Hello everyone, i recently acquired a 1994 honda accord ex.It is my first ever honda.I purchased the car to fix up and resale but the more i drive it, the more i really want to keep it.I am fairly mechanically inclined, i recently replaced the heater core (fun), heater control valve and put a set of spark plugs in the car..This solved all of my problems but one.So when i purchased the car, the owner stated that if you step on the gas the car would stall and run poorly for a few seconds, then return to normal (as long as you dont step on the gas or exceed 3900ish rpm's).I noticed the car had a slight miss so i figured a tune up might solve the problem.The spark plug wires have been replaced before but the plugs were on their last leg so i installed new NGK plugs. This solved the sputtering, however the stalling still continues. My question to you guy's..Is this a common problem on these cars? the car runs EXCELLENT all day long as long as you don't go wide open throttle, then it stalls at 4k and feels as if its only running on two cylinders for a brief period (10-15 seconds) then returns to normal..things to note:

Car has only 75,9xx original miles. automatic/vtec 2.2
new spark plugs as stated, wires look good. distributor cap looks good as well. i have not checked fuel pressure or filter yet ( will soon).Oil level is spot on full and it has a fresh oil change. air filter good.

CHECK ENGINE LIGHT IS NOT ON AND DOES NOT COME ON WHEN PROBLEM OCCURS which leads me to believe a possible fuel issue?

any ideas?

 

Does check engine light (CEL) work? We've seen cases where previous owner removed check engine light to sell the car. CEL should come on for 2-3 secs and go off when keyswitch is turned from off to On. If not, you will need to repair CEL to obtain codes.

Since this car is obd1 it is not possible (w/o Honda scanner) to obtain any of the PID infor that is avialble from obd2 to check fuel delivery. Some things you can do are to check fuel pressure and replace O2 sensor if unknown age or over 100k miles (some cases of drivability issues have been resolved w/ new O2 sensor).

good luck

 

The check engine light does come on with the turn of the switch, along with many other lights and then of course goes off when you start the car.

I did not think an o2 sensor would make it do something this drastic? ill check them out though. Car has only 75,xxx miles

 

At this point chronological age can be as important as the number of miles driven. Said another way, yes, your car "only" has 75,000 miles on the clock, however, it is also 20 years old.

 

Fuel pressure can be checked relatively easily and this will ID if low fuel pressure or excessive pressure droop under load is occurring. Low fuel pressure can occur due to partially blocked fuel filter, improper fuel pressure regulator function, poor connection of electrical power to the fuel pump, and a weak pump motor.

Most fuel pressure test kits do not have the correct banjo bolt adapter to fit your Accord. They are available on ebay and elsewhere.

good luck

 

I replaced the fuel filter today.The old one looked to be original.it was full of contaminate as the fuel poured from it was brown.Installed a new filter, triple checked to make sure their were no leaks etc and decided to drive the car. started it up, ran great. drove to the end of my driveway and noticed i forgot my wallet at home.I put the car in reverse and backed up to my house, put the car in park and it died..hmmm..so i tried to restart the car only to notice it would not start unless i pressed on the gas some.Once started it ran pretty good, but will not idle.? checked for any vacuum hoses unconnected and can find nothing..i did remove the brake master cylinder and the brake booster line before removing the filter to give me more working room (big arms). any ideas? it was idling great before filter replacement.

BTW: car still will not pull past 4k rpm's..it stalls down and feels extremely weak for a period of time still. going to check pressure asap.

 

How's your cat converter? It may have went out and is blocking the exhaust. Would potentially cause loss of torque at 4k.

 

Its funny you mention that. While the car's running you can kinda "smell the converter" as they say..i am going to borrow a fuel pressure guage kit from a friend tomrw and if the pressure checks out good i might be checking up on that converter..the car has full factory exhaust but is still quite noisy for factory exhaust..Almost sounds like it has a "sporty" muffler tone. is this normal for these cars?

 

You could have a leaking fuel pressure regulator. Pull vacuum line and sniff. If smell of gasoline, the regulator diaphragm has ruptured.

Also possible to have a leaking fuel injector causing over-rich condition. Fuel pressure test will show if FI is leaking (pressure drops rapidly when keyswitch is turned to OFF).

good luck