Stalling issue ('87 Accord LX)

[Snowfox]

Mmm'kay, where to begin....bought this car about a year ago, 248k miles on it now, the engine and carb have never given me problems until a couple of weeks ago. Idles fine, runs fine, then occasionally decides to stall in first through third gears at just about any RPM. Putting the clutch in immediately kills the engine. Giving it a little gas causes it to stutter, stalling then spiking to 2500-3000 RPM, at which point I can put the clutch all the way in and the engine will return to idle and be completely fine....After stalling out, occasionally the car just refuses to restart, if I leave it for a couple hours, it'll start right up without problems.
Took it to a mechanic, they couldn't get the car to repeat this problem. Took it to another mechanic and they said it was my AC condenser dragging the engine down (which it does seem to do, to be fair...), but this issue is occurring without my AC even running. Electrical seems fine, and I am not losing current when it dies. Vacuum hoses seem okay, distributor cap seems okay, spark plugs are relatively new....I have a minor oil leak that seems to be from the valve cover grommets, which I'm replacing tomorrow (not that that has anything to do with it...?)... I cleaned the carb with carb cleaner, and it idles much better than it did before, but I'm having the same issue, stalling while the engine has any sort of load on it (be it from the AC or while in gear).
It'll be completely fine, and run like a champion for days, then just decide it's done, and stall. To repeat, it seems to primarily stall when the engine is under load, between idle and 2500 RPM (or while the AC is running, it has only died on me once without any load on the engine), and occasionally will not start afterwards.


Help me internet peoples, I implore you! _(._.)_ My job is at stake...

[HLW]

An intermittent problem is the hardest to figure out. No power until about 3k RPM could be a vacuum leak which could be in the vacuum lines, the intake manifold gasket, the head gasket, the carb gaskets or any of the devices on the engine bay that the vacuum lines connect to. it could also be a clogged primary, the idle mix jets could be clogged or the idle mix solenoid valve could be sticking or not working.you could has clogged fuel lines or filters ( there are 2 fuel filters on the carbed engines). Their could be an issue with the pressure form the fuel pump or the strainer on the fuel pump could be clogged.

To find a gasket leak you can spray carb cleaner around the intake manifold and vacuum lines when the engine is idling and if it surges or stumbles, you sprayed where the leak is.

If you get the manual, there is a test for the fuel pump pressure and flow rate. the pressure should be steady between 2.6 and 3.3 PSI. The pump should flow at least 25.7 oz (760 ml) in one minute.

[Snowfox]

Thanks for the reply, and I will definitely check for leaks around my intake manifold and vacuum lines again, but like I said, my vacuum looks fine, and the first mechanic I took my car to checked my fuel pump (I had guessed it could be the cause, asked them to check), and they said it was okay....I'll double-check that as well...

It's not necessarily that I don't have power until 3k RPM, more that it tends to die in the idle to 3k range, though the problem -is- very intermittent which (as you said) has been really hard to find ><

If my gaskets are okay, my vacuum lines are okay, and my fuel pump/lines/filters/pressure are all okay, what's my next step? Tomorrow I finally have a day off, so basically all day is going to be dedicated to finding and fixing this issue.

Any info or tests I can do, especially regarding the carb. (which I know very little about), would be greatly appreciated, and once again, thank you very much for your response.

[Dr_Snooz]

Can you clarify? The car stalls when you put the clutch in or just whenever? Is it a clean stall or a huffing and sputtering affair? Does your tach hop around at all?

[Snowfox]

Just whenever,

Clean stall, if I'm in gear it'll recover and stall repeatedly (sometimes)

Tach doesn't hop

[Snowfox]

Checked my vacuum hoses and intake manifold for leaks, didn't find anything... Haven't had a problem since that post, so I guess I'll see what happens... Any advice is appreciated, and thank you very much for your recommendations so far.

[Snowfox]

After replacing my valve cover grommets and valve cover gasket, the engine is much stronger, it seems that the grommets may have been the problem after all...Thanks again for your suggestions!

[Dr_Snooz]

it seems that the grommets may have been the problem after all

Doubtful. It might be worth testing the coil. Possibly something inside the distributor is messing up.

What condition is the coil wire in? When was your last tune up?

[POS carb]

when a car runs like shit and then all of a sudden runs perfect it's an electrical issue 99% of the time.

valve cover grommets will not affect the performance of the engine, the only way it can is if your ground strap wire was loose and when you changed the grommets you tightened it up.

[Snowfox]

The distributor is relatively new, did that back when I first started having stalling issues. Spark plugs and spark plug wires are all relatively new, I replaced those around a month ago.

Replacing my valve cover grommits and valve cover gasket made the engine run a lot stronger, especially at low RPM. I was losing a good amount of pressure, and oil...not a fun clean-up job either, heh... Definitely have a lot more power too, I'd say it affected it :/

Sorry for slow replies, life and such. It really seems like a fuel issue, I checked my plugs, wires, I'm getting spark... The problem was beginning to be less intermittent, occurring more often while accelerating. When it started doing it again, I put the clutch in and revved, it'd catch and be okay, then die quickly as RPM rose. Push-starting it sorta worked (which I only tried because I had to go downhill to get to a parking lot after it stalled), it'd catch, die, catch, die. Friend of mine (ASE certified mechanic with more than 15 years experience) said it was my fuel pump, so I contacted the mechanic I originally took the car to...

The mechanic who looked at my fuel pump did not check the flow rate, only to see if it was running *facedesk*. Seems to have been the problem. Replaced it a few days ago, haven't had issues since... At least I fixed some other things along the way, hopefully this'll be the end of it.