Chopface,

First and foremost, you say the middle-most mark of the three marks does not
line up with the pointer by some 8 degrees or so. (Four degrees are covered by
the three marks, and you say it's off by two of these widths.) So the car's
timing appears to be definitely off. Could it cause the symptoms you describe?
My Chilton's Honda Civic manual replicates almost exactly the symptoms you
describe when the timing is incorrect.

So the first thing I'd do if this were my car is get those distributor bolts
loosened and try to put the timing back in spec. Eight degrees seems "fixable"
by rotating the distributor housing, based on my experience and rough memory of
fooling with the housing once to see how far out of spec I could move the three
marks. (Try it.)

How the timing on your car got so far off is a good question. Computer (ECU)
problems? I don't know but look forward to the pros diagnoses.

For the record here: When was the last time (in miles and years) you had a new
timing belt put on the car?

Answers to your other questions follow.

Updates very much welcome.

"Chopface" <thename_is_slick@yahoo.com> wrote
> Hey,
>
> Thanks for the very thorough reply Caroline. The reason I mentioned the
> timing belt is because my car seemed to drive well since I got it at
> 120k miles, and has recently, abrubtly developed some unpleasant
> problems. The car lost power in general and has excessive engine noise
> if you accelerate too quickly at low RPM's. I get the terms pinging and
> knocking mixed up, but the noise is some sort of ignition not happening
> at the right time noise. The idle is noticeably rougher too. I have
> checked and replaced some components in the igniton system which seemed
> to help a tiny bit. Another reason why I mentioned the timing belt is
> because the timing seemed way off, although I didn't make a decent
> quantitative observation of how far off it was. Does timing just go way
> out of spec over time?

Not in my 154k miles and 13+ years experience with my 1991 Civic LX.

I think the timing's been checked exactly three times on my car. (Twice by a
shop, once by me.)

Also, I don't think the valve lash (= clearance) has ever been changed. It's
been checked twice (once by me).

> I would have no idea the last time the timing has
> been checked.
> When checking my timing I jumpered the connecter under the passenger
> side dashboard, let the car warm up at least until the cooling fan came
> on, and the idle was reading 750 RPM on the tach on the instrument
> panel.

750 RPM is my 91 Civic LX's correct idle RPM, too. So you seem on track.

> Is there a way to know for sure if my jumper has worked?

I'm not certain, but I think if and when you get that distributor loose, and
then adjust it, and the car seems to try to correct your adjustment, then it's
not jumpered correctly.

But no jumper is necessary if you're just doing a check. It's when you start
adjusting the distributor's rotation that the jumper must be in place. I suspect
if your jumper is somehow incorrect, it will be obvious.

> I just
> used some old scrap of wire I had around. I think its got a nice tight
> connection.

Folks here talk about just using a paper clip, so your scrap sounds fine. I used
a paper clip.

> I'll have another go at those bolts after spraying them with some sort
> of penetrating oil.

Do they look rusted?

Not some sort of penetrating oil. Get the PB Blaster. There's nothing like it.
It's far superior to anything else I've used.

> They've gotta be tourqued more than 17 ft.*lbs.

You're probably right.

> Mayble I'll see if I can find a really nice 12mm open end wrench and
> socket. I am suspecting I may have to adjust the idle as I adjust the
> timing because I have made adjustments to the idle since I got the car,
> and the car still had a sort of wax seal over the idle adjusting screw
> when I got it.

I don't see why you'd have to adjust the idle, since it's running at 750 RPM
when warmed up, but maybe one of the pros here will see something I do not.