This is the weirdest problem. I have a 90' CRX, and for the most part it starts fine, but very rarely it won't start unless I give it gas and will shut off if I let off the gas. After it starts that way, the RPM's will bounce up and down while I apply light pressure on the gas, but after I apply enough pressure to about 2500 RPM's it will sound normal. So if I try to drive it, it will just jump forward over and over again when I put it in gear. If I wait a few hours and try and start it again, it will start up fine. The Mechs told me that they couldn't find anything wrong with it. They even kept it overnight so in the morning when it was cool they could try it again. Why does it do that?

 

umm, fuel line problem, pressure regulator, fuel pump, injectors seriously messed up, when it was running did it seem like it only pulled with the cylinders spinning or was it alot slower than that, vacume leak somewhere causing surges? umm... electrical power failure or surges to different components in ur system. might take a while for them to diagnose it, not a simple problem which is unfortunate for u, hope they find something. id start with fuel system, do the easy checks and move on.

 

What do you mean by that? Yeah, the mechanics cleaned out all my valves by dipping them in some kind of vat filled with carbon remover. It never fixed the problem, but it did seem to make it happen less frequently.

 

I'm guessing you replaced the fuel filter already, because that would be a great place to start.

Does your car hold a normal 700-800RPM idle on "good" days?

 

dont older cars have a choke?

 

not a '90 CRX Si. You must be thinking carbs, the last carb'ed Civic/CRX was the 87 non-Si models.

 

just asking, cuz on my dads 85 accord, you gotta WOT then it will start fine.

 

Yeah, setting the automatic choke. I know what you're talking about. There were carb'ed Accords until '89:thumbup:

 

:thumbup:

 

It usually holds at about 500-600 rpms. Yeah, they changed the fuel filter.