Hey, I am a regular at honda-tech.com and I was refered here to ask you a question about my car. Its been said you may be my only hope =)

I have an 88 Accord Limited, Carb'd, standard transmission...

Its a tricky problem so I am going to explain it the best I can. When I am driving in first and second gear the car realllly hesitates (more specifically when its warm). The best way I can describe it is compairing it to a fuel injected car, when you floor the throttle and then let off and floor it and then let off at very low speeds the car coughs and hesitates, and drives very jerky. My car is not FI but thats what its doing, We rebuilt the carb with new needles and float, overhauled the distributor, replaced fuel pump and fuel filter and spark plugs.

What else could be wrong ?? It runs good once you get speed built up, just at slow speeds (1-2nd gear) it really hesistates above 3,000 rpms...like there is no power...or mixture flow gets interrupted??!?

Sorry its hard to describe and I can't find a possible solution. Help please?!?

 

faulty fuel pump or accellerator pump on carb

 

Faulty fuel pump? really? we just did the fuel pump not too long ago and it was doing it before the fuel pump...damn those are expensive too!!


accelerator pump on the carb...humm now theres something to look into, i'll mention that to my mechanic, any idea how much $$ those cost? Now would that effect the vehicle more at low speeds then at idle?

thanks, at least this gives me some more idea on what could be wrong.

 

I just read something that the thermostat choke might be stuck?? or choke is stuck??
Ive heard its preatty common when the car warms up to run bad because the choke is stuck?? Any ideas?

 

Well I'm going to lighten the load on what this might be caused by and add some fire to the fuel..some of the reasons that this might be happening could be...

Vacume leakage on some of the many vacume lines
Leaking EGR valve..can be tested @ AutoZone when taken off the car..
Leaking head Gasket
Timing Belt worn and worst scenero...Camshaft lobes worn down..

WheelBrokerAng

 

Wow, that adds a mess of stuff to the list...haha thanks

Is it not possible it could be the choke??? Lets start one by one here.


Wow, i was thinking about doing the timing belt this week, however if it is something like worn camshaft lobes I will not bother and i'll try and unload the car..

the car has only 120k miles, do you think the lobes could be worn that badly in such low mileage? I know the timing belt hasn't been done in about 80k miles **(YES)**

head-gasket oh oh....oil is fine, no coolant in it and no smoke comming from exhaust at all, wouldn't i be able to tell from those? Ive also heard high idle is a head gasket problem, and it doesn't have that either...

Are you trying to scare me bringing up all this MAJOR issues?? If so, its working =(

I really don't wanna go throw a couple thousand $$ into this car.

Is there anyway to test which vaccum line it could be?

Thanks, i think....[:'(]

edit: sorry I really don't want to give up on this car but if its going to spend a huge chunk of cash on it. if its a head gasket then fine, I can do it and timing belt at the same time, however last accord i had the head gasket went on it and it was never the same, always idled high and ran like crap....any suggestions??

 

It's possible that the replacement unit is bad. a carb'd car only needs about 5-10psi fuel pressure. Does the idle loop at all? or is it constant and where it shold be? Does the car have an electric choke?

how many years ago was the timing belt done? The newer belts are much better than the older ones that required replacement at 60K. Now the belts are good for at least 105K and most V6 cars can go for longer than that...I have been told by my local dealer that you should have the belt inspected and they usually last about 120K on the V6 cars

 

Dont throw parts at it hoping to fix it, gets real expensive real fast. Diagnose, then replace the bad parts only. Some of the things I would check in your case:
Vacuum advance, hot air door diaphram, and choke pull off: Do they all hold vacuum?
Ignition timing in spec? Mechanical distributor advance weights moving freely?
Float level?
Rotor buttons can cause some very odd problems also.

 

Hello duster......

couple of things i would like you mechanic to chk..
one was mentioned already ,, make sure that the disgtr weights are not sticking.
but the 1 thing that i have seen a lot .. on the back of the carb below the idle solenoid, there are 2 vacc hoses, they crack and leak, have your mech chk those and replace ..
they cause the exact problem that you are describing

try that and let us know .. we will go from there ..

 

Ok guys thanks so much for your help!!

YeuEmMaiMai: It only does this when the car is warmed up to operating temperature. When the car i cold it runs perfect. Once it gets warmed up is when the problem starts. The timing belt hasn't been done for about 70k miles so im sure its time for a replace and i was going to do that this week, however if its something major im just going to unload the car.

Chiovnidca: I don't wanna throw parts at it, most of the parts we threw at it were just parts that needed to be done, ie plugs and wires and rotors. We did the fuel pump because it actually died and the car would not start. Distributor wieghts and again the choke is mentioned. I will have those checked out.

deserthonda: I will have him check the vacc hoses you speak of below the idle solenoid, thanks so much for your help.

thanks everyone!