Heres hoping someone can offer some insight. I was trying to get my civic up a snow covered hill the other day, revving it pretty high but not ridiculously high. After a few attempts the car started idiling really low (around 2-300) and was bogging down. Temp, oil was fine according to gauges. I shut the car off and called a buddy with a 4x4 to pull me out. Yesterday I get in the car and it starts fine but idles really low again. Between gears I hear a valve rattle and if Im rolling along just barely touching the accelerator they rattle too. Highway speeds and idle I hear nothing. It feels as if the car is only running on 3 cylinders. My friend told me that the traction control may have not reset and that some of these cars will actually drop cylinders one at a time as a way of bogging the motor down for better traction. He said that dis-connecting the battery would reset this. Would it? I took the valve cover off and at first glance all looked intact and fine but I dont know what to look for. Could it be I bent a valve or something worse? Why doesnt it rattle all the time only at low acceleration? Any ideas?? Its a 99 civic EX coupe. 5 speed. Thanks! Jim Kountz

I'm willing to bet that this car doesn't have anything as sophisticated as a cylinder dropping traction control. I'd be surprised if it had any traction control system at all. I wonder if you got some snow/water into the intake and damaged a valve. Sounds like its more than a sesor problem. I'd get it checked out. Brian

Brian is right.  The civic doesn't have traction control.  Traction control is also the locking of the brakes on the wheel that is spinning OR a limited slip differential, which the civic doesn't have either.  You may have sucked some snow or water in the intake.  If you have a modified intake you have a higher chance of that happening.  Also the chance of you tapping a valve is pretty slim because it's not an interference engine(The vavles and pistons don't pass through the same area as the engine is spinning.

Does the car drive the same?  Check your oil level...

Good luck,

Andre

>