I am new to the tuner scene and i just bought my first honda.  I got the 1992 civic ex vtec with the 1.3 liter four cylinder engine.  I don't know spit about cars but i really want to learn.  I bought the car with some mods already on it as follows: AEM cold air intake(2.5/3 inch), headers, cat back exhaust, a 10in racing tac, and swapped out dash lights.  the car had been running great until recently when the engine began to surge from approxiimately 800-1000rpm to 1500-1800rpms.  i asked around and was told to check my coolant levels, the timing, throttle body, and distributor cap.  well, the coolant was fine, the timing i have no clue about, the throttle body wasn't the problem because it doesn't move when the engine surges, and i still don't know about the distributor cap.  as far as everything else, i put fuel injector cleaner in the gas on my last tank and it didn't help, so i don't know what the *** to do, can someone please help me?!?!?!?!  I love my little honda and i want it to run forever, and i definately want to do more *** to it!!!!!  

Hey there...now I am by no means a professional mechanic but i do as much work as I can do confidently. But about the surging...now i know it's different but i had that problem on a GM vehicle with a 3.1L the problem was the sensor in the intake...it was somewhat corroded (460 000km on vehicle) and it was reading the wrong temp. of the air comming in so then the fuel injection was dumping in more fuel (hense the rpm rise), when the rpm would rise the injection would compensate with less fuel, hense the drop in rpm. Now I said i am NOT a mechanic but that was my problem and my fix (new sensor). Mention it to your mechanic. Also how many miles does yours have?  

Ive got about 160000 Miles on it.  so from what i understand the engine is just getting warmed up.  that makes sense what you said about the sensor, with the aftermarket intake on it, could i try pulling the positve off the battery and seeing if that will reset the comp?  would that even help??  thanks so much for the input by the way, that is awesome. I am having problems with my break lights coming on and draining my battery when the car sits, wierd huh?  when i pull up on the break pedal the lights go off and when i pull the tail lights fuse the break lights still come on?!?!?!?!  

As for the reset on the comp. I am not exactly sure to reset it. But i you pick up a repair manual (try your a large surface auto parts store and they should have one) something along the lines of HANES REPAIR MANUAL for your car trust me the Hanes manual tells you how to do it no prob. A for the brake light...it's kinda funny...take a look at the brake pedal itself inside the car...take a look if you can see a sprng that would pull the pedal back up if there is'nt one then you should also see a kind of button swith that when pressed makes the lights go on some vehicles these buttons are adjustable on some cars.  

*** i misread your thinggy about the tail lights if you pull the fuse and the lights still come on then i would think that there might be a broken wire or something around that.  

thanx gritt  

If you've done an engine swap or have a lot of mods on your car then that Haynes repair manual isn't going to help you out much.Those manuals are written for STOCK models and deal with only factory specs.  

Hey, try checking for and air leak, while its idling spray some carb cleaner around inlet manifold and intake pipe for a possible air leak? temp sensor would be a good idea to change after if nothing is found, you wont clear the problem by disconnecting the battery unless your ecu light is on?? is it?? if so you need the fault code read. as for you brake lights check the setting of the brake pedal switch, its kinda of a long black plastic sensor that sits through your brake pedal should have a coupler connected to it it simply twists to undo and vise-versa to do up, dont push it in to far or your brakes will stay on slightly... let me know mate...  

All these ideas are good, except for one thing, is your throttlebody dirty? There is a needle that sits along the back of the throttle shaft called the throttle position sensor. This sensor tells the ECU how much fuel to put into the engine when your throttle is open. If there is dirt on the back of that the slightest amount could be telling you're ECU that you have the throttle open a certain amount. A simple cleaning with Throttle body cleaner and a soft faced toothbrush could stop the problem.