I have a 2001 Accord 4-cyl manual at 108,000 miles. Since Friday it is not running well. It was running fine all day, but when I drove at 8 p.m., it was awful.

While pressing the gas pedal, it accelerates soooo slowly - you can't even tell it's going any faster. Whenever it's around 2,500 to 3,500 RPMs it starts jerking (in any gear or speed). If I slow down to turn or stop, it sometimes dies. (This is especially a problem when I turn because the steering wheel locks up when a car dies... so I have to pay close attention to hurry up and re-start it without hitting anything.)

It starts fine every single time, but it is idling very quietly and slowly. And it smells like it's running rich. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but that's what several people have told me.

I am posting here because I have taken it to two mechanics in addition to the dealership and no one can figure out what's wrong. It has thrown codes related to emissions, but no one has been able to really fix it or tell me what the problem is because it keeps doing it every year.

A few other things to note:
-it's done this before - always in the summer time when it's hot.
-it doesn't do it all the time (maybe once or twice a summer for the past 3 years?)
-it seems to maybe fix itself after a few days of putting up with it (right now it's been sitting in my garage, and I have my dad's car).
-I had an aftermarket cold air intake installed about five years ago - it's been checked and supposedly is not the problem...
-About three months ago I had a new timing belt installed by the Honda dealership at which I purchased the car.

Thanks for any insight or advice!

 

Is the 'check engine light' on?

 

yes - it's an emissions light right now because I don't have a gas cap. In the past, when it's done this, the check engine light comes on and when it throws a code they never know what to do with it... they say it may be the cold air intake, but they don't know why. Or it may be something else, but they (the mechanics and the dealership) never know what to do...

 

A cold air intake isn't gonna cause you any problems. My take is that your cat converter is clogged. Take it off and punch it out (gut it) or get a new one.

 

well, a cat is possible, but a stretch. You definitely don't want to gut the cat though, because that will make your computer problems worse. What running rich means is that your car is using more gas than it is able to burn, so you are smelling it come out the exhaust. This could be any number of sensors causing this. The best thing to do would be to have the engine codes read again. There should be additional error codes showing what sensor is causing the problem. Even though the light has been on doesn't mean that there aren't additional codes that weren't there before. The only reason that the cold air intake would cause this problem is if there is a leak in the intake after an air sensor. Don't go changing out anything until you get the codes checked again (put a new gas cap on first, then leave the battery disconnected for a few minutes to reset the computer).

 

i agree...first buy a gascap, thengo to an auto parts store and get the codes read...

 

Thank you all for your tips so far.

I will buy a gas cap today after work and see what happens. I also plan to try driving it again tonight around 8 or 9 p.m. when it's cooler outside to see how it runs... It's been sitting in my garage since Sunday.

My dad also suggested checking the transmission fluid, so I may do that, too. Is disconnecting the battery the only way to reset the "check engine" light or can an auto parts store or dealership do it?