Well, in the two years I've been driving my Accord it seems I've come across the first running issue that started about a couple weeks ago. It seems that whenever the engine runs past 3,000 RPMs, the power starts to go really flat. I realize a quarter million mile F22A1 isn't making record-breaking power, but it was much peppier earlier this Spring when I first started driving it for the season. My dad, who drives the car off and on, also agrees that the engine seems much weaker. I find myself having to dig much deeper in the 'Rs to get up to highway speed than I used to and she doesn't even maintain 70 MPH as easily as she did.

The first thing I looked to were the spark plugs. The old ones had dark tips, but ashy looking ground electrodes and going by the book it was time to replace them, so I swapped them (NGK 5 heat range G-Power). After driving for a few days the engine still had the same flatness. I took a look at the new plugs and the tips are perfectly clean, but the ground electrodes have the same gray ashy color the old ones had. My dad immediately called running lean.

Tonight on the drive home from work I decided to give the car a WOT run from 5th gear to put the engine under load and see if there was any stuttering or hesitating. There wasn't any, but it nonetheless accelerated weakly as I expected. What I didn't expect however was that the more throttle I gave it the slower it accelerated! While running up a steep hill it struggled to do 70 at WOT, but when I backed off the gas it started accelerating again. It seems the more throttle you give the engine, the less power it makes.

Other than this the engine runs perfectly fine. Starts up every time, idles smooth, no CELs and never hesitates to accelerate (it just does so slowly LOL). Any ideas what I should start looking at? The sparklers suggest I'm running lean and I've heard the fuel pressure regulators are a weak point on these engines so perhaps testing the fuel pressure is the first place to start?

 

Clean the EGR ports on the intake manifold. Your 91 will be a little bit more involved than the "newer" 94-97 method out there.

Google t2t013.pdf and read the instructions on how to do this on the 90-93 accords. We can clear things up if you don't understand.

 

Alright, doesn't sound like too hard a job. I'll see if I can have a go this weekend.

Thanks for the info.

 

This is the slide hammer I use when I do my ports. It comes with three screws. Try not to lose them. You will use a drill bit just slightly smaller than the screw for the slide hammer.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/3M-Bondo-dent-puller/_/N-25yt?itemIdentifier=61760_0_0_