Occassionally Car will "buck" under acceleration

[kw_da]

Hi,

My car has had this problem for a long time (5+ years) and I've learned to live with it. Since this forum appears to have a lot of knowledgeable people, I thought maybe I can get this problem fixed. I have a '86 Lxi Accord - manual, EFI, 240k miles. Occasionally - when the car hasn't totally warmed up, when I press the accelerator, the engine will hesitate and loses power... sort of bad if I'm crossing an intersection. If I give it more gas, the engine starts to "buck" or surge. If I press in the clutch, and rev the engine, sometimes the problem goes away. If I slowly press the accelerator, the engine will slowly accelerate, then catch. This problem appears to happen more when its cold outside.

My guess is that maybe a sensor isn't quite up to operating temperature yet, so the EFI gets confused. Another guess is that the counterweights on the distributor are gummed up and don't swing out at higher revs until the distributor warms up or they get thrown out by the high revs.

I don't want to take the distributor apart unless I absolutely have to - scared of messing it up.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[shepherd79]

you may want to check out the O2 sensor.
also check the temp sensor.

[88Accord-DX]

Bucking could be from a few causes.

Coil going bad, injector failure, bad 02 sensor &/or resticted catalytic converter giving too much back pressure to the O2 sensor. The O2 sensor will then give a wrong signal to the ECU..

Edit- the temp sensor is a fix for many problems also.

[HondaBoy]

possibley not enough fuel pressure. my datsun did that when the fuel filter was clogged. replacing that fixed it, but the tank is 30 years old and rusted so its getting clogged again. hopefully none of that has reached the injectors but i have 2 filters on it. try replacing the fuel filters if you have never done so. dont know if there are two on the fi engine, there is on my carbed model. either way its good to try changing original filters.

[kw_da]

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies. Just some thoughts - if it was the fuel filter (which I plan to change shortly anyway) wouldn't this cause the problem all the time?

O2 sensor - wouldn't there be some other symptoms? Will it not just fail all the time, not just occasionally? From what I read on the web, a bad O2 sensor would also affect my milage - still getting about 29 mph on the highway (I believe the gas they make us use in CA lowers our milage). A new one isn't too much ($20-$32) - but I'm not sure if I can get the old one off - never replaced after 240K miles.

Temperature Sensor - I guess this could be occasionally failing? Any other symptoms?

Resticted catalytic converter - wouldn't this also give problems all the time?

Bad injector - had this problem - the engine runs rough all the time.

Thanks,

David

[88Accord-DX]

I'm not sure what sensors are on EFI Accord, but I do work on cars. Some other things to look at are the, IAC (EAVC) idle air control valve, EGR lift valve, IAT sensor (intake air temperature) TPS (throttle position sensor).. Check the ECU for codes......Just some thoughts.

It is hard to trouble shoot cars on here from words alone & not using diagnostic tools & a visual look at it.