Good afternoon from Florida!

I have read the stickys pertaining to new members, I would like to first say thank you for allowing me to be a member of this community. My name is Jake, I am on Active Duty with the Army. I am married with 4 kids. I recently bought a 1998 Honda Accord V6 Ex 4 door, with an automatic transmission. It has 200,000 miles on it. The owner took me for a test drive and it seemed okay. He told me it sat for a year and a half and had bad gas, he told me he replaced the fuel pump and the TPS sensor. But it was normal for it to stutter and sputter a little but once over 2000rpm it was smooth as could be. The test drive went great and honestly the car seemed fine.

The day I picked it up it didn't want to start, the engine was turning over but no start. After 3 or 4 times it was good but had a low poor idle. But just as he said once I was over 2000rpms it was fine. The day I got it home I have been unable to get the car out of my drive way. So when I start the car it takes a few times of turning it over and it will crank but as soon as I apply the slightest pressure it will bog down and stall out. Although it will hold a low idle okay until I turn on the AC or apply any gas. Once out of 15 attempts I can rev the engine up other than I get low low idle and stuttering with a stall when applying the gas.

So far I have replaced the idle air control sensor (the only code it was throwing). I checked extensively for vacuum leaks, I replaced the fuel pump relay. And my next step was to do a pressure test on the fuel pump.

Question: where and how do I plug this test kit into the fuel system? If anyone has an idea can you please post a picture or email/text me a picture of what I am looking for, I am hopeful there is some kind of valve I can plug into.

(386)365 6019 cell

By the way I have checked online in this forum, YouTube and Google I cant seem to find my exact model car with a picture or video showing me where and how to do this. Thank you all so much for your time and effort to help people out like me!

 

Welcome, and Thank You for your service.


One of the first things I'd do is either drain the tank and put in fresh fuel, or toss in a jug of Techron, or Berryman's B12, to put some vitamins back into the existing fuel.
As for installing a pressure gauge, you'll need the special adapter that only Honda seems to have (it locates under the fuel pressure regulator). None of the Auto parts places that'll "rent" you one has that fitting. BTDT returned it. I checked mine a little differently, in that I took the hose off, and ran the pump to see how many cc's of fluid it pumped out in the 2 seconds the pump runs. This gave me an idea of whether or not the pump was healthy. Since he "replaced" the pump, you have to ask what pump he used. Was it a Denso pump? or a cheap Zone pump? Stock would be Denso. If he used a cheap pump, that might be the cause. But, to replace the pump, you go thru the access hole in the trunk, so it's not too bad of a job to do (yes, I've dropped the tank on a 99 accord before, as I replaced it due to rust, but re-used the old original pump).



But it stuttering or sputtering isn't normal. You might try doing your first start with a shot of satan (starting) fluid to see if it helps get it to light off. I only say that as the PO might have replaced the pump with a cheap one, and it's not building up enough pressure.


I'll see if I can get you a link to the electronic version of the FSM (Factory Service Manual) for the V6 cars (Honda has 2 versions, and they're both full length).


Ok here it is;

http://www.gvrdeu.org/Honda%20FSM/Ac...0SM%20Supp.pdf


I hope this helps.

 

Thank you Toecutter, so I spoke to the previous owner and he said the pump was a NAPA brand pump not a DENSO. He said he pumped the bad gas out (not sure if that's true) and that he also put a 1000 miles on it before selling it to make sure it was worthy of being sold. One thing I found when I got the car home, he had placed a washcloth inside the air intake tube, flat not scrunched up basically he clipped it in there in such a way it wouldn't suck into the engine but was forcing the air to suck through the wash cloth. This was placed after the filter as a make shift second barrier? I removed it the day I got home and replaced the airfilter. The car was almost out of gas when I picked it up and I filled it up with half a tank of premium.

Now that you know all this do you still recommend the fuel "vitamins" and a shot of satan?

