Ok, so... my car has a lot of symptoms and I'm not sure if they're all related or not. Here goes:

1. First of all, when started cold and for the first 10-15 minutes that the car is running, the revs will jump and drop and the lights (both headlights and the dash lights) will dim and brighten. When the revs jump the lights dim, and when the revs drop the lights brighten. As you can imagine, this is quite annoying when driving at night. It also creates a noticeable loss of power when the revs drop/lights brighten.

2. Sometimes, when the revs drop and the lights brighten, the temperature gauge will climb even though the car is clearly not overheating. As soon as the revs jump back up and the lights dim, the gauge drops (instantly) back to normal.

3. When the lights brighten/revs drop, the radio will sometimes cut out with a sudden pop, and then come back in when the lights dim/revs jump.

4. At idle and low speeds, there is a noticeable growling sort of noise coming from the engine/exhaust, particularly while the engine is in its lights bright/revs low part of the cycle.

5. Over the last six months I've had two batteries die, including a brand new one I got to replace the first one that died. Both followed the same pattern--slowly losing oomph when starting the car until they were just dead. I've also replaced two distributors over the last two years.

As I've said, the majority of these issues disappear after the car has been running for 10-15 minutes. It seems clear that there's some kind of voltage regulation issue going on. I've been told it might be a hard-to-track-down grounding issue, or it might be the ECM/ECU, or it might be a bad alternator (though the alternator, when I had it tested about three months ago, checked out ok).

Anyone got an opinion?

i was thinking alternator, but you already said you checked that...

what kind of power are you drawing from the car? got a big stereo or anything?

Well, the stereo is fairly nice, but it hasn't changed since I bought the car three years ago, and the problem has only been occurring in the last year.

might be completly wrong, but tryed a new battery? :S would be a cheap start to the way forward i aint no mechanic though so i dont know :P

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

5. Over the last six months I've had two batteries die, including a brand new one I got to replace the first one that died. Both followed the same pattern--slowly losing oomph when starting the car until they were just dead. I've also replaced two distributors over the last two years.

^^^

Sounds to me like you could have a auxiliary air valve problem, aswell as a alternator problem.

never read that bit of the post was in a world of my own xD i do appologise :P well i cant think of anything though after reading the post fully and taking it all in leave it to the car geeks

Quote from DeadWolfBones :

Ok, so... my car has a lot of symptoms and I'm not sure if they're all related or not. Here goes:

1. First of all, when started cold and for the first 10-15 minutes that the car is running, the revs will jump and drop and the lights (both headlights and the dash lights) will dim and brighten. When the revs jump the lights dim, and when the revs drop the lights brighten. As you can imagine, this is quite annoying when driving at night. It also creates a noticeable loss of power when the revs drop/lights brighten.

2. Sometimes, when the revs drop and the lights brighten, the temperature gauge will climb even though the car is clearly not overheating. As soon as the revs jump back up and the lights dim, the gauge drops (instantly) back to normal.

3. When the lights brighten/revs drop, the radio will sometimes cut out with a sudden pop, and then come back in when the lights dim/revs jump.

4. At idle and low speeds, there is a noticeable growling sort of noise coming from the engine/exhaust, particularly while the engine is in its lights bright/revs low part of the cycle.

5. Over the last six months I've had two batteries die, including a brand new one I got to replace the first one that died. Both followed the same pattern--slowly losing oomph when starting the car until they were just dead. I've also replaced two distributors over the last two years.

As I've said, the majority of these issues disappear after the car has been running for 10-15 minutes. It seems clear that there's some kind of voltage regulation issue going on. I've been told it might be a hard-to-track-down grounding issue, or it might be the ECM/ECU, or it might be a bad alternator (though the alternator, when I had it tested about three months ago, checked out ok).

Anyone got an opinion?

1.3 carb ???

if so, the batterys knackered, if not try the alternator, if not, just buy a new lump.

All those symptoms point to an alternator problem, i would just try another alternator from a scappy/junkyard and see if it cures it, as with it being a 1991 car there will be a few of these laid up in scrap places i guess, well there is over here anyway, plus it will be well cheaper than a brand new part, which for something like that over here would cost about £100 ($180 ish), whereas a 2nd hand one from a scrapyard, about £20 ($35 ish)

A new air filter can't hurt either, as a dirty/old one will cause a car to 'choke up' especially when the engine is cold.

