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TravisC
01-30-2015, 08:00 AM
1988 Honda Accord DX carb.

Here's my problem, car runs fine idles normal like it has been the past year but when i come to a stop light or take a turn and my rpms come down low enough the car bogs down and rather often will stall out. I can sit at the stop light all day and it'll idle fine, but as soon as i press the gas pedal it wants to die. I've tried flooring it at the stops, seems to help, and i've also tried very gently pressing the gas until i can get up to a decent speed, and it also seemed to help but maybe im imagining that.

As long as im feeding it gas the car will run fine, if im running 45+ and floor it, the car will pick up and go like it always has, the problem only occurs when accelerating from a stop or accelerating after making a turn.

I've searched online and i get many things pertaining mainly to fuel injected cars, and instead of going out and searching my car for a part that doesn't even exist on a carb engine i thought i would seek assistance. I've heard a clogged cat can do it, but like i said, while driving it, i can floor it and it'll go like it always has, no power loss. i have not adjusted anything prior to this problem arising and the only thing i have done is put on a new water hose. i highly doubt that would cause this as it was only making the car overheat and that is fixed now. I'm not exactly a car genius so please excuse me if i have left out any important details that you may need, simply ask and i will provide. i have replaced all spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor, both fuel filters, radiator cap, gas cap (only because i drove off without mine once.... slap me for it, i know it was stupid), but everything was changed roughly 20k or so miles ago and they all looks very nice still.

RPMS do slightly fluctuate once the car has warmed up all the way which made me suspect a vaccum leak, however i could not find it. Even went as far as to remove the air filter and expose the carb and then replace it all back with the proper lines. I only went that far because i've never torn it down any further than that so i don't see why any other line would have come loose or been forgotten if it hadn't ever been removed to begin with.

a few things to note: fuel pump is hard-wired... guy i bought it from did this and i have yet to track down the problem to which made him do this. car has been running fine with this until the past 2-3 weeks though. Around the same time it began to mess up i had installed a subwoofer and something that made me think was that the fuel pump wire was wired into the back of the radio, and i wired the remote wire into the same wires the fuel pump was. Could the remote wire be feeding the fuel pump wire frequency and cause this?

any replied would be greatly appreciated as i do not know what to do..

TravisC
01-30-2015, 08:04 AM
i forgot to mention one thing...

after the car stalls i used to be able to put it in neutral and crank it right back up and continue driving before it even rolled to a stop, that however has changed and it now takes about 5-10 mins on average to start the car back up. car turns over strong, lights are still bright, radio works fine. it almost seems like i am constantly flooding the carb...

TravisC
01-30-2015, 03:12 PM
Tested EGR valve and it appears to be working correctly.

TravisC
01-31-2015, 01:16 PM
adjusted fuel line to send slightly more fuel to the carb and that improved the situation alot. could not make it stall when trying, while before i had to try to prevent it from stalling. already replaced fuel filters but will replace the one under the hood today anyway just to see what happens. i still get slight hesitation when accelerating, but i am now fairly certain it is a fuel issue.

TravisC
02-01-2015, 01:51 PM
day 2 of adjusted fuel line: stalling has returned, just as bad as before. Only difference now is that i smell gas. so i will be turning the fuel line back down.

g.frost
02-02-2015, 09:52 AM
Try running a PEA based fuel system cleaner like Red Line SI-1. (I think it is the best. ...and Yes, PEA really does work)
A full tank of gas with a full bottle of cleaner. At some time during the tank, do a good long drive, fully warmed up, do some spirited acceleration to blow out the crud and clean the jets, See if that buys you any improvements. Using only top tier gas will generally help keep deposits under control. You may still have problems that this won't fix, but you still need to clean.

chaditotx
02-02-2015, 07:38 PM
how do you "adjust the fuel line" ? I didn't think carbureted DX's had a regulator.

TravisC
02-02-2015, 07:49 PM
i will try some cleaner out soon, a guy will be taking custody of the car tomorrow for a day or two to replace my front main seal.

and the fuel line that feeds gas to the carb has a screw on it. not sure if its one of the idle screws or what but i can adjust that screw to feed more or less gas.

g.frost
02-03-2015, 02:12 PM
Hmmm, would that be the float bowl level adjustment you are referring to? If so, set it once, right, with the sight window and leave it be.

