93 Accord 2.2 Power Loss
 

Hello all! This is my first problem post and probably only my second post on this forum lol! Enough with the pleasentries lets get down to business.

The car runs great....most of the time. Just had all the motor/trans mounts replaced. No vibration anymore! The problem that I notice now that I can actually put some foot in the pedal is that when the car is cold it "shudders" randomly when accelerating...this happens for roughly 1-2 minutes. Not everytime but it is happening more often. After that 1-2 minutes the temp gauge needle EXPLODES to just over half from ice cold, then returns to its normal 1/3 - 1/2 position when warm and running. No CEL or codes noticed. Nothing happens after the "explosion". Car runs like the day it was new. Has 252,XXX miles on it.

I like this car but if i have to throw any more money at it my wife is gonna tow it to the scrap yard using my...as the tow strap:shrug:. Any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for reading!

Humm, this is going to be a bit of fun.

First, the temp gauge would have me worried? Going from cold to "bam" over half and then down to a normal range. I hate throwing parts at things but I would replace the thermostat and see if that solves the one issue. Honda t-stats don't cost much more than aftermarket and is one of those things I would get from the dealer.

If the "shudder" is still there after solving the temp issue.

When was the last tune up (cap, rotor, plugs, inspect wires)?

When the car is cold you can open the radiator cap to make sure the water pump is spinning and moving fluid through the motor. Be careful thou do only when cold.

Also stated above It sounds like a lazy Tstat.

I would also let the car run in park for a while till hot to make sure the electro cooling fans are coming on

I took the Tstat out and put it in a pot on the stove....opens and closes as it should. After reinstalling the explosion is gone...maybe it had buildup in it somewhere. Water pump circulates...not sure if it is pumping as it should but I can see the coolant moving when the car is idling with the cap off. Noticed a lot of pressure on the upper and lower rad hoses....not sure what that means if anything but those hoses were like rocks with the cap on. I put irridium plugs, cap rotor button wires on a bout a year ago...might be time for another tune up. Noticed some oil around the distributor so it might be time for a new o ring or gasket or whatever goes in there but that's for another thread. Thanks for the replies. I'm starting to think it might be the ignition coil. The power loss is quite frequent now and more power loss. I had to drive my little frontier to work today. I'll repost after the coil is put in.

I'm glad you got the heating issue fixed. And is your motor a vtec motor. Because there's a vtec silinoid that usually leaks oil around the distributor. And I had some power loss issues a while back with mine. I did all the tune up issues and still didn't work. I ended up putting a new fuel filter on and it cured everything. Mine was so clogged it was bearly getting gas. Low fuel pressure. I would change that and see if it helps. Even if it does help it's a maintance issue that needs done eventually. Also pull your spark plugs and check the gap on them make sure their gaped right and check how their burning. The color of them will tell you alot. If it's rich or lean or burning oil or burning too hot or whatever. Post a pic of them and we can probably help if you don't know

Runs in park just fine but now I have the opposite problem...20% heat at max. I will replace the tstat asap. issue one down. thanks for your input! next problem is power loss. I pulled the cap off...there is a very minute amount of oil in/around the dist. so i doubt that would cause what im noticing....while on that subject...it seems to be only in the low rpm....maybe 10% throttle or lower that i notice the power loss. after that all is good. am I alone in thinking its the coil? thanks again for all your help!!! I look forward to hearing from yall

Soupy Octane

edit** I will try to find the time to pull the plugs and snap some pics this weekend. I am moving this week so its gonna be tough. when i bought the irrid plugs they said do not gap all over them....any clue what they would be gapped at?...pretty sure they are bosch irridium plugs.

it is NOT vtec! i havent checked the fuel filter...i bought the car from a doctor i work with who has owned it since 77k miles....where is the FF located?

Random question...I was thinking about a few other issues the car has....is it unsavory to post them here? should I post another thread?

You can post them on this thread. They may be relevant to your problem.

Was the car shuddering before the mounts were replaced? Problems when you are at idle or just opening the throttle would point towards vacuum issues like a maybe a vacuum leak. A bad coil would cause problems all the time and not just at low idle, IMO.

Iridium plugs have very brittle posts that snap off if you try to enlarge the gap
Also, I have yet to find that whatever s. p. gap has any impact on driveability.

Oil in the distributor has screwed up driveability in both Accord and
Nissan Altima cars. It gets worse with time, quickly ... disabled at edge of road.

luck.

EGR port blockage can cause poor acceleration from 1500-2000 rpm. Too much EGR is some port and none in others results in "lean stumble". Note, this would only happen when fully warmed when EGR flow is enabled.

Vibration under acceleration is also a characteristic of worn CV jts. Looseness allows joint to rotate "off center" and vibrate. New CV axles are cure. See my thread on this problem. I went through 4 Autozone axles before installing Raxles which cured the problem. Apparently it takes only a small amount of looseness to cause the vibration. This vibration is most notable on accelerations from slow speed or start, but will occur at higher speeds under heavy acceleration.

good luck