plugs, even if they are "pre-gapped".

+1 on MK's tune up suggestion. Spark is most likely weak or enough fuel is not getting to the combustion chamber.

Let us know what happens.

 

Always check the gap even on pre-gapped spark plugs. It's easy to check and you will avoid a big headache. My pre-gapped .040 was wrong until I changed it to .044. Then all was good.

 

Okay, I only changed the spark plugs for now. First time ever. It's my DD, so I didn't want to get too deep into yet. It drives a hell lot better but the exhaust claps during acceleration.

First, I may have some other problems. The first three spark plugs came out fine. A little oil on the bottom. The fourth one was a hassle. The rubber piece from the cap stem was stuck. I got a pick set and pulled it out and got the spark plug out. But it was drenched in oil. I do have a problem with burning a lot of oil out of the exhaust. Now I'm not saying this is THE problem, but a factor. How can I remedy this?

I will buy new spark plug wires later this week to fix the bad cap and stem to #4.

I read a little bit about the burning oil and read about a PCU valve by the spark plug wires and I will replace that as well.

I don't know much about rings and what not to look into yet,
But I'm still reading through this site gathering information.

 

you can try to slow down the burning of your oil by adding thicker oil..that would help in just saving up oil and not having to refill it over and over again. this way it will last you a little longer till you find the actual problem..you still might want to check your oil levels frequently...just a little tip

 

I live in Iowa. It's getting colder, so I have been adding 10w-30 the last month. I regularly check the oil about twice a week if I'm only doing in town driving. More frequently if I'm driving out if town.

It just maybe me, but I haven't noticed smoke since I changed the plugs. Before, I would be at a red light and smoke would be rolling out of my exhaust at times. I just thought about that. I will keep a closer eye on that the next few days.