Hey guys, I am needing a little help here. My 1998 Accord LX V6 is having some serious issues. When I am cruising (holding any steady speed) the car seems to drop a cylinder or two and the engine does not want to rev. If I stomp on the gas, it picks up the missing cylinders and runs great. Obviously I can't run WOT everywhere I go, so I am needing some help. Currently I am not getting a CEL and there are no codes in the computer. Also, the issue seems to be when the engine is up to temperature. If the engine is cold it does not have an issue. I have recently replaced the following parts or done the following services.

-Tune Up (Plugs, wires, cap, and rotor)
-Idle Air Control Valve
-EGR Passageway cleaning
-New EGR Valve
-New Fuel Pump
-New Fuel Pump Relay

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am currently borrowing a friends truck to get around, and that will only work for a day or two tops. Thanks in advance guys, I appreciate it

 

Have you tried using a fuel treatment to see if anything may be clogged

 

I just treated it 2 tanks ago, so I was assuming that it would be clean. But we all know what happens when you assume

 

When missing occurs, the obd2 monitoring system should store at least a pending code. Suggest having system scanned for codes to see if any codes are stored or pending.

Is Check Engine Light coming on when keyswitch is first turned to ON? If not, the Check Engine Light may be burnt out or disabled.

Checking Long Term Fuel Trim (LTFT) can sometimes provide a clue to what is happening. Advanced obd2 scanners will usually provide this capability. Post what you find.

good luck

 

I know the light is burned out on my CEL, however the first thing that I did was pull out my code reader and scan for codes. I found no codes at all. I don't have a "top of the line" code reader, but it has always told me stored codes. I know nothing of pending codes. Would autozone / advance auto parts have a code reader capable of seeing the pending codes and/or LTFT?

 

Most scanners will note if a pending code is present, so probably no pending code.

Check w/ AZ or other parts about whether they can detect LTFT. A trend can indicate problems such as intake manifold leak, fuel injector blockage, fuel leak, etc.

Ocasionally, a drivability issue w/o a code has been resolved w/ a new O2 sensor. If O2 sensor is over 100K miles, a replacement should be considered.

good luck

 

I will definately consider the O2 sensor, but for now and money's sake is there a way to test the sensor to see if it is a pass/fail?

 

In this case, the absence of an O2 fault code rules out a complete circuit fault or failure of O2 sensor to respond. The fault would be slow response time, but not bad enough to set a DTC. I'm not aware of any reliable method to detect a "slow" O2 sensor w/o sophisticated engine scanner.

good luck

 

The old-school method is to backprobe the signal wire and watch it fluctuating (while engine is running) on an analog voltmeter. It'll be around 1.v and fluctuating quite a few times per second. Most digital meters don't respond fast enough, but some (like my Fluke) have a bar-graph in the display.

Problem is, if it's slow enough to notice with that method, it'll probably set the "slow response" error code.