Hello Honda friends,

My 07 4 cylinder 5 speed Accord is acting strange when I cold start it. My normal cold start routine is to start it, wait 30-60 seconds, and then drive off gently to allow the motor to warm up properly.

For maybe the last month or two, the engine will jerk and sputter when I first drive off, and then again for the first 1000 or so rpms of each upshift. The best way to describe what it feels like is what it would feel like if you were just learning to drive a stick and weren't very smooth with the clutch (been driving a stick for almost 20 years, so that isn't the problem).

It does this for about the first 1-3 miles of driving, then it drives normally.

I've tried injection cleaner, and I recently replaced an O2 sensor in the cat because of a brief check engine light.

The car behaved like this back with the old O2 sensor, and didn't really change with the new O2 sensor. I have no idea if that plays any part in the issue or not. The check engine light never came back on after I got the code and cleared it, so I don't have any codes to provide insight.

I would appreciate any and all suggestions.

Thanks!

 

What was the code you were getting? I'd scan it again just to be sure there isn't something stored or pending.

Does this only happen after the car has sat for a long time?

 

The car first threw the code on 12/10/13.. it was P0139 (oxygen sensor slow circuit response). I read and cleared the code the next day (12/11/13), and my check engine light never came back on. I replaced the O2 sensor on 2/16/14, and the CEL is still off.

I plugged in a code scanner again today, and there were no stored codes. The issue also seems to be getting worse and more noticeable...

Any thoughts?

 

Still experiencing the same symptoms, still not getting any codes. Any ideas?

 

Only running poorly when cold suggests perhaps an intake air leak or vacuum leak. When engine warms and closed loop operation begins, the ECM is able to compensate for intake air leak.

Check intake air path, vacuum lines, PCV, brake booster.

Mass Air Flow sensor (MAF) might cause similar symptoms but seems less likely since problems go away w/ warmup. Easy to remove/clean MAF sensor w/ MAF cleaner (auto parts).

Other possible problems involve Obd2 scanner and fuel trim observations. Do you have an Obd2 scanner capable of reporting fuel trim.

good luck

 

Thanks for the help! I'll dig through each of those suggestions and see if I can't get things back in order.

 

Finally had a little time to deal with this. I noticed that the problem was happening when I did a cold start in warm temps as well. Anyways, I made sure I had a fresh air filter, vacuumed the gunk out of the bottom of the filter box, checked the intake path for any obvious leaks (couldn't find any yet), checked the line from the brake booster to the manifold and didn't see anything of concern, cleaned the MAF, disconnected the battery for a while, and then did a PCM idle learn procedure.

So far it seems to be running well. I'll watch it over the next few days and see if the problem has been solved.

 

FINALLY!!!! Solved it. It was the throttle position sensor (or more properly called the accelerator position sensor).

Long story as far as the diagnosis goes, in fact the dealer couldn't figure it out. They suggested it was clutch shudder and offered to replace my clutch for $3,000. Of course, I walked away from that foolishness without a second thought.

Finally the car threw a CEL. Not sure why it took almost a year, but at least it happened. I pulled the code, and the code was for the TPS. Did some googling, and found that many 6 cylinder 7th gen Accords had the same problem, as they have the same drive by wire system.

Popped in my new TPS today, and the problem actually seems to have gone away. So glad to have finally fixed this!