Yet another one of those sputtering problems

This is bugging me to death.

I am around 164k on the odo right now. I did a tuneup about 161k after the car went to shit hesitating. I just went too far with the cap/rotor/sparkplugs. Anyways, fixed that and everything is normal. I don't remember when I changed my fuel filter but it wasn't too long ago.

About a week ago, I was driving and the car wouldn't accelerate while moving without the sound of sputtering. The car would hesitate to accelerate and then around 3-4k rpm it would just return to normal. I've been driving for probably an hour or two. Also, I've tried to duplicate the problem and it has happened once or twice. I swapped the o2 sensors for the dc sports header (green to white and white to green) before this problem started and when I reverted it back (white to white and green to green) it sputtered even more. I kept it in the switch (Green to white, white to green) and it seems to operate normal most of the time. The car seems to feel sluggish but runs smoothly. this can be a false statement as I've driven many cars and its hard to compare what the accord is supposed to feel like after going through so many cars with more power.


Here is what I have done recently to the car before this sputtering happened.
-installed dc sports header
-installed shifter bushings
-realigned header flexpipe so it wouldn't scrape on my driveway

*note* I didn't change the gaskets on the downpipe, or cat.

That is a total of 3 times the dc sports header has been removed from the cat. Also, one of the studs coming out of the head where the exhaust manifold bolts onto, snapped into two. (the one on top of the EGR)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y61..._5568Small.jpg

I know this should be fixed., (the bolt has been ordered)


Questions:

does anyone know what my problem is?


possibilites right now from what I've read are thermostat, o2 sensors and perhaps something to do with fuel filter, tuneup


any ideas?



thanks guys.

any codes? when it sputters, does the pgmfi light come on?

hmm, almost sounds like a timing problem but it could have something to do with fuel like you said. have you checked your timing? have you checked your plugs?

maybe inspect your wires too and make sure you didn't toast one on the header somewhere.

must be that DC so you should sell it to me. :D a bad O2 sensor can and will cause a hesitation, but you should also notice power coming and going so like at 55mph it will loose power for a second or two then come back for a few seconds then loose it again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Strugglebucket

any codes? when it sputters, does the pgmfi light come on?

hmm, almost sounds like a timing problem but it could have something to do with fuel like you said. have you checked your timing? have you checked your plugs?

maybe inspect your wires too and make sure you didn't toast one on the header somewhere.

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no codes.. no light.

Timing is fine, i've checked my plugs and they seem to be normal and properly gapped ( checked it again)


As far as freeway driving, it feels normal. It just seems to sputter between 1800-2300rpm in 2nd gear mostly. I am dued for a clutch job soon but I don't think it has to do with that at all.

I had some hesitation problems similar to what you're describing before my TW sensor completely failed and the computer finally threw a code. If you've got a multimeter it might be worth a look.

have you noticed any change in your gas mileage?

when you mean your car dies, do you mean the engine dies and comes back?
i had when I would be doing 80 and my engine would die on me, no RPm what so ever and come back after 2 seconds. it turned out to be my fuel pump was burning up slowly.

if you have a miss during acceleration, check for vacuum problem. make sure all the gaskets are sealing right. if engine sipping air, it would give you some problems.

I'm going to check if all the gaskets are set in right. It doesn't die...it just has hesitation in the accleration. It seems to be less noticable in the earlier minutes of driving but it is apparent after 1hour or so of driving.

I am still stumped. =X

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Busted_Blue

I am still stumped. =X

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Running a little lean? Your plugs looked how?

Real quick try plugging the vacuum line to the fuel pressue regulator and see if that helps it. It should richen it up some.

Also Im wondering how well your vacuum advance is working. Those plates maybe hanging up slightly.


wp

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Oldblueaccord

Running a little lean? Your plugs looked how?

Real quick try plugging the vacuum line to the fuel pressue regulator and see if that helps it. It should richen it up some.

Also Im wondering how well your vacuum advance is working. Those plates maybe hanging up slightly.


wp

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Any luck??




wp

I nearly melted an engine trying to figure that one out..just enough spark to run..not enough to make any power.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Busted_Blue

I'm going to check if all the gaskets are set in right. It doesn't die...it just has hesitation in the accleration. It seems to be less noticable in the earlier minutes of driving but it is apparent after 1hour or so of driving.

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could be running lean. you freed up the intake and exhaust but the fuel delivery is still stock. either get an Apexi AFC, Walbro pump, bigger injectors, Fuel pressure regulator, or all of the above. but i'd start with the AFC first.

i felt similar symptoms to where i step on the gas pedal more and the car doesn't do anything but stay at the same slow speed. parked, my idle was high and lopy going up and down 1k and 2k rpms all the time. then i found out it's my fast idle valve. so you should try replacing that with a better one.

my acceleration came back. but still wasnt quite enough. i still felt a slight "pause" in the acceleration. i swapped my ECU and that fixed it even more. so you might wanna try that too. my car is back to normal like it used to. beating out stock civic si's :lol: .....at least from 0-60 cus of the 3geez torque peaking at an early 3500rpm.....after that their vtec's kick in and they start pulling on me. :thumbdn:

i had that same problem mostly in second gear just like you said, changed the O2 sensors and everything was back to normal.....

i haven't tried much yet..