Second question: if I do the same thing as you and make a homemade connection with some hose and test the pump by allowing it to shoot fuel into a measured container would that information but useful to you all? I'm just looking for the pump to shoot out a couple of cc's of fuel consistently to ensure its working right? So I just turn the key like 10x and look for consistency? I am still going to stop by the Honda dealership and ask for a connection fitting to see if that's possible.

Thanks for all of your advice and guidance and that manual you linked is awesome!! I never knew that was even a thing! Hope you all have a great Sunday

-Jake

 

I can't speak for the quality of the NAPA pump, in that it might be better than a zone pump.
But yes, you're wanting to see how many cc's you're getting during that 2 second shot. The idea behind giving it a shot of satan fluid is to see if the engine lights off quicker. If it does, your pump might not be putting out enough pressure. I believe you need 45 psi to start, the regulator knocks it down to 38 once the engine is running (the regulator has vacuum applied). It might be more though, as those numbers are for a 4 cylinder model.
You can try and order the adapter, or even look at how the fuel system is plumbed, and maybe make some sort of adapter. For my 97 Accord, I was able to order up an adapter, then modified to to work with my old fuel pressure tester. But it's completely different from what the 98 on cars use.


You might also want to pull a spark plug and take a look at them. It might be time for replacement (get them thru Rock Auto and save a few bucks). Sometimes a good old fashioned tune up does wonders.



I have no idea why there would be a towel in the intake tract though. That doesn't make any sense, unless the air box was full of water at some point.


I don't think you'll need the vitamins, but I'd give the satan shot a try. You might learn something from it.


No problem on the electronic FSM. I've got the paper version for the 4 cylinder here (my 99 and my wife's 2000 are 4 cylinder cars). I got it thru Helm Inc for 70 bucks, and I've used it quite a few times. It's really hard to believe that manual is a "supplement" isn't it? But it is, all 1300+ pages of it. You have a good Sunday too.

 

I looked up the steps in that manual to test the fuel pressure and it requires a special part from Honda tool 07vaj-0040100, fuel pressure test adapter. The dealer wanted $112 for it! 😨😨😨 I was hoping to find some knock off cheap adapter online for $20 or so but I've had no luck finding anything at all. At the moment due to weather and work I wont be able to test the pump like we talked about until things clear up in my schedule. So please check on this thread because I'll be back soon with an update!

Have a great week!
-Jake

 

Yeah, Honda seems to think some of that stuff is made of gold. I haven't been able to find it cheaper either, so don't feel too bad.
Just let us know when you get some numbers for us.

 

Have been super slammed at work, this weekend I'll be testing the pump like we discussed but I had a question: my friend came over and plugged his computer into the car. We cranked it up (took 5 attempts) at idle and the short term fuel trim and long term fuel trim read -0.00. As soon as I applied the slightest pressure to the the gas pedal it stalled. So what does short term fuel trim and long term fuel trim mean? Does this point to something else besides the pump? Thanks!

-Jake

 

It seems as though it was the fuel pump. I went ahead and risked buying one without fully knowing that was the issue and it runs like a dream now! Nice strong acceleration, no idling issues, everything is great.

One thing to note: it still needs to be turned over once or twice before it fires up, I'm guessing that's because I bought a cheap pump?

Thanks!

-Jake


Edit: just in case anyone else is going through the same thing: rough rough idle, intermittent ability to rev the car up to 3 thousand and 4 thousand rpms, I could hear the fuel pump buzz when they key was turned to the number II position. Stalled when AC was turned on, if I touched the gas pedal car would instantly die but in the same 30 min be able to rev to 3,000rpms.

Diagnosis: cheap ***, weak as hell fuel pump not dead but not functioning at 100% or consistently.

 

When I changed the pump in my 97 Accord, I went with a Denso pump from Rock Auto. On that car with that pump, you can barely hear it run (engine off).
When I replaced the tank in my 99 Accord, I reused the original pump (the tank was bad not the pump in this case).
Just something to keep in mind if you have to change the pump, go with a quality pump.

 

Hey Toe Cutter I bought a 2004 Honda Accord Ex 5 speed manual, 4 door. I was wondering if you had a link to the full service manual for this car? Thanks!