TravisC
02-03-2015, 02:57 PM
it is very possible that is what it is, it is the screw that is on the carb end of the main fuel line. the line runs from the fuel filter to the carb with the screw on the exterior of the carb. if this is indeed the float level adjustment ( i have looked up some pictures and it does look like that would be it, but i cant find many pictures that are zoomed out enough to really see), could you give me a few tips on how to properly adjust it?

i originally turned it down because it was leaking fuel out the screw, my brother had told me it was probably because the o-ring inside it had gone bad and i thought it was safer to just turn it down til there was no gas leaking through it. it was driving with it turned down for months just fine. it did have a slight hesitation when accelerating from a stop but i thought it was simply because i was giving it less gas and decided it was better than leaking raw fuel.

TravisC
02-03-2015, 03:17 PM
if it helps at all this is the screw i am referring to. this is not my pic, and was taken from another thread here on 3geez

6764

g.frost
02-03-2015, 09:39 PM
Download the service manual, For '88 on page 11-28 is float adjustment procedure. Set to fuel level in middle of the sight window.
You have to move it slowly and wait for the fuel level to stabilize (while the engine is running.) Sorry can't help much here: I've never touched mine, it has always been right for 26 years.

TravisC
02-04-2015, 08:18 AM
it looks like page 11-28 is missing from the online manual posted in the sticky thread.. and the alternative link is dead.

i suppose i will google it, but all i was able to find last night was a process involving removing the entire carb... not looking forward to doing all that just to adjust a screw , i'll keep searching and will let you
know the results of the adjustment

TravisC
02-04-2015, 09:57 AM
i adjusted the float screw, but i really just need to rebuild the carb. it leaks gas out of the top of the screw like crazy... kinda scares me to be honest. i will try to get a rebuild kit when i get paid friday.

EDIT: figured i would just go ahead and do the accelerator pump while im at it to see if that will help too. i suspect it more than anything else (for the stalling). results probably the weekend or sometime next week

ryan427
02-04-2015, 11:06 AM
Travis, I was having a similar issue with my 89 LX. I ordered a rebuilt carburetor and plan to install it this weekend. After 26 years and 270k miles, I thought it a safe bet that replacing it would resolve most/all of the issues. I'm interested to know what you do with the accelerator pump. I wondered about mine too. Still learning about this stuff so I'm not totally understanding its function. Looking forward to seeing if you get it resolved.

TravisC
02-04-2015, 07:00 PM
i will keep updating this thread with each bit of work i do. due to money i may end up doing the pump next weekend. i would do it first but since i am leaking gas i put the rebuild as a priority.

the accelerator pump squirts some extra gas when accelerating at low rpms from what i've read. you can check it by opening some valve in the carb soon after turning it off and seeing if it squirts 2 streams of fuel. i can't explain it too well because i haven't done it myself, but i will be replacing it just because the symptoms of it going bad are almost identical to the problem i am having. as soon as i put it in i will drive it and give feedback here.

Dr_Snooz
02-04-2015, 07:49 PM
You can download the manual from here for the time being.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m0u3rucoi89k2bo/1989%20Accord%20Service%20Manual.pdf?dl=0

I think you have the right idea with the rebuild. There is a thin oring that seals the top of the float adjustment screw. It used to be that you could buy it individually from Honda, but I don't know if they still do that anymore. Of course, when you remove the screw, the needle valve falls out and into the fuel bowl. So basically, anything related to floats or needle valves involves a complete R&R overhaul of the carb.

Good luck with the rebuild. While you're at it, read up in the manual on all the vacuum actuators, solenoids and electric controls on the carb. It those go bad, they can cause all kinds of happy joy. Test them all according to the instructions in the manual.

TravisC
02-05-2015, 12:11 PM
thank you Dr_Snooz for the manual. I just got back from dropping the car off at a friends who is gonna replace my front main seal so i may not have the car for about 2 days. leaking oil bad, i kept it filled so i dont think i did any major damage to it, but getting the leak repaired now. when the car returns i will begin the rebuild.

was also thinking of just going to a junkyard and pulling off an entire carb if it would be cheaper. from what i've found it's around $130-$150 for a rebuild kit, and another $30+ for the accel pump. either way i will be fixing this car, it's been very reliable and i've grown attached to it.

