1988 Accord going downhill??

Yesterday I noticed that my trusty old automatic Accord with 140K on it
would lose some power/speed going up hills at highway speed, and upon
applying a bit more gas, it would begin to make this muffled popping sound
which I believe came from the carb/air cleaner.



Not being a mechanic I wonder if this car doomed? If anyone would care to
please take a stab at what I should expect when I take this in for service I'd
appreciate it.



TIA

 

Has the fuel filter ever been replaced? IIRC, this Accord has 2 of them.

 

It has been a long time since they were replaced. That's a good idea.
Thanks.

 

From my reading, your symptom is the classic one for needing
a new fuel filter, like HT Misfit wrote.

But if the fuel filter has never been replaced, what's the
status of the ignition wires, plugs, distributor cap, rotor,
and air filter?

These too are going to affect performance. Consider
replacing all of the above with new, genuine Honda versions.
Cost is about $100 for all the above ignition parts from the
online Honda sites, like www.slhonda.com . They are basic
tuneup items and need to be done every few years, anyway,
particularly if one wants the distributor coil to last a
long time.

Ignition timing should be checked as well.

If this doesn't improve things, then for a car this old, I
would also be a little suspicious of an old, worn oxygen
sensor aggravating things. They are not too expensive for
your car.

 

blow back through the carb could be timing belt slippage. have you had
it changed recently? if so, it wasn't tightened properly.

 

If neglected maintenance is the problem, don't forget the timing belt.
I don't think it is causing the problem but its way past due if its
never been changed.

As for a wild guess about what's wrong (assuming routine maintenance
doesn't fix it), the catalytic converter could be clogged.