89 accord Idle and low RPM studder

[kcaudill]

I would like to introduce myself. My ride is a 89 Accord with the carb engine, approx 80k on the odometer. Yes 80k, bought from a little old lady the drove it on sundays to church :lol: Since the time that I have had it, I have replace both fuel filters, plugs, wires, rotor, and coil. However I have weird problem that I can not solve. It is itermitant, but starting to happen more often. At start up the engine will stumble and run very rough and when driving under 2k RPM it will surge and spudder, then ablove 2k RPM it will smooth out. Here recently the weather is getting warm and I have been using the AC, this will automaticly start the shuddering of the engine, it seems like when ever the engine is under a load it will shudder when under 2k RPM, ie AC, rear window defrost, lights on brake pedal pushed, anything that put a load on the battery. When accelerating through from idle to above 2k is OK. ,but if I accelerate slowly through the RPM range it will studder and stumble. I hope that this make sense. If not I will try agin :uh:

[shepherd79]

sounds like your carb needs to be reuild and readjusted.
just because the car has 80K on it, it doesn't mean the gaskets on the carb stayed like new. stuff gets old especially when people don't drive their cars a lot.
you can get rebuild kit from any autoparts store.
get yourself a can of carb cleaner and buy honda shop manual, because carb accord is going to give you a lot of problems in the future.

PS. you may want to replace distributor cap and rotor with HONDA ones.
the ones you get at autoparts stores, they can cause missfire and other problems. i would do that first.

[kcaudill]

What sign could I expect to see if I would need to rebuild my carb. Any help would be greatful.

[DanG86LX]

How are ur spark plugs? Remove them and have a look.. U may be running in 3 which seems ok @ high rpms.
Engine mounts?

[kcaudill]

How are ur spark plugs? Remove them and have a look.. U may be running in 3 which seems ok @ high rpms.
Engine mounts?
What would I be looking for? This tis the frist carb car that I have ever owned. I am looking to the MASTERS here on this site for the answers. I am very mechanical mind and can take anything apart and put it back to together, but problem solveing with this car I am not good at. I had just changed the plugs, the ones if I remember correctly were all a med to dark tan color aroung the firing end.

[lostforawhile]

ok simalar problem i'm really scratching my head on this one, my car runs fine most of the time but sometimes it will idle and sometimes it won't it will just get a terrible idle that goes away if you touch the gas pedal. i have completly rebuilt the carb, gone through the entire control system, all new vaccume hose, checked everything and it still does it. ruled out timing, ignition, it's got to be somewhere in this crazy control system. ideas? oh, for the guy who started this thread, check the vaccume controled bowl vent. that's the wierd looking thing on the side of the float bowl, has a big hose going to the charcol canister, and a small vaccume hose. the diaphram in there gets perforated from the fuel vapors, if it goes bad the fuel bowl won't be allowed to vent when the car is running and it will have trouble pulling fuel out of the fuel bowl, plus it's a vaccume leak. if you take the vent valve off and the diagphram looks gooey it's gone bad to look at it you take out the three little screws don't lose the spring in there.. if it's bad you can try carb specialists in marietta ga, they rebuild them on site with a core and it's about 94 bucks out the door shipped

[kcaudill]

Hey thanks for the reply!!! I am going out of town for training but will look at it when I return.

Thanks again

[lostforawhile]

Hey thanks for the reply!!! I am going out of town for training but will look at it when I return.

Thanks againi would recomend getting the chiltons book part number 6980 73-88 honda, there are a lot of good vacuume diagrams in it and it has a really good section on the carb and emission controls. the haynes book just says carb repairs are best left to a dealer service department. guess what/ most dealer service departments havent seen a carb in years. i would recomend buying a hand vaccume pump i've got an actron i bought it at nappa for about 40 bucks, that is the most useful tool for finding problems with these control systems, you'll need it to follow the diagnostic directions in the book. a lot of time those diaphrams go bad all over the carb you just can't tell by looking. that gauge will also serve as just a vaccume gauge. this is a very complex control system, just take your time and it's probably something simple, this was the best they had back in the 80's it's trying to control mixture and idle through a very primitive electromechanical system and a computer that has less brainpower then your average watch. but if you like to tinker this is a dream come true. oh, check your oxygen sensor, it sets the entire mixture though an antique unheated oxygen sensor if it goes bad there are no default settings in the computer, it just runs bad.

[kcaudill]

**************UPDATE************
Well I've done alot to try and resolve this problem, however it still remains as a needle in my a$$. One thing that puzzles me is that since the weather is starting to get colder the low idle studder is improving, hell even has gone away completely on some ocations. When the weather bumps back into the upper 80's the studder comes back or if I have to sit for a long time in traffic. I hope that this will trigger someones mind into that has had this happen to them. Thanks

[kcaudill]

Really no one to reply? Is this problem really stumping everyone?

[A20A1]

Well if it's heat then

Check your

1) Coolant Level
2) Coolant Mixture
3) Oil Level and Oil Weight

Like Lost said It could be fuel vapor in the float bowl
And the problem occuring mostly at higher ambient temps is a probable cause.


Did you test the vacuum diaphragms and thermovalves?
Did you test how much vacuum your motor was pulling?

Have you done any modifications to the car?
Like installed any performance parts.


Is your Air Suction Valve Working?

Is the PCV valve working?