Put in fuel injector cleaner to try it out. it worked out decently for the time being. Also tried unplugging the o2 sensors and drove around with it. There were still some hesitation.


Basically the car sounds like a 2stroke motor then suddenly it just pops and the car gains all it's power back in the higher RPM. I'm really confused if it is the o2 sensors or not. Even with it unplugged, it is still spudders.

One note: It doesn't actually act up until the car is running for more than 30minutes.

im assuming youve checked your plugs, plug wires. etc etc?

also, ive said it many times to other people, no guarentee that it is this. But check your coolant temp sensor, it could be bad.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by halxi

im assuming youve checked your plugs, plug wires. etc etc?

also, ive said it many times to other people, no guarentee that it is this. But check your coolant temp sensor, it could be bad.

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I've notice that my temp sensor on the guage cluster is always under half no matter what and sometimes near the bottom. I'll try to check that out soon.

so minor update:


the sputter is in EVERY gear now between 1krpm to 2krpm and just when I got come from work, the entire gear range of 1st had sputters. I am definitely confused what it is now. I don't have the money to just replace everything and hope for the best. Any ideas?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Busted_Blue

so minor update:


the sputter is in EVERY gear now between 1krpm to 2krpm and just when I got come from work, the entire gear range of 1st had sputters. I am definitely confused what it is now. I don't have the money to just replace everything and hope for the best. Any ideas?

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Yes I have an idea.......contact a dealership about the bad gas I told you about. Your injectors are clogged, and probably need to be relpaced. Shell was paying for this, so you shouldn't have to put any $$ out D.
Check into it bro.

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Originally Posted by 3gn86lxi

Yes I have an idea.......contact a dealership about the bad gas I told you about. Your injectors are clogged, and probably need to be relpaced. Shell was paying for this, so you shouldn't have to put any $$ out D.
Check into it bro.

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ok..i'll try that even though I switched to Chevron for about 3 tanks now.

well the only thing to do is check the injectors, injector resistor box, check the coil and ignitor and make sure they fire. clean the spark plugs and check the wires.

After running for a certain amount of time, see if your coil gets really hot. It should probably be pretty warm, but not too hot to touch. If it is, your coil could be having problems. Go buy a generic Accel coil at an auto parts store for $30.

Otherwise, your distributor. When the car heats up, the distributor heats up. With internals being nearly 20 years old, and 160k++ miles, they take a beating. Most Honda distributors can wind up going wacky as they heat up. Happens all of the time. The lawnmower sound is one or two cylinders not firing at all.

My old BS 225k mile LX motor would run on 2 or 3 cylinders when it started up until it warmed up because I had to prime it so much to start it that the plugs got, temporarily fouled (if that's possible). You're not running too lean with just an intake and exhaust, so don't listen to Iceman. I have a stock fuel system with a jdm b20a and I don't run lean.

Get a $45 B&M fuel pressure regulator from SportCompactOnly.com (45 includes shipping) and raise your fuel pressure a couple of points if that's really your problem. But its not. You shouldn't be running lean.

If you are, you'll be able to tell looking at your plugs. Too lean OR rich... Haynes has a good guide of what fouled plugs (etc) look like. Try that first. Then, I assume you already have tightened all your wires. Then try to see if the coil's too hot to touch. It shouldn't be. they can get real super hot when they go bad. The last bet is your distributor. That's what I'd put my money on being the problem.

good luck

well tonite i'll replace the coil with a good known stock coil and see if that works out. If not..it is the distributor as that i've notice is getting warm.


so far

o2 sensors checked out
spark plugs checked out (plugs look normal)
wires checked out
cap and rotor checked out


my bet is the distributor is going out too. Hopefully it is just the coil as I got like 3 of them working laying around. I'll keep this thing updated.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Busted_Blue

I've notice that my temp sensor on the guage cluster is always under half no matter what and sometimes near the bottom. I'll try to check that out soon.

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The gauge sender is separate from the coolant temperature sensor, but the worse your problem gets the less I suspect it. When mine was bad I would have trouble starting hot and irregular running below about 2k.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AZmike

The gauge sender is separate from the coolant temperature sensor, but the worse your problem gets the less I suspect it. When mine was bad I would have trouble starting hot and irregular running below about 2k.

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Well..the temperature has always been low for a couple years now so I doubt it is that. I just didn't rule out the possibility of it being the issue.




UPDATE:

well...check the wire connections and saw that the one that connects the coil had some corrosion. Sanded it down and put some petroluem (sp?) jelly on it to help it gain a better connection. Saw if that work.. no luck but it's late today so I give up. Perhaps I might need new wires? These wires are a bit old.

Well...after a day of driving, the problem didn't arise again and the thing I did was clean up the wire connections as well as replace the coil.

THE PROBLEM WAS THE COIL

The coil fired and everything but it was going bad I guess. Anyways...at least that problem is now resolved. :)