Rough running ITC 85 Civic hatch .

[trobbins]

My newly obtained 1985 ITC Honda Civic has a problem .

Symptoms ,
Starts hard and pops untill warmed up . Then idles ok .
Won't rev past 6000 RPM and won't rev past 3500 without popping and backfiring .
Stalls and won't start up again .
Fuel pressure gauge says there is between 6 and 7 psi after fuel pressure regulator .
Fuel level window shows on carb shows good .
I'll be checking fuel filter for blockage , but has fuel pressure .

Specifics ,
Honda carb ,
Stock Honda ignition ,
Not familiar with either ,

"I" don't think this is a fuel issue but like I said I'm no carb expert .
I hate to sound like a dummy , but I know there some experts out there that may give me an avenue to pursue that I haven't thought of yet .

I am planning on converting the car over to LP GP for next season but just in case I don't I'd like to be able to figure it out .

Thanks .

[iambhooper]

well, i'm not an expert mechanic, but i'm good at asking the right people. to me, it sounds like the timing is off (retarded?). the car should rev to redline, and beyond. as for the sounds, is the car up to temp?

i would check the following:
timing (static and distributer)
cap and rotor
plugs
wires

what about the battery cables? are they in good shape? check their condition, as well as all ground straps. it may sound odd, but a faulty connection can easily cause this. in '05 i had a plug wire come loose, at Lowes, costing us top end RPM's during the race. just the other day, we had a loose negative cable and had a lot of sputter.

hoop

[charrbq]

Also, check for vacuum leaks, secure intake and exhaust manifolds.

[Ed Funk]

Check the wiring from the distributor to the tach (if it's an after market unit), if this is involved, the tach would be bouncing like crazy at the same time as the break-up and sputtering.

[Harvey]

Too much fuel pressure and check the dist. cap.

Les Chaney

[x1/9racer]

Being a Honda, my first suspect would be a faulty distributor. It may be difficult to check the output of the pick-up without a lab scope. If you don't have a spare distributor, buy one from your local big box parts store(Autozone, Pep Boys, etc.). If it doesn't correct the problem, return it as defective for cash refund. Make sure to act plenty outraged!

[R2 Racing]

Step 1: Check timing & make sure that the cams are lined up properly at TDC. Just pull the top timing belt cover off and take a look.

[HONDA69]

1. agree w/les cheney too much fuel pressure should be between 3.5 to 5.5 psi.
2. check cap, rotor & plugs replace as needed
3. check ign timing - see shop manual - new ones avail from Helms Inc (helminc.com)
4. If still popping & sputtering & not reving past 6k, check cam timing - see 3 above for info.
5. w/ timing light attached, heck & see if timing wanders above 3000 rpm, if so then replace distributor.

[trobbins]

Another symptom ,

When this all happened I was setting on grid at Waterford Hills .I started the car up at the 3 min warning it may have ran for approx twoish mins when we got the 1 min warning it died and would not refire . I shut off all swithches then turned on everything as if to restart the car and it finally fired up . I took the car out behind everyone for the remainder of the pacelap started the race and for two laps the thing sputtered around the track . Brought it in and loaded it up .

It had never done that up to that time .

The tach does bounce around when it is misfiring .

Thanks for the info guys , I'll start with the timing .
I guess it would be possible for the timing belt to skip a tooth or two or whatever .
Especially if it was older . That was one thing I didn't look at when I got the car .

[R2 Racing]

Wait, so the car had been running just fine prior to that happening and then all of a sudden just started running like crap? Ok, I void my previous opinion of "timing". I'm changing my vote to ignitor....or maybe coil.

[iambhooper]

Knowing that it was running, then stopped, that does change things. Coil, perhaps. Check all the conection to the coil, battery, and whatever else you may have for an ignition system. are you using an MSD?

also, did the motor overheat? have you done a compresion test?

hoop

[gprodracer]

Don't know jack about Hondas, but....

Would follow Les Chaneys advice about fuel pressure, and distributor cap:

A) distributor caps can make the car run perfect one minute, and like crap the next...then go back to running perfect again for no obvious reason.

Les had the fastest legal running Honda in the Southeast for many years, and I had my a** handed to me by that car (and driver) enough times, that I know that he knew how to make them run. I was damn glad when he went to a ITB Volvo.

Good luck!

[USGUYS]

I know you put it together right, so did I. When my Crx started popping and missing I changed everything in the ignition, checked fuel pressure, throttle position sensor, it still popped. A friend who ran tunning shop said check the cam timing. He was right. Cam off one tooth.
Runs great now, but I also spare distributor, wires, and throttle body. -$$$$

[trobbins]

I did a quick check last night with the coil wire at the coil and there was no spark .
I didn't have much time last night so this weekend I'll go through all the ignition wiring pre coil side and see what I can come up with .

Along with changing out a drivers side front shock and passenger side drive axel on my brothers Devin's ITC Civic so we can come down and play at the ARRC .

[joeg]

Something similar happened to me once on the grid.

It was the darn kill switch!

Accordingly give all of your wiring a thorough check.

[trobbins]

Will do .

Thanks again .

Todd Robbins .