Man, I will be the first and not the last to tell you the following: COMMON PROBLEM!!!

I went through everything trying to fix my car from the hard starts and stalling. I thought it was the ideling....wrong. As it turns out, my ideling is too high! Been adjusted too many times in the past and wasn't the problem.

It "might" be your carb...most likely not. Basically it comes down to two likely problems: fuel and/or heat. For 1gen civics (esp. CVCCs) head gaskets leaks are VERY common. This creates excess heat and can cause water to mix with your fuel and oil, messing everything up! Then your radiator doesn't work correctly and then you have trouble starting the car after moderate driving. As the car heats up, water gets pumped through it to cool it off. Then when you try to start it, you have water mixed in and has trouble cranking. When you finally get it started, the heavy gas can cause even more water/fuel problems.

I gave my car a huge tune-up. Then my fuel pump went out. I replaced it last week and was still having problems. Then Kurt said my problem was between my fuel tank and my pump...and sure enough, the way the fuel line was going into the fuel filter caused a kink...enough to throw of the fuel balance of the car. I fixed that and have had MUCH better sucess. However, I now know that I also need to change my rods and pins in my distributor. When you have fuel, water, heating, and starting problems, it all adds up to a lot of build up, residue, and oxygenation throughout the ignition system. I am pretty sure the constant cranking has fried my rods and pins.

So, first advice is to look elsewhere first. Check the fuel filter and pump, see if there are any kinks, use a fuel cleaner additive just for assurance, check all the fuel lines going into the carb, check the hoses around the radiator for leaks and cracks. Then, if all looks good, then adjust the carb after giving the car a nice tuneup. A good tuneup on the car can be done for under $100 and could include new wires, plugs, ignition coil, distributer cap (mine had corrosion everywhere inside it), fuel filter, ect.

By jms (66.242.1.74) on Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - 05:16 pm:

How do you adjst the carb anyway?

By jms (66.242.1.74) on Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - 05:16 pm:

Prob: car starts (hard though) & runs, revs very high only, quits if you let off gas pedal.

Tried two carbs, tried adjusting them.

So what else could cause this?