[Punkpwnzor]

Hello,

I have a 186k mile 8th gen civic SI. Recently while at a stop light my rpms dipped below normal for a split second and It seemed as if the engine was about to shut off. Initially I thought maybe my battery was dying or something.

Battery and alternator checked out fine.

It concerned me as I continued to drive and my steering wheel locked up for a second as my rpms again surged or dipped for a slight moment but the car never shut off. I am not sure why this is happening and anything I research brings me back to cleaning the MAF, throttle body and replacing the PCV.

Here is a short clip of what my rpms do. 8th gen civic Rough Idle w/AC on

Now all of this is happening while my AC is on. No issues while the AC is off which is strange.

As of now I will be cleaning the throttle body and MAF to start and inspect the PCV.

Any thoughts what could be the problem?

 

[Chaos Pilot]

A dip in power when the A/C compressor comes on is endemic to 4 bangers and especially so with the k engines. If the stutter is worse than usual check what you mentioned as well A/C pulley. If it goes bad it can put more drag on the engine making power loss worse than normal.

Be sure to disconnect the pos and neg cables to your bat for 15 min or so after you clean the throttle body. This "resets" the ECU so it can "learn' that you made changes. Sometimes the car wot start after cleaning unless you reset the ECU.

LMK what it ends up being...

 

[Punkpwnzor]

A dip in power when the A/C compressor comes on is endemic to 4 bangers and especially so with the k engines. If the stutter is worse than usual check what you mentioned as well A/C pulley. If it goes bad it can put more drag on the engine making power loss worse than normal.

Be sure to disconnect the pos and neg cables to your bat for 15 min or so after you clean the throttle body. This "resets" the ECU so it can "learn' that you made changes. Sometimes the car wot start after cleaning unless you reset the ECU.

LMK what it ends up being...

Well the PCV was dirty which I suspected it would be. Changed it.

Throttle body wasn't as dirty as I thought but cleaned it and cleaned MAF. I did disconnect the pos cable on the battery but no the negative. When I started up the car it kind of bogged but then finally turned on. The engine sounded a bit different in a more good way I suppose.

Will have to see how the day goes while driving.

 

[Chaos Pilot]

Hope it goes well. Try disconnecting the neg and pos cables. If you leave the neg on it won't drain the power from the ECU in order for it to re-set.

Try it for at least 15 min. This also resets the error codes. If they come back the problem is still present.

Good luck

 

[Punkpwnzor]

Hope it goes well. Try disconnecting the neg and pos cables. If you leave the neg on it won't drain the power from the ECU in order for it to re-set.

Try it for at least 15 min. This also resets the error codes. If they come back the problem is still present.

Good luck

Well it seems for now at idle the rpms don't surge or dip. Most of the day while driving I thought maybe i fixed the problem but I was wrong.

While turning into a corner the steering wheel locked up again for a split second and then went back to normal. As if the engine lost power for that slightly moment and I am talking about less than a second.

A buddy of mine was saying that maybe I am not getting good battery connection. So now I am starting to think maybe I am not. I just cleaned the terminals from the outside but not from the inside where the connection is most touching. Might try that and see.

 

[Punkpwnzor]

Well it seems for now at idle the rpms don't surge or dip. Most of the day while driving I thought maybe i fixed the problem but I was wrong.

While turning into a corner the steering wheel locked up again for a split second and then went back to normal. As if the engine lost power for that slightly moment and I am talking about less than a second.

A buddy of mine was saying that maybe I am not getting good battery connection. So now I am starting to think maybe I am not. I just cleaned the terminals from the outside but not from the inside where the connection is most touching. Might try that and see.

 

[Punkpwnzor]

 

[Chaos Pilot]

I would also look for a short in the steering wiring. If it happens when your turning maybe a wire is getting pinched. Maybe try taking off your airbox so you can look down on the steering column where the steering motor is located. There a several exposed wires in that area and its not inconceivable that one could get pinched somehow.

I feel for you. Diagnosing something so random is nightmare fuel.

Good luck and let me know what you find.

 

[Punkpwnzor]

I would also look for a short in the steering wiring. If it happens when your turning maybe a wire is getting pinched. Maybe try taking off your airbox so you can look down on the steering column where the steering motor is located. There a several exposed wires in that area and its not inconceivable that one could get pinched somehow.

I feel for you. Diagnosing something so random is nightmare fuel.

Good luck and let me know what you find.

So far what seems to have fixed it was replacing my negative battery cable as it was pretty shot. Also my AC was overcharged by .25lbs, so we drained it and put what is necessary.

Not sure which of the two fixed the issue but having poor contact on the battery wasn't helping.

One week into the fix and so far so good