Hey all, got Mel a honda civic 1.6 ls (97) at the weekend... not a bad car considering it was bought for the princley sum of £360..... I knew the engine light was on before I bought, car drove fine...

however it is very difficult to start in the cold. I've been on the civic forums, (I think the engine igt may be the lambna sensor) but apparently this wouldn't cause poor cold starting.... best response I've had yet is to check the plugs, set the gap to 1.1 mil and replace if they are duffers.....

here are the symptoms, when warm, all is hunky dory, when cold you turn it over and it fires straight away but then dies. you need to do this about 6 times before it "catches" and continues to run (albeit about 300 revs) then with gentle coaxing of the gas, he can be brought to life, then after a minute of a few revs all is fine. engine is good,pulls suprisingly strong when reved, clean oil, clean inside the rocker cover, no contamination of the coolant, no exhaust smoke (other than normal cold steam) ....

any ideas?

A temperature sensor is my guess.

A temperature sensor is my guess.

could be, it does seem as if the ECU thinks the car is warm all the time... I wouldn't know where to look! lol... I suppose a trip to hellfrauds and a haynes manual will be in order

and Tom.. seeing as you now have a nice new car, if you get bored of having nothing to fix, do come around! lol...

could be the spark plugs or battery, check battery voltage when not running and running if all ok change the plugs

could be the spark plugs or battery, check battery voltage when not running and running if all ok change the plugs

the seller said the battery was weak (Its dated 2004) it turns over fast enough, but didn't know it could cause poor starting... think they are only about £25 for this car from helfrauds, may as well invest....

any other ideas?

+1 for temp sensor .. it sounds like thats all it is, if the battery is starting the engine even after 6 attempts then a new battery is not going to fix the problem

+1 for temp sensor .. it sounds like thats all it is, if the battery is starting the engine even after 6 attempts then a new battery is not going to fix the problem

+2 - defo a temp sensor i think.. Mazdas have similar issues when the ecu temp sensor goes

thanks, thats what I was thinking, and it would cause the CEL light........just have to find out where they are now, and how to replace!

but then again, the engine temp gauge works just fine.... wouldn't that be connected to the electronic coolent temp sensor? I wonder how much a honda dealer would charge to read the code :( bear in mind this whole car only cost £360! lol....