100 yard Car!!!

[Osiris]

Let me get straigt to the point cuz this is pissing me off. I know my car has the number one cylinder losing major compression (dont know why right now) but ran fine for a long time. Anyways, now the car starts fine, idles fine and drives fine till it warms up then it just dies. When it dies, You can feel a major loss in compression thru the gas pedal (like theres no power in the engine) then the rpms slowly drop till it dies. It keeps doing this on average now about every 100 yards! Weird thing is starts right back up evertime. Whats up with that? Ive checked both fuel filters and tried looking for vacuum leaks but nothing. Someone plz give me some suggestions on what to look for.

[joebeets]

I can tell you it 's not a compression problem. I've driven with only 3 cyls before.

I sounds like a fuel problem if it's so reliable as to distance/time, as though the carb bowl only holds that much fuel. Maybe the fuel pump only operates during cranking, once it warms up...

[Osiris]

Damn the fuel pump. :lol

How do i get to it. Can it be done by removing the rear seats and accessing the gas tank thru there?

[wprocomp]

yeah you will have to lower the tank too...and then it shouldnt be too hard from there...it might not be the fuel pump though,,,the carb may need a rebuild....its hard to say...it could be a ignition prob too..check your plugs,wires cap and rotor too..if the plugs look dirty go get new ones or just clean off your old ones

[Osiris]

Ignition is in pretty good condition. Dont know anything about how to tune carbs or how to check them but this really sux.

[wprocomp]

their should be someone in waco that can rebuild your carb for you...cost should be around $80 for a decent rebuild...or I could try and find a good donor carb and rebuild it and see how much it cost...I have part of a kit here but not complete...I will let you know

[Osiris]

thx wprocomp. two shops here told me they wouldnt rebuild carbs cuz its better just to buy a new one. punks.

[wprocomp]

thats bullshit..don let them feed you that...I will admit though they are kinda a pain in the ass to rebuild...damned hondas

[POS carb]

you don't drop the tank to get the fuel pump, there's a little access door on the trunk floor
it sounds more like a fuel problem to me too man but since it only happens when the motor is hot and you had bad compression your head gasket could be blown. One good way to tell (besides the lowered idle and power) is to check the water in the radiator for oil or bubbles and also watch your temp gauge, it sometimes acts funny (jerking) when your gasket is bad

[joebeets]

It might be the fuel pump cutoff relay (dash fuse box), which will stop the pump in the absence of ignition pulses from the distributor (safety feature). Either the pulses are not being produced (does your tach work?), or they're having no effect b/c the relay is shot.

There's a yellow wire going to the pump, under the left access cover in the trunk. Put the pos lead of a voltmeter--even a cheap test light will do--in contact with it, without disconnecting it, you might use a paper clip jammed into the connector, and run a wire from the neg lead back to the neg batt terminal. Should read 12 V with engine running. (Or else, you might be able to hear it pumping and can forget the electrical test.) If no voltage or no sound, put in a junkyard relay.

It's pretty common for solid state components like these to work OK until they reach a certain temp.
:pimp:

[smufguy]

here is a quick solution for u, have the car fast idle, then let it warm up and before it dies, get outside and have ur friend in the car to check on the rpm, once the car hits 900 rpm, ask ur friend to have the gas pedal steady on that rpm and not let it drop. Tighten the idle stop screw on the bottom left of the carb till u feel the increase in engine rev, ask ur friend to let go of the gas and unscrew the stop screw till it drops down to 900 rpm. Its probably that. If not, some or one of ur thermovalves are fuckin up. Swap time baby. whooooo hooooooooo,

[Osiris]

Let me clear some things up.
1.It never dies at idle.
2.It has the same idle power it always had.
3.Temp has always been steady.
4.No oil or bubbles in radiator.
5.Tach works fine
6. There seems to be no issue with ignition.
7. The car only dies after being driven briefly and then it will die in park or any other gear. (harder to kill in park then drive tho) but never has died idleing.

**STILL LOST!**

[joebeets]

OK scratch my first idea; there's no way the relay can know if the key is in the run or start position. Sound like it might be a fuel *volume* problem. Enough to supply the engine at low rpms. If so , you should be able to kill the engine by increasing the revs in park.

Maybe a clogged filter or bad pump.

[Osiris]

You can rev it in park all you want. It wont quit. But once it gets warm you can then drive it and watch it die every few 100 yards. Then if you put it back in park and rev for a long time it will die.

Filters have been checked.
Gonna check the pump now.

[meangreenLXi]

Originally posted by Osiris
thx wprocomp. two shops here told me they wouldnt rebuild carbs cuz its better just to buy a new one. punks.

PUNKS JUMP UP TO GET BEAT DOWN! What about a smaller garage, they won't do it either?

[Osiris]

Originally posted by meangreenLXi
PUNKS JUMP UP TO GET BEAT DOWN! What about a smaller garage, they won't do it either?

These were medium to small garages. The mechanic looked as if he had no idea about foreign cars, and this town isnt that big, so choices are a luxury.

[toastyghost]

this sounds a hell of a lot like what mine did before it died, with the only exception being the regularity of cutoff. it was a cooling problem on mine and by the time i had it looked at by someone that knew anything about hondas, the engine was irreparably damaged. if you can't fix it yourself soon and i mean SOON you need to have it towed somewhere. sounds drastic but when you hear the "if you had driven this another mile..." line from a mechanic, you will probably be very glad you didn't try to limp it.

[Osiris]

Well, I parked it for now, and i'll probaly buy a used motor next month.

[HostileJava]

I think it may be a fuel delivery problem. Try draining the fuel tank, if you have large debris floating around in there it will slowly be sucked down to the pump until it clogs. When the car dies the pump will stop pumping and release the debris letting you start the car right back up.