Honda Car Forum

I've just purchased a 1990 Honda Civic from an elderly lady who drove
it twice a month (city miles) so it has 40K miles.

The engine is clean and the car passed its MOT (UK vehicle inspection)
a couple of weeks ago. I just changed the oil a couple of days ago
using synthetic oil.

There are a couple of problems:

1) If I cold start the car, it takes a little longer to fire, then
once it does, it has to sit and 'warm up' for a minute (where I rev
the engine a bit). If I cold start it and then immediately try to
accelerate, it falters as though it's not receiving petrol - it moves
forward but in an erratic, jumpy way. Once the engine is warm, the
car is fine while driving or at start up - it's only cold starting
that it experiences this jumpiness.

2) While turning left I hear knock-knock-knock which makes me think
something is wrong with the CV joint. Both the CV boots are still
fully intact. Is it likely that a CV joint can go out on its own
(with boot intact)? Also, isn't a problem CV joint something that
should cause a car to fail its MOT?

thank you for help, gentle readers

On 21 Jul 2003 03:39:10 -0700, zmrzlina@volny.cz (Dave) wrote:

>I've just purchased a 1990 Honda Civic from an elderly lady who drove
>it twice a month (city miles) so it has 40K miles.

My son bought something similar in the U.K. for his first car - ran it for
100K miles in 2years wth no probs.

>The engine is clean and the car passed its MOT (UK vehicle inspection)
>a couple of weeks ago. I just changed the oil a couple of days ago
>using synthetic oil.
>
>There are a couple of problems:
>
>1) If I cold start the car, it takes a little longer to fire, then
>once it does, it has to sit and 'warm up' for a minute (where I rev
>the engine a bit). If I cold start it and then immediately try to
>accelerate, it falters as though it's not receiving petrol - it moves
>forward but in an erratic, jumpy way. Once the engine is warm, the
>car is fine while driving or at start up - it's only cold starting
>that it experiences this jumpiness.

Is this a carb model? Check the automatic choke - maybe it just wants some
lubricant... a very light oil with maybe a spritz of WD40 first to loosen
it up. I'd also run some carb cleaner through the fuel system. It could
also be an ignition vacuum or centrifugal advance (dunno if you have both)
problem - check the distributor for lubrication and possibly a leaky vacuum
diaphragm or hose. According to what I read here from other U.K. users,
you may be able to find an on-line service manual at <www.honda.co.uk> in
the owner section.

>2) While turning left I hear knock-knock-knock which makes me think
>something is wrong with the CV joint. Both the CV boots are still
>fully intact. Is it likely that a CV joint can go out on its own
>(with boot intact)? Also, isn't a problem CV joint something that
>should cause a car to fail its MOT?

Our '90 Civic EX (U.S. model) CV joint, with boots intact, started clicking
on turns under load at ~50K miles. It never got any worse, so I ran it for
another 30K miles before changing the axle. I'd think if the boot was
broken it might be an MOT issue but cars are usually allowed to make odd
noises occasionally.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

hesitation- could you have too much fuel rather than not enough? Blowing a
bit of smoke on startup? Civics have a little rubber diaphragm that is part
of the carburettor auto choke setup which can perish, and give you too much
fuel- it sits under a black plastic cap on the left front side of the carby,
with a small metal rod projecting from underneath it (if your car is fuel
injected, then ignore me).
CV joint- the kV joint can be worn without the boot being damaged. a good
mechanic can put a new one on in around 20 minutes. worth getting fixed.
--
Benny
*******
"Dave" <zmrzlina@volny.cz> wrote in message
news:15fe3ffc.0307210239.1a41e69a@posting.google.c om...
> I've just purchased a 1990 Honda Civic from an elderly lady who drove
> it twice a month (city miles) so it has 40K miles.
>
> The engine is clean and the car passed its MOT (UK vehicle inspection)
> a couple of weeks ago. I just changed the oil a couple of days ago
> using synthetic oil.
>
> There are a couple of problems:
>
> 1) If I cold start the car, it takes a little longer to fire, then
> once it does, it has to sit and 'warm up' for a minute (where I rev
> the engine a bit). If I cold start it and then immediately try to
> accelerate, it falters as though it's not receiving petrol - it moves
> forward but in an erratic, jumpy way. Once the engine is warm, the
> car is fine while driving or at start up - it's only cold starting
> that it experiences this jumpiness.
>
> 2) While turning left I hear knock-knock-knock which makes me think
> something is wrong with the CV joint. Both the CV boots are still
> fully intact. Is it likely that a CV joint can go out on its own
> (with boot intact)? Also, isn't a problem CV joint something that
> should cause a car to fail its MOT?
>
> thank you for help, gentle readers