88 accord running problems

Hi,

My 88 accord stopped running a little bit ago so yesterday I went to fix it. I went through everything and finally diagnosed that all of the sparkplugs were fouled. They all had a lot of carbon build up and smelled like gas. This made since because it was running roughly before it broke down. It would take a long time to heat up, and it would never get past halfway on the guage. And also the oil is very dark and I changed it about 500 miles ago. So I am running rich.

How do I adjust the carb for a leaner mixture? Also, could there be any other problem? It got about 30-35 miles a gallon on a 300 mile highway trip last month and that was right when I bought the car. In town it gets terrible milage. Btw, its got 200k miles and is a 5 speed 4dr.

Make sure coolant and oil are at the right levels and the water pump is working and such.

How are your cap and rotor?

https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44074

https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5350

cap and rotor are fine. Coil is good. Radiator fluid is bright green and at a good level. Fuel pump and filter are good.

.... Also forgot to mention is has slight detonation.

wtf? it says your a DX User when you only got 2 posts!?!?!?!?

detonation could be caused by a few things.
1. your valves have a lot of carbon build up. When it heats up it glows and that how it can detonate.
2. your distributor is too advanced. check the timing.
3. check the vacuum lines.
4. clean the carb or rebuild the carb (best thing to do). you can get rebuild kit from advance auto parts or autozone. it should take you a day plus you will be able to learn about the carb.

to adjust the idle mixture, you have to remove the metal plug on the back of the carb. You can do that when you rebuild carb.

I would change your thermostat as well.

I changed mine back in Nov. The spring had gotten quite weak compared to the new one. My car wasn't getting up to full running temp (as felt by heat from the vents) until I accelerated onto the highway.

That could easily explain your crappy in town mileage as the car would be running cold and therefore rich.