I have a 1995 Honda Accord EX wagon, 2.2-4cyl, AT, 242K on the clock. Within the last few weeks the car has been hesitating under acceleration, but only intermittently. It seems to happen most often from a dead stop (like at a traffic light), and seems most pronounced when I bring the car to a dead stop (or very close to it), then hit the accelerator immediately. Also seems to happen more often under heavy acceleration (in other words, if I pull away from a dead stop slowly, the car accelerates fine). Since I tend to have a heavier foot, I notice the problem more often than not.

I've owned the car since it had 59K on it. It has never had a valve adjustment, or replacement of the fuel filter. Plugs have been changed, but not the distributor cap, rotor, or wires (I don't think the cap is cracked; I sprayed water on it from a water bottle while the car was running to see if there were any arcs due to cracks). I know I'm way past due on replacing/fixing all of these things.

Any clue as to what's going on? What the most likely culprit would be? One or more of the things I mentioned above? Or something else?

 

Is car missing under load when attempting to accelerate or simply hesitating/sagging below expected acceleration?

Missing would be cause to perform maintenance on wires, plugs, distributor cap, and rotor. Unless valve are making noise, suggest leaving them alone.

Hesitation is usually an overlean condition, where engine is partially stalling due to excess air. This can be caused by intake air leaks, stuck EGR valve, PCV fault, etc. Inspection of intake air, EGR, and PCV systems for leaks is diagnostic. Use water or throttle body cleaner and listen for change in engine idle response to indicate uptake of fluid.

good luck

 

Thanks for the help guys.

Since the problem seemed to be more of a missing issue, I went ahead and did a cap/rotor/plugs/wires tuneup. I also replaced the valve cover gasket (which was leaking oil at the distributor end of the valve cover), and checked the valves for any adjustment issues (which there was very little). The verdict: No more hesitation issues. Drove the car on a 700+ round trip over the next four days with no problems.