Hi all, first off thank you for taking the time read and help with my post.

I have a 97 accord EX 2.2L 4dr, 4cyl VTEC with an F22B1 Engine MT.

Problem: The car was fine as I was driving to work yesterday and while driving to the gym after work, but while driving home from the gym I noticed the following problems

• As soon as I started the car it struggled to maintian idle but recovered, I did not think much of it but when I applied my first gear and started to move I noticed that my accelerator response was sluggish and there is significant loss of power. By this time I am on the street and heading to take the freeway.
• Once on the highway at about 60 miles per hour, I notice a few jerks and the ride is sluggish. When I depress the clutch to change gears the car seems like its going to stall but it does not. Accleration response is still slow.
• Once I got off the freeway and as soon as I put my gear in neutral and slowdown I feel like my car is going to stall and once it is in neutral and parked at the light it is having a tough time maintaining idle.
• The ride got progressivley worse as I am approaching home which is only 10 miles from the gym and at this point I thought my car was going to die in the middle of the road.
• Once home I pulled in my garage shut off the engine and started the car, it was idling rough, I noticed a fairly noisy spluttering sound from the CAT, when I accelerate I have to press the pedal very far to even reach 3000 rpm it was very sluggish and I smelled gasoline which means unburnt gas from the tail pipe. No lights are on in my dash, which is puzzling. I will be checking whether my check engine light is working once I get home from work tonite.

Here is what I have done to my car recently which is 4000 miles ago. I replaced the timing and balancer belts, cam shaft seal, balancer shaft seal, crankshaft seal, CV joint, 2 front struts, front tie rods, front support brackets, distributor assembly, rebuilt the power steering pump with new seals, changed coolant, put new drive belts (alternator and power steering) and new timing covers.

when I filled my gas last time I filled the tank and then added a can of BG 44K fuel system cleaner which I do every 7000 miles and drove 120 miles on this gas.

I have'nt started diagnosing this problem as of yet and plan to do so tonite and may be get some codes. This is what I am planning to do,

- First off check my battery and make sure my CEL is working
- get OBD II codes

I will apprecaite If you guys can point me in the right direction. Will keep you posted. At this point I have a strong feeling that it could be anything from bad spark plugs to something wrong with my fuel system, exhaust system or ignition system. What puzzles me is that it happened so quickly one moment you car is fine and the next moment after just 30 min of parking your car is going to die.

Again thank you for your help in advance.

 

Get the codes. Check maintenance items like spark plugs, wires, oil level. The code(s) will help to begin diagnosis.

Have you ever cleaned the EGR ports?

 

No I have never cleaned the EGR ports since I owned this car. I bought this car in 2001 with 34000 miles in it. Now it has 180000 miles.

 

Google d8N-SE047VY

This is the video on your exact accord (94-97 4-cylinder). You don't need to remove the valve cover (as it is shown in this video).

Stop by a parts store, and have them scan for codes. Your connector is behind the ashtray. Post the actual code on here. It will start with the letter P and have 4 numbers, like P1234.

 

nice video dude, thank you for posting this for me. to nite is gone for me as far as working on the car goes. I am going to try tomorrow to take care of this issue. While I was looking in that area I found that my VTEC solenoid valve seal is leaking oil. Need to replace that. I checked the check engine light and it is not coming on.

 

I would still have the codes scanned. It is a free service at the parts stores and can help pinpoint a problem.

 

I pulled the codes both at Autozone and Advanced Auto, the only code I am getting is P1298. Electric load detector circuit, probable causes open or short circuit condition or failed ECM. What do you think might be causing this?

When I was replacing my timing belt 4000 miles ago, while unscrewing one of the sensors near the crankshaft pulley inside the lower timing belt cover, I cracked it. As it was a stress crack and it did not look that bad to me I put it back together while assembly and it tightened no problem to the specified torque, I believe it is the TDC sensor if you are looking at the crankshaft pulley it is on your left. Do you think some thing like that can be causing the detector to throw this code and may be causing this problem. I am just guessing here.

Anyways I will be looking at my spark plugs and EGR ports this weekend to see if I can make this problem go away.

Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you

 

Just wanted to make one clarification I did not crack the sensor just the screw hole in the sensor that holds it in place, it was not a complete crack reaching all the way to the hole, just a partial crack, I dont think this is causing this problem, as the code would have been something other than P1298.

 

If the sensor was giving a bad reading, then I would worry about it.

The code you have is equivalent to a code 20 on a 94/95 accord for the ELD. That is built into the engine bay fuse box.

I would download the 94 shop manual to try the tests. Go to the common DIY threads sticky on this forum, and open the online manuals thread.

 

I was reading the manual and it says I need a SCS short service connector to diagnose where do you think I can get that. without connecting this connector I did the ECM reset procedure and checked for battery voltage at the 3 pin connector and it is OK and checked for voltage between GRN/RED terminal and ground and I am reading exactly 4.47 V instead of 5V. All my wires seem to be OK.