I have a 2012 Honda Civic DX, manual transmission. When I try to accelerate fast after shifting into second gear, the car bucks very violently. I have already ran a couple of bottles of fuel injector cleaner through the system with no change. How do I fix this? It doesn’t buck when accelerating fast after shifting into 3rd-5th gear. If I slowly release the clutch while slowly accelerating, it doesn’t jerk.
Is the check engine light on? If it isn’t on I’d suggest the clutch is slipping just a little bit as if it has been contaminated with oil.
Although the clutch seems more likely to me, I’d say there’s also the possibility that your fuel pump is starting to fail, as this situation is probably where you need the maximum fuel delivery. You could rule that out easily by testing the fuel pressure.
There might be an OBD2 code stored even if the problem hasn’t caused the Check Engine light to come on. That could provide a clue.
Sounds like clutch chatter to me, maybe bring your rpms up a little more before dumping the clutch going into 2nd…
Inspect the air intake tube between the air cleaner and throttle body for cracks/air leaks.
What happens if you feather the clutch enough to accelerate (slowly) from a stop in 4th or 5th gear? If the clutch doesn’t feel like it is slipping then, I’d guess you have some sort of misfire or fuel/air-delivery problem.
Does the engine ever completely shut off for no apparent reason, and you have to wait before it will start again? Suggest to post the diagnostic codes if there are any.
fyi, I had a problem similar to this on my 90’s Corolla one time, turned out to be a combination of a problem with the idle air control gadget and the throttle position sensor.
No, the check engine light is not on.
Sure but again, did you check for Codes?
Sometimes a failing injector/fuel delivery system may run fine under normal conditions but “fail” just enough to cause your problem under quick, hard driving without triggering the check engine light.
This sounds more like a clutch problem to me.
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Maybe yes and I have no doubt that it’s possible but may I point out that it’s a whole lot easier and cheaper to evaluate the injectors and their fuction and spray pattern than it is to pull the transmission to look at the clutch?
There are tests you can run to help determine if it’s a clutch or not - WITHOUT pulling tranny. They would be far easier than pulling the injectors.