88 Accord Ex-i stumbles and bucks

I have an 88 Honda Accord Ex-i, 5-speed stick shift, with 138,000
miles. I bought it new, and had so much fun driving it, until recently
when I start getting a problem that refused to go away. I love my car,
and do not want to get rid of it, yet.

I had a routine oil change at an Acura dealership a few days ago. A
day later, my car would stumble and buck when the I slow down,
approaching a stop sign/red light, or making a turn, reving down to
2100 rpm on 3rd gear. Or, shifting from 1st to 2nd gear at about1700
rpm, it would stumble and buck if I do not immediately speed up the
rev to over 2100rpm. When I slow down on 2nd gear below 2100 rpm, it
will buck again. It never did that before. The problem was not as
pronounced when the car was cold, however, after the engine becomes
hot, the problem would surface very noticeably.

The first thing the mechanic and I thought of was the ignition system.
We replaced the set of spark-plug wires which was rather worn anyway
(the plugs and distributor rotor was replaced 8 months ago.) and
reset the timeing. didn't help. Replaced the ignition coil, didn't
help. Replaced the fuel filter, didn't help.

I read in this group that the alternator "might" be the culpit in a
stumbling problem, though different. My alternator was replaced 9
months ago.

My car has been in the shop for three days now, and the problem is
still there.

Would appreciate any help form all of you.


moi

 

I can't remember if 88s are all Fuel Injected or not, my girlfriend
has an 87 prelude, and it does that, its an intermittent vacuum problem...

Gets worse depending on the temp

If yours is carburated, maybe it needs adjusting?

t

 

Since his Accord is an EXi, the "i" indicates that it is fuel-injected.

 

That was me posting about the alternator. But I don't think that's your
problem, which is limited to low RPMs. Sounds like a problem for the dealer,
unfortunately. It could be so many things.

 

I had the same problem with my 89 LXi, turned out to be a hairline crack in
the Dist. cap. I bought aftermarket.