Hi everyone. I have a 1999 v6 honda accord. I went to start my car this eve and it wouldnt start. It acted like it wanted to. A jump didnt help. A co-worker kept trying to start it and eventually started smoking (gray smoke) but it started. He said it was flooded. I stopped at a couple of stop lights and it acted like it wanted to cut off. My car eventually started losing power and cut out in the middle of traffic. I had to coast to the side of the road. The radio still played and my lights still worked. It tried to start it a couple more times and again, it acted like it wanted to start but was not successful. Any ideas on what the problem could be? Thanks in advance.

 

Moved to the correct forum..HERE!

 

Did the Check Engine Light (CEL) come on while driving ?

Are the tune up items up to date?

More but lets start with these.....

 

If the spark plugs and or wires need changed, then It could give symptoms of being flooded.
Did this happen all of a sudden or has it been gradually giving you these issues?
How many miles are on the car?
Has the fuel filter been changed?

More likely than not, its not getting enough gas or enough spark.

 

@ positivj311, i dont think the plugs and wires have been changed in over a year. The fuel filter has not been changed. I have 330k miles on the car but 220k on the engine. This happened all of a sudden. Thanks for your help!

 

I would bet that a normal tune up would fix that issue.
Its probably not getting enough spark.
Maybe the wires and spark plugs need changed.

What I would do is change the spark plugs (with ngk's) and see if it makes everything better.
If so then change the wires too (with ngk's)...

It seems to me that it is getting spark but just barely perhaps.

Its really hard to get engine help when I cannot hear it run lol

If that helps then let us know, if not there are more things we can try.
But it would be best to start with the most likely things first. (Tune up items)


I LOVE these plugs


NGK Iridium Ix Spark Plug

 

@positivj311, i had someone look at it and he said he doesnt think the plugs or fuel filter is the issue. He said the plugs were wet, whatever that means and its like my car is getting too much gas. He had a problem starting it but when i got there, the car hesitated a little but started. He said he doesnt really know what it is. Problem is, i dont feel safe driving it anymore. I googled my problem. Do you think an egr valve would help?

 

Step back and lets think about this....without proper spark the plugs don't fire and end up wet with fuel.....

The first thing I asked was: "Are the tune up items up to date?".......are they? This includes the cap, rotor, check wires and replace if needed, plugs, air filter.

EDIT: second, sorry-first was about the CEL, but that didn't get answered either.

 

Like I said before "If the spark plugs and or wires need changed, then It could give symptoms of being flooded" which = "wet"
I totally 100% agree with poorman on this one.

And I also said "I would bet that a normal tune up would fix that issue.
Its probably not getting enough spark.
Maybe the wires and sparkplugs need changed."

And poorman said "Step back and lets think about this....without proper spark the plugs don't fire and end up wet with fuel....."

So what you have is two mechanics, who don't each other, who do know about cars, and are telling you that you have a spark issue.

I also said "More likely than not, its not getting enough gas or enough spark."

But since the plugs are wet we know that its getting enough gas.
If it was getting to much gas then the computer would send in more air to keep the engine from dieing, and your engine would rev up.

Spark Spark Spark is the issue my friend!
Maybe its not the plugs but as poorman said it could be other items to that he listed out.

When I work on cars the first thing I look at is tune items because its the most common thing that causes most issues to occur.