ECU, Wiring, Sensors
User avatar
By juankrq
#352498 Hi,

I am having the following problem with my civic EX ABS 1992. D16Z6.

When fuel tank was lower than 1/4 engine started to lose power such as it had water into the tank. Then I took the car to the garage where the gas tank was empty and cleaned. New clean gas was added.

Nonetheless, the problem continued but it happens after car is running for about half hour, no matter how gas is into the tank. Finally the car lost almost all power, turn check engine light, but does not turn off by itself.

I also noticed that when I do NOT push the engine is works fine, but if I push hard It begin to malfunction from the beginning and fail totally faster. Engine runs such as if there would be water into the tank !!!

My mechanic says car have a CEL code 6, so we change the coolant temperature sensor, I drove the car out of the garage and it happened again, so, I retrieved CEL codes again and got codes 1 and 3. However, less than a year ago I replaced the O2 sensor for a DENSO new one.

I noticed that when fuel tank was serviced (seems it had been hit and lost its original shape) so the supposed "expert" made some cuts on the top of tank to recover its lost shape, but when he CUT the tank he also cut a tube (he said a canister line). He put a plastic tube to reconnect the tube, but I doubt it fix the mistake, as he welded the tank just on the same section where he had previously installed a inner plastic tube, which must have melted while welding the tank.

Your comments and advice would be highly appreciated.
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By teal_dx
#352519 It is very possible for an o2 sensor to go bad within 1 year, especially if there are other problems which can lead to running rich, which is hard on an o2 sensor.

If your ecu is telling you it's bad, I would replace it.

As for your fuel tank, it sounds like it's been hacked up and it's something I would replace. Who knows how well it was welded (I think it should have been replaced when it was damaged, not welded to be repaired).
The last thing you want is one of the welds to rust and leak fuel.
While the fuel tank is being replaced is a good time to be sure everything inside is put back the way it should be.

One simple thing that you could have tried before is to replace the fuel filter. With all of the problems you've had with the gas tank and as many times as it has been worked on, some dirt could have got in the line and stopped at the fuel filter.