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2002 Honda Civic (Please Help)

I have a 2002 Honda Civic EX. I am having trouble with the cars gas mileage and also with power. Here is what its doing: Every time I get to a =BC of a tank it runs really bad. At first when I am starting my car it has to crank like 4 or 5 times before it will fire up but if I crank it once or twice and then turn it to the off position and then try again it will fire right up like it is suppose to. The other things it is doing is it will stall out on me when I try to accelerate and sometimes will die unless I ride the clutch. Then when I am just sitting at an intersection it will stutter and bog out like it wants to die. The catch to it is though when I am on a full tank it runs fine except for the bad gas mileage. I am not a mechanic by any means and I have taken this car to 3 different people and have gotten 3 different answers. I am tired of wasting my money with dishonest people. The check engine light is on and it reads P0171 System Too Lean (bank 1), but why would I be getting this bad of gas mileage. When I say I am getting bad gas mileage I am getting about 200 miles to a tank and anyone who owns a Honda knows that's horrible. The problems that have been told to me are this

1=2E That I have a crack in my exhaust manifold. 2=2E I need a new fuel pump. 3=2E My fuel gauge is off and maybe a bad injecter

I have use some injecter cleaner on the car and still nothing so I am hoping some one on here might be able to help me out on figuring out what's going on so I can get my car back to normal conditions.=20 =20 Thanks Aaron

Reply to
herdboy24
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"herdboy24" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@k78g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

This _is_ curious, so I did a bit of digging of my own.

It seems the term "system too lean" paradoxically means you are running RICH.

In short, the ECM is being told by the oxygen sensor that the mixture is too lean, and it therefore attempts to enrich the mixture through the use of "fuel trim", right up to its limit of adjustment.

But since the ECM never ends up being told the mixture has been corrected, and having reached the limits of its "fuel trim" range without obtaining the proper report from the oxygen sensor, it reasons the system is still too lean and sets the P0171.

The question then arises: Why is the ECM being told the system is too lean? There is no short answer. From this Toyota site

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comes this list ofpotential culprits: * Air Induction System Leak * Injector Blockage * Mass Air Flow Meter * Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor * Fuel Pressure * Gas Leakage from the Exhaust System * Open or Short in the Oxygen Sensor or associated wiring * Oxygen Sensor Defective * Engine Control Unit

You need to have a competent dealer tech sort this out. I'd guess about $100 for diagnosis.

Reply to
Tegger

k78g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

_is_ curious, so I did a bit of digging of my own.

-- Show quoted text -

Reply to
COH

How many miles are on the car? Usually new O2 sensors nowadays fail anywhere from 50k-70k miles. I would probably change that first since the P0171 on most postings indicate a problem with the O2 sensor. This doesn't necessarily mean that the O2 sensor is bad, but from the age of the car, I would bet that is the problem.

Nick

Reply to
Nick

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