Random sputter, an backfire

[90exkId]

so this is the second time in a week this has happened.
i got in my car to pick up my girls kids, an the car started to sputter, an backfire. this is at random. no CEL lights or anything.
the only way it goes is if i put the pedal to the floor. sputter starts above 2000,RPM'S. litteraly does not want to move. i parked to shovel out my spot, turned my cAR back on an it was fine!

[rayray91]

Disconnect the wires from your o2 sensor, if good then thats your problem.

[90exkId]

but im not getting a CEL light......
if that was bad, more then likely the light would come on.....?

[F20A CB7]

Sometimes a cel code won't come on if its a o2 sensor.

[90exkId]

ok ill check it wen i can, right now its all wet out from the snow an wat not, i just cleanerd my EGR valve an it was beyond clogged with wet looking grease lol.
after cleaning, i drove it, only happened once, but only lasted a sec an went away, an drove around for a lil more an nothing happened.
gonna replace the fuel filter an a few other lil things....
anything else i should check an or clean? thanks!

[willhholla1]

i had a similar problem a while ago, i changed the spark plugs and wires and things got better. then i changed the rotor button and distributor cap and everything worked fine

[James Matteu]

It should be noted that all suggestions above hint at one of two problems:

1. TOO MUCH FUEL being added at any particular time: bad oxygen sensor

2. WEAK SPARK allowing excessive amounts of fuel into the exhaust stream: intermittent failure of the spark plug wires, distributor, dist. rotor, the plugs themselves, or...the ignition coil.

So measure the resistance across the coil's primary and secondary windings to ensure the ignition coil is giving you a hot spark all the time.

Remember, slightly out of spec component can lead to an intermittent failure of the ignition system leading to weak spark.

[DJ metadelic]

It is most likely an issue in your distributor.

My civic did the same thing. Died on me the day I bought it, on the drive home.

Turned out, it was a bad ignitor. So I replaced it, and the coil.

Hope this helps, also search around here for more info.

Let us know and good luck.

[xkjnboix]

do an oem tune up ( NGK plugs and wires ) and rent a timing light from autozone make sure ur dist isnt loose and out of time this caused backfire in my DA9.

[90exkId]

its not plugs of wires, i did that already, i believe its my o2 sensor, but the checkengine light only came on once, an i didnt have my plug with me to plug it in to check. waiting for it to come back on to check the code since if finally turned into one.

[jhondayaaj]

I would look into the rotor. Replace it with an oem Honda part. I have fixed three civic with same symptoms by just replacing rotor. (I'm not suggesting thatbit would fix your car though.

[90exkId]

right now, i have the o2 sensor unplugged an it hasnt happened since. so im gonna replace that.

[tru2037]

I would look into the cap and rotor as well - if you did the wires and plugs the cap and rotor should be part of a tune up too + they are cheap. I've never had a o2 sensor throw a code for me, and with the engine choking and sputtering I'm sure that the CEL popped some kind of code but it may be a false positive.

[Fleetw00d]

Even if the CEL went off, it retains the codes for certain time (or number of starts?). You could still try to pull the code.

[wed3k]

even if it is the o2, it's been running so poorly that the plugs could be caked or fouled. id suggest taking those out and inspecting them.

Also, unplugging the o2 just puts you into open loop so it doesnt exactly mean it is the o2 sensor. there's other sensors used in closed loop.