I bought my Honda Civic 2003 used (certified pre-owned) last summer and it has been in great condition. Recently when I’ve been driving, generally at lower speeds, I’ll press down on the accelerator and the engine will stall/idle. Sometimes it’s a one off thing, other times it happens multiple times over the course of a mile or so. I took it to the dealership and they couldn’t find anything wrong. I got a second opinion from another mechanic who fixed a problem with the air filter (causing a potential vacuum leakage) but that didn’t fix the problem either.
I am unsure of next steps as are both the mechanic and dealership. Any advice?
Has anyone checked to see if there are any error codes? Is this car a drive by wire by any chance?Both mechanics who have looked at the car did not find any error codes and they aren’t sure what to do next. I’m not sure what “drive by wire” means… My father suggested that I try “dry gas” to see if there is water in the engine which is keeping it from combusting. Thoughts?
Dry gas will do nothing but a placebo effect. Your check engine light would illuminate if combustion was poor (likely a misfire code).
This exact thing is happening to me, also on my 2003 Honda Civic. Please let me know if you find the answer! I went to a very reliable mechanic, who also can’t figure it out. He drove my car around and experienced the same problem, with the diagnostic computer hooked up, but even when the car stalled, it gave zero indication of what the problem was. They cleaned the throttle body, but that didn’t solve it. He is stumped, and can’t give me any suggestions of what to do next. Hope someone can help!
I tried the dry gas today. The car was fine for most of the day but the problem came back. This time when I first started the car the battery and oil light came on briefly and then turned off. Someone suggested looking into the fuel filter and the fuel ignition tube (or something along those lines). Does your car stall only at low speeds or at high speeds as well? I’m concerned to take my car out on the highway lest something bad happen.
It only happens to mine at lower speeds (about 35 to 40 mph or less), so it has only happened to me when driving locally. I have taken a road trip without a problem, but it made me very nervous and I can’t recommend it. Finally today, for the first time, one of the indicator lights came on (after doing this almost stalling thing repeatedly), so I’m headed back to my mechanic tomorrow, hoping the indicator light will help tell him what the problem is. I’ve decided it wasn’t bad gas, since I’ve gone through several tanks since this started. I’ll let you know what my mechanic says. Fingers crossed…
Glad to hear the indicator light finally went on. If you can keep me posted that would be amazing! Hope they can find a solution. I am going to take mine into the shop again Monday or Tuesday and ask that they keep it until they can find a solution.
Just heard from my mechanic…the indicator light showed that my front oxygen sensor is bad. He said it’s rare that this would have such an impact on how the car runs, but very well could be the problem because what that would do is tell the engine that it’s getting too much fuel, so it would cut back on the amount of fuel getting to the engine. Which is exactly what it feels like as I’m driving. So he’s going to replace that ($250 parts and labor), and hopefully that will do the job! I’ll let you know for sure if it does once I’ve driven it a bit.
People, including mechanics, forget the simple things. Change the fuel filter. It’s easy, and you will know that such a cheap thing DIDN’T cause the problem, then.
Also, here are some ideas: www.tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html Then, click on the car’s symptom.
There is a DTC (Diagnostic Trouble Code) for the oxygen sensor circuit? It may be a bad oxygen sensor, or it may not be. Changing the oxygen sensor may “fix” the problem temporarily, or not. What about the engine problems which CAUSED the oxygen sensor to go bad? Uncover them, and fix them, or not?