Howdy, everyone! Newbie here with my first post. Recently bought a 90 Accord LX w/ auto tranny and about 236K on it. Ran fine for awhile, then started to idle rough when stopped at a light or letting off the gas. A co-worker thought I had some moisture in the gas, so I bought a bottle of HEET. Also bought a bottle of fuel system cleaner (thought it couldn't hurt). Filled up the tank and dumped both bottles in. Well, now it barely starts when it does after an occasional backfire, I have to keep the RPMs up around 2000 or so. When you let off the throttle, or go to put it in gear, it sputters and dies. I am guessing that it doesn't like the FS cleaner/HEET cocktail I gave it. Do I have to siphon the whole tank out? Or is there something else I am missing? Not knowing the previous maintenance history, I was planning on changing the distributor cap & rotor/spark plugs/pcv valve soon, along with changing the oil. Anything else I should be looking at? I just want to get this thing running again. Thanks for your help.

John

 

They probably both contain some methanol to dry the gasoline (take a look at the active ingredients in each bottle).

I think that it is a good idea to change the routine maintenance items, so you can eliminate them as the problem. You might want to change out the fuel filter (read writeup on page 4 in the DIY section).

 

x2 .... I was thinking a clogged fuel filter as I was reading this as well.

It sounds like this car could be a candidate for IM and TB removal for bench cleaning as well. Then and only then I'd run seafoam too. Marvel mystery oil to clean out the crankcase for 1000 miles, a new air filter ....

 

Im also saying the fuel filter, I would do the fuel filter first and if that fixes your problem the tune up will just add to better performance and fuel economy.

 

Ok, I changed the plugs, plug wires, dist cap & rotor, pcv valve, fuel filter, and gave it a new battery. Started it up last night and it sounded great. Idled at about 750-800 RPM. BUT, as soon as I put it in either reverse or drive it stalled. Now it doesn't want to start. Any ideas?

 

main fuel relay under dash is a problem for these yrs, change it with a new one from honda
Frank Allen