TravisC
02-07-2015, 02:39 PM
i got the car back and the guy said that he thinks it's building up too much pressure and that contributed to the oil problem. i have this air hose that runs from the valve cover to the air filter and he recommended that i try running it for a while with it disconnected. he said he thinks that'll help the pressure problem which was making it use too much gas and in turn causing it to flood. the pressure was so high that it even pushed the oil dip stick out about half an inch.

he checked out the carb as well and said that the accel pump is definitely going bad and needs to be replaced. he could tell just by running it in his yard. he believes that the air hose i mentioned above was sending little pieces of debris or something into the air filter and in-turn, the carb. he said the accel pump acts kinda like it has a hole in it. he said if i do reconnect that hose that i should make some sort of wire filter to place over one end of it to keep stuff from traveling into the air filter.

he also said that he believes the pistons/piston rings were going bad, which is common on an engine with high miles, and that makes me think the car is on it's last leg.. that really upsets me because i really like this car. he said there is this stuff i can buy, the name of it slipped his mind at the time, but it's like a quart of some stuff i put in the oil that is guaranteed to reseal the rings and a few other things. i was hoping someone here might know the name of it? or something similar?

he ran the car for about an hour and it didn't leak any oil which is awesome, he said it may burn some but that's of little concern to me at this point. im happy the leak is fixed, but not so happy to hear of the condition the engine is in. he let me know of a truck nearby that has a fairly nice pricetag on it.... but i just can't come to terms with giving up on this car.

Dr_Snooz
02-07-2015, 09:06 PM
You could be getting a lot of blowby if the engine if real old. The PCV system should prevent that, but I don't know how well it works on a very old engine with lots of blowby. A compression test will tell you exactly what condition the engine is in, and it's something I would do before spending any more money on the car. With careful driving and preventive maintenance, you can keep a car for a very long time, very cheap. At some point however, you'll have to lay out some serious bread on major repairs to keep it running. If you like the car and want to keep going, an engine overhaul, though expensive, is still much less than many used cars. Bear in mind that used cars almost always need some repair too, so the purchase price is rarely the last repair money you're going to spend on it. At any rate, do a compression test and decide which way you want to go.

ryan427
02-08-2015, 09:14 AM
I'd like to suggest you use Auto RX. I am not a fan of any snake oils so I can confidently tell you this stuff works. All it does is clean metal parts and seals. Piston rings can get gunked up too. After the seals are clean they can return to their original shape. This stuff doesn't swell seals either (which I like). I've used it in many engines over the years and have had great success... almost astonishing in some cases. I hate sounding like a snake oil salesman. And I'm not endorsing the company. It's just the only thing that has worked for me. The last one I tried it on was an 88 F250. It wouldn't idle without the oil pressure dropping to zero and I really thought the motor was trashed. It was just severely sludged up. After the first treatment it was a major improvement. A second treatment yielded even more improvement. It's worth a shot. And please don't think I'm one of those guys who go around talking about this stuff. I really don't! I've only ever recommended this additive. I've done before and after compression tests when using this stuff and was blown away. Auto RX won't revive worn out parts. But if sludge and deposits are the problem, it'll remedy those. It's also stopped several leaks for me in the past. My Sequoia had a leaky transfer case and it stopped the leak. As Snooz mentioned, a compression test is certainly the place to start.


