The car is a 2002 Accord EX Coupe, 4 cylinder VTEC Automatic Transmission with 143k miles. About 3 weeks ago I got a cylinder misfire code and I had a friend replace some of the valves in the engine that were cracked/stuck open causing bad or no compression. After putting everything back together the engine started fine, ran perfectly, had normal mpg and no noticeable issues. Within a week I noticed that every now and then the engine would act like it was going to stall but didn't. This would happen while idling and the rpm would drop causing the engine to rumble but never stalled. This would also occasionally happen on the highway and the rpm would drop and the car would lurch a little from the engine shaking like it was stalling but would then recover. These problems occurred maybe every third time I would drive. Now the problem is much worse. The car now does stall when these symptoms start and also has trouble starting and is getting lower mpg. Sometimes it will not start without me pumping the gas. Also, I noticed when I am driving and the car starts lurching from the engine stalling if I shift into neutral the speedometer goes crazy jumping around. This seems like some combination of the engine not getting the right gas and some kind of instrument sensor error. The only other strange things that have occurred is one day the alarm went off for no reason and after it stopped my alarm light would not come on after locking the doors. This problem stopped and the alarm system seems to be working fine. Any thoughts?

 

I would stop by a parts store and have the codes read again. Also have the test the batter and alternator.

I would also disconnect the battery and clean all ends of both battery cables. Then reconnect the battery.

Look around the are where you did the work to make sure that you reattached any ground wires. Even if they are attached, you may want to clean them up with a wire brush or some sandpaper.

Can you get the car to act up by shaking the key while the engine is running?

 

My 99' accord was misfiring to and end up being the rotor button.i ended up buying new plugs,wires,ignition coil and button.everything runs good now.hope this helps.

 

Car won't start for more than a few seconds now but when it does it run fine until stalling. Checked electrical connections and a couple plugs weren't getting spark. Wires were fine. Swapped out distributor system and no improvement. Looked at the main relay and there was green corrosion. Other terminals were fine. Picking up new relay and trying that. Any thoughts?

 

How are you testing for spark?

What parts of the distributor did you swap out?

 

We are just using a screwdriver to test for spark. We swapped in an entirely new distributor, cap, and rotor and made no difference. It was not the main relay, changed that and still have the problem. Should I try the ignition switch? Can't keep it running long enough to see if shaking the key works.

 

Check to see if the blk/yel wire going to the distributor has 12V when the key is in the II position.

Do you have or can you borrow a timing light? You may want to check for spark on each wire using the timing light, because your test can lead you to believe that you have a good spark.

 

I will try those tests after work today. A couple of notes...the check engine light has never come on this entire time. When the speedometer and tac go crazy they jump up and down not just drop and when it stalls the heat gauge goes all the way up sometimes even though the engine is cold. I looked at faulty ignition switch symptoms and that seems like the problem but it seemed like in that case the gauges just drop from loss of power where as here they seem to be getting too much power causing them to jump up and down or all the way up.

 

Problem solved, it was a ground wire (duh, i know) that we had overlooked behind the intake manifold. The intake manifold gasket had a leak and was shaking which knocked the wire loose, not sure how we missed it initially. As soon as we fixed it engine light came on with the misfire codes. All is well now though. Thanks for your help.