Thanks, guys. I guess I'll go get the alternator tested again.

just put a voltmeter on the battery and look how much the voltage drops or spikes when the symptoms occur
if you notice anything change the alternators voltage regulation (shouldnt be hard or expensive at all) first

Yes check the alternator. Should be around 14.5 V.

Does this still happen if you hold the revs at say 1200rpm or anywhere above idle?.....

Tho if its chewing thru batteries then its probably the alternator thats screwed.... Either that or u have a dodgy short circuit somewhere.....

gettin a new engine would be cheaper, 1.5 carb bolts straight to the gb and is a slight power increase ( providing you have no Mot, nct or state safety checks as this will raise your insurance/tax a little bit ) and old honda's are two to a penny ( once their none vtec tho thats a year later... or is that the sir crap ? )

Install a huge rear wing. It won't fix your problem, but at least you'll fit in with all the other '91 Civics out there.

Have you looked at the coil/coil packs? They can be a drain on everything else when they start to go wrong, find a manual and check the resistances.

Other than that you may well have a mouse in the wiring type problem, the Lada disgraced itself and had to be towed back from Goodwood after the ignition circuit just stopped working. We finally tracked the issue down to a wire under the (horrible single piece) dashboard and with the wiring diagram in the manual bearing no resemblence to the car called the AA, who concluded the same thing and also didn't fancy tackling the dash in a field at night.

Apparantely three of the most common issues they have are animals chewing wiring (they're particuarly attracted to yellow wiring for some reason), dodgey connections (on new cars they often aren't pressed together fully on older cars damaged pins) and the old favourite intermittent earthing (probably your issue).

Quote from theirishnoob :

1.3 carb ???

if so, the batterys knackered, if not try the alternator, if not, just buy a new lump.

You must work for Kwik fit... :doh:

Quote from ajp71 :

yadda yadda yadda

no, its the most common issue for these series of civics, its the First thing you check... but no, you don't Ever check the most common issue first.

besides i buy and sell these, aerodecks and accords for 100-200 quid a piece, everyone must do their part to wipe out hondas.

Quote from Danke :

Install a huge rear wing. It won't fix your problem, but at least you'll fit in with all the other '91 Civics out there.

Around here, adults buy Hondas, not the kids. The reason kids don't buy them and rice them up is because either adults trade them every 2 years and a 2 year old used Honda is too expensive for kids, or adults usually just buy them and keep them for 15-20 years until their life has run out at 200k.

150-200k cars around here are completely falling apart from rust. Tis why we don't have good cheap cars like most of you are tossing up on the forum here. A "good" cheap car is anywhere from $10k and up because they need to be less than 10 years old. Not exactly cheap.

Quote from mrodgers :

150-200k cars around here are completely falling apart from rust.

My fathers' Volvo 850 TDi lasted ~380K.

(kilometers, not miles)

Quote from Shadowww :

My fathers' Volvo 850 TDi lasted ~380K.

(kilometers, not miles)

I have a feeling he's saying it's due to the particular weather conditions in his area.

check your grounds

Definitely sounds electrical (that narrows it down...) One of the possibilities could be a dodgy connection.

On my old MR2 which had tons of stupid gran turismo type stuff done to it that makes the car faster and louder but infinitely less reliable and very expensive to maintain and worthless to resell, it went through a phase where when I turned the car on half the electronics - mostly accessories - including the boost controller would simply not power up for a while, then they'd start coming on at random until the car fully warmed up.

Eventually that got tracked down to a ground wire connection where some of the aftermarket electronics had been spliced in by the previous owner that had become loose. When the car was cold, the wires wouldn't touch. As the wires warmed up as the car warmed up they'd expand just that extra bazillionth of a millimeter to start contacting and provide current.

Quote from Osco :

check your grounds

+1
Should replace all ground straps, CHeck the condition of the ECU ground wire at the thermostat housing. Make sure the engine ground strap is connected
between valve cover and rad support?


http://www.clubcivic.com/board ... php?p=2702492#post2702492

scroll through this forum for pics to help you find your ground straps(wires)
I know it isnt your car but ground straps should be similar

Thanks again, guys!