The car shakes when you hit the accelerator

Tiny
RDENZ360
  • MEMBER
  • 1997 HONDA CIVIC
  • 190,000 MILES
The engine light is blinking, when turned off wouldn't restart, strong smell of gas, Any ideas? The shaking is worse at lower gears or if you try to accelerate quicker. If you let of the pedal the shaking will stop completely. When it wouldn't start towed it to a shop, and they found a lot of water in the distributor so they changed it, the plugs, and the wires. They checked the timing belt to see if it had slipped, but they didn't feel like it had, so they left it alone. Told me it was fixed. It worked for about 1 to 2 weeks, but then had the same problem again. Would love your thoughts. Thanks
Friday, December 16th, 2011 AT 6:33 PM

5 Replies

Tiny
CADIEMAN
  • MECHANIC
  • 3,544 POSTS
Tell them they wasted you money by replacing everything and not repairing anything. They need to put you car on the scanner and see what setting that light off.
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Friday, December 16th, 2011 AT 6:49 PM
Tiny
RDENZ360
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  • 3 POSTS
Borrowed a Diagnostic, these are the codes, P0301, P0302, and P0304 so apparently 1, 2, and 4 are misfiring, but 3 isn't, and I had about a 20min ride with it acting up before I was able to get it home. I also had code 1300 and 1399. Would love to try and fix it myself if you have any thoughts on where to get started. Also, I was wrong, they didn't change the spark plug wires, only the other stuff, would it help to try and replace them? Would love to do this myself if possible. Even just a list of possible parts that might cause this would be a huge help. Thanks so much
I don't imagine the freeze frame data will help, but here it is incase it does

cause for freeze 0301
throttle position 19.6%
map 62 kpa
engine rmp 2155
load 60.5%
coolant 84
intake air 53
short fuel trim 1 17.9%
long trim 1 2.3%
short fuel trim 3 -100.6%
long trim 3 - 100.6%
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Sunday, December 18th, 2011 AT 8:17 PM
Tiny
CADIEMAN
  • MECHANIC
  • 3,544 POSTS
Youl have replace all the wires 1 at a time so there are no mistakes. Then clear all the codes and test drive to see what codes. Still reset.
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Sunday, December 18th, 2011 AT 9:47 PM
Tiny
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Upon closer inspection the garage I took it too improperly installed the spark plug wires. They didn't realize there is a boot on the end you hook to the distributor that you have to pull back so you can truly attach them securely. They just pushed the boot on, and got lucky on 1 of 4 and after a couple weeks the other 3 shook lose, one completely off. Put them on properly, and all is good now. Thanks so much for all the help.
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Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 AT 10:01 PM
Tiny
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  • MECHANIC
  • 3,544 POSTS
Good job ty for using 2carpros
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Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 AT 11:38 PM

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