I have a 1998 Honda Accord EX 4Cyl. The car has inremittent hesitation issues. It will always occur when the car is cold(shut off and sits for a while) It doesn't have to be cold-cold, just has sat for 20 minutes of so. when lightly accellerating the car will surge like it's not getting enough fuel. If you accellerate hard it runs fine, it runs fine after a few minutes. The throttle body is new (the symptom proceeded the throttle body change), I disconnected the EGR and it still does it. I am at a loss, any help is greatly appretiated!

 

Your description is needs to be better.

A surge is usually a sudden acceleration/deceleration. Is the car hesitating when acceleration is commanded w/ throttle, engine missing under acceleration load, or surging under load?

Have all ignition parts (distributor rotor, cap, wires, plugs) subject to wear been replaced or checked? If not, this is usually the most likely reason for drivability issues.

How many miles and has O2 sensor ever been replaced? Marginal O2 sensor can sometimes cause drivability issues.

good luck

 

The engine doesn't seem to be missing, it seems to be more of a surge. It is when it is under a load, when it starts this if I stop it will struggle when idling. I have checked most of the wearable items. The most peculiar thing is that it only happens when the car is cold (sat for 20-30 minutes), and only lasts for about ten minutes, after that car is up to normal running temperatures there are no issues. The O2 sensor may be due for a change, but the fact that it isn't doing this all the time makes me think that's not the issue. (I am interested in your thoughts. When it happens it is when light acceleration is commanded with throttle, when hard acceleration is commanded the car will take off like a rocket. Thank again for all your help!

 

Probably not O2 sensor, since cold performance bypasses the O2 sensor (open loop control).

It could be a bad air temp or coolant temp sensor feeding false info to ECU, causing faulty performance. An OBD2 scanner that can monitor air and coolant temps would help. I have heard of poor performance due to faulty air or coolant temp sensor.

good luck

 

I just had this same issue with my 1992 Accord EX and was getting the famous check engine light code 43. Most online threads state that this usually occurs from a bad O2 sensor, but I replaced mine about 4 years ago, so I felt that this was not the issue. What I thought was weird when the check engine light came on after a few minutes from a cold start the surging when away and engine performance was normal. So, I felt it had to be something else with the fuel system / throttle body that is causing this issue. WELL, I WAS COMPLETELY WRONG! Replaced the O2 sensor with a new Denso and fix the surging issue and no check engine light. Runs like new now with 288K miles on her as original owners. Just had to tell someone about this if it ever happens to them!