I bought a 2002 honda civic manual a little while ago and it has about 150k miles on it. It’s been in and out of a mechanic for various minor problems but most recently because it lurched and then died after accelerating in first gear. When it happened initially they thought the throttle body had gotten flooded so they cleaned that but, then it happened again. After it died I couldn’t start it again but it was turning over. It had been sitting for a while in cold weather before this most recent breakdown. Also the check engine is on, there’s a loud rattling noise when accelerating. And the clutch grabs only when the pedal is about an inch from its normal position. Is that normal? I did replace the battery too. Thanks so much for any info.
Please scan for codes and post them here.
Which engine? Has the car been scanned for codes? If your engine has a timing belt how old is it? If it has a timing chain that could be the source of your rattling noise if it's worn or the tensioner is bad. Or, it could be the variable valve timing mechanism. That car is 20 years old but you've apparently only had it a short time, so unless you have service records you don't know whether it's been maintained all this time.
It has a 1.7 liter v4 engine. The timing belt was changed at least once according to the previous owner. It was scanned and they said there was a problem with the catalytic converter. I don’t remember exactly what that was but I’ll send an update once I get a response from my mechanic.