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TravisC
03-04-2015, 02:45 PM
so it's been a while since i updated this so i suppose it's about time

i have NOT done any of the things i have said i would because after getting my car back from getting that front main seal changed i have had nothing but problem after problem.

my front axle now pops on every turn, and even for a good ways going straight right after a turn.

im still losing ALOT of oil, about a quart every 2 days.

and as of today my battery light came on. alternator was replaced 6 months ago. battery is only a year and a half old. and after some inspection i found some oil on the alternator belt... that scares me because if its leaking that close to the alternator, what if it had already leaked onto it? because it's a carb car i cant just take the alternator off easily, it's practically buried. at this point im about to give up... it's been doing nothing but draining my money... im beginning to have a hard time paying bills because of it...

funny little side note... due to the alternator not charging the battery my idle goes up extremely high, like 3k in neutral, but because of this i have absolutely no hesitation or stalling issues what-so-ever

ryan427
03-04-2015, 04:53 PM
Ok so oil on the alternator belt is tell tale of a leak behind the timing cover. Oil pump seal, cam seal, crank seal or all of the above. Mine is in the shop for that right now. Oil was slinging all over the bottom of the car. Losing lots of oil. My understanding is that oil all over the alternator causes it to malfunction. I had to take mine to a shop where the mechanic is charging me $375 to replace all of those seals, new timing belt, and oil pan/oil filter adapter seals. Just to give you an idea on cost of you don't feel comfortable (I definitely didn't) doing it yourself.

As for the axle... CV axle, ball joint, both? Or the steering rack?? I know... When it rains it pours. Hang in there.

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Dr_Snooz
03-04-2015, 08:16 PM
Have you done a compression test yet? If the engine is knocking on death's door, you're only wasting money by trying to fix anything.

TravisC
03-05-2015, 01:32 PM
i haven't done a compression test yet, i'll be able to do one probably monday so i will be doing that. hopefully i'll have the new alternator in by then anyway. like i said, it's only been 6 months since i got it so i am certain the warranty is still good. got duralast from autozone.

another little thing i noticed that may be something that is completely obvious to you but when i park the car, it idles extremely high, well instead of just turning the car off via the ignition key i can flip the switch to the fuel pump and let it just die. the only reason i did this was if i turn it off with rpms that high it will proceed to run-on for anywhere from 10 secs - 2 minutes. and it just sounded awful, i hated it, seemed like it was not healthy for the car at all. well after flipping the fuel pump switch off, the car runs good for about 30 seconds or so and the battery light goes off. with the key on ON and the car still running the battery light went off. could this be a sign of something?

i got a test done and with the car idling in neutral the test showed the battery was good and there was no voltage coming from the alternator. so im fairly set on getting another one simply because warranty is good... but could that little bit of info be useful in preventing my next one from burning out so fast? or should i just chalk it up to a poor alternator

and to be honest i was just upset when i posted that about my car. im not in any situation to get rid of it, it's my only source of transportation other than asking friends. long story short, even if the compression test comes back with bad results, im still gonna fix what i can and just ride it til the wheels fall off.

edit: thank you ryan for the tip about the oil leak behind timing belt, obvious and yet it didn't come to mind. haha will be checking into that very soon

TravisC
03-05-2015, 01:43 PM
im not sure exactly how it'd be on an 88 accord carb but i have replaced pistons/piston rings/rods in a 91 accord lxi and it was pretty easy to remove the head and valves and pull the piston out from the bottom. sliding it in up top and hooking it up at the bottom without ever taking the block out of the car

that being said.... i would at least attempt it, maybe replace the head or get it shaved, multiple other smaller jobs and hopefully that would fix the compression issue (if its not done any internal damage to the cylinders or anything else)

if it'd be possible for me to fix the car and get it good driving condition for under $1,000 doing the majority of the labor myself, i would surely try

ryan427
03-05-2015, 03:55 PM
Props to you for keeping a level head and assigning a budget. If the car is in good shape otherwise then $1000 is more than worth it!


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KillahKitt
02-19-2016, 12:01 PM
89 Accord carb compression test <60psi. Where do I start? Sole source of transportation and unable/unwilling to give her up.

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Dr_Snooz
02-20-2016, 03:15 PM
Where do I start?

Start by telling us what's wrong. Why are you doing a compression test at all? Is the car running rough, smoking, clattering...what?

Demon1024
02-21-2016, 01:22 AM
Was that done with Wide open throttle? 60 is way low, like I wouldn't think it would run enough to push the car

KillahKitt
02-21-2016, 06:03 PM
Well it was acting like a bad timing belt (it wasnt). Took it to a friend of a friend and I was forbidden from being a part of the repair process (sexist pig), but she's running again. No clue what all he did for her though.

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