I have a 91 honda accord lx with and automatic transmission. My car started runnin kinda rough one day and it would hessitate to accelerate when stopped and the engine would idle roughly like it was going to die.
The first thing i did was change the fuel filter, but that did nothing to solve the problem.
Next i changed the distributor ( the whole thing not just rotor and cap ) and still nothing.
Timing belts were next, it is still doing the same thing.
So i moved on to the fuel injectors.............. you guessed it, problem still there. i have tried putting cans of ' Heat " in the fuel, " Sea foam " everything but it still does the same thing.
What am i missing here?
Is it possible the catalytic convertor is clogged?
Please let me know if you have had this problem and what can be done to resolve the issue.
Thanks in advance !!!!

 

like i always preach DIAGNOSE before you waste time and money.........i am not adding salt to a wound but you have done just that ,,,,i wish that you had come in here earlier

car missing on 1 cyl ?? all cylinders ?? you did so much and yet did not mention about the spark plugs and wires

have you checked the plugs?? Plug wires?? tight valves?? egr operation ( valve sticking open )?? if they are ok,, do a compression test ,

if the cat were plugged engine would bog down on accell , have hardly any power ...

 

I will give you an easy way to figure out your Honda, which is what we did at the dealership I used to work at. You first want to see if you have an engine miss. We would brake torque the motor. Which is foot on brake car in gear give it some RPM, but not enough that the car is moving. Two grand maybe. If there is no miss the engine should be smooth. If you have a miss you need to sort out which cylinder is the problem. Remove the spark plug wires from distributor cap one at a time and put them back in loosely . You then have someone start up the car and do the brake torque while you pull out and replace each wire noting the change in the engine. The engine miss is the one or two that make the lease difference in rpm loss and smoothness. There are pliers made to remove the wires and not get shocked which are all plastic and Sears and many auto parts stores have them. After you have the cylinder with the problem you do a compression test and if that is good you are down to spark and fuel for that cylinder. This is a little out of order but when you pull the wire from the distributor and reinstall you will hear the spark as the wire enters the cap. This brings you down to fuel and the spark plug from that cylinder.

All this cost is a few dollars for the pliers. I would not try it without them.

If you don’t have a engine miss you now looking at something that affects all cylinders, that is another discussion.

 

I did the brake test you described and the engine doesnt miss at all, and i forgot to mention the plugs and wires are new as well. I drove it this morning and i gave it gas and it bogged down the engine, and when i applied more gas it didnt gain power, it just built up speed at a really slow pace. Im lost !!!

 

Have you check the fuel pump ? possibly weak fuel pump and check your plugs color, if white deposit built up then you are running lean.

 

This is the other discussion. What do the spark plugs look like?

 

spark plugs look as good as the day i put them in.

 

If the plugs were white or black that would give some clue. Are there any codes from the computer? You will want to see what your fuel pressure is at some point also. The catalytic converter will usually turn red from heat if clogged after driving awhile but not always and if this happens it doesn’t mean the converter is bad. The engine running poorly will temporally overheat the convertor also.

 

1 way to test for a plugged convert is to disconnect the frt exh pipe right before it bolts to the convert,,,,try this and see if it makes a difference ,,,,,,you might also want to chk fuel pressure