Car studders durring acceleration...

I own a 98 Accord EX 4cyl with 120k miles... I took a long road trip
about 6,000 miles ago and noticed that durring medium to heavy
acceleration my car studdered in 2nd and 3rd gear at around 3500-4000
rpm’s. If I baby it and accelerate with about 1/4 to half throtle
there is no problem. Anyway, I took it to my mechanic and had the
trany flushed and refilled. The problem seemed to be solved. Now,
while on my way to work thismorning it started up again. I just got
off the on-ramp to the highway, started accelerating into traffic and
all of a sudden the car hits 3700rpm’s and studders, jolts and slips
until i take my foot off the throtle and baby it through the gears.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Fuel filter perhaps?

 

Plug leads?

SD

 

It really sounds like a failing spark plug, but it could be plug wires or
even the distributor cap or rotor. If the plugs are old or are Champion or
Bosch (even if new), replacement is a good idea. Ditto with the ignition
tune-up parts. Lotsa experienced people here are adamant about using genuine
Honda ignition parts (except plugs... NGK are okay). I came around to their
way of thinking through sad experience.

Anyway, fixing up the ignition is a great place to start. I suspect it is
even the answer you are looking for.

Mike

 

I don’t know why that thought never crossed my mind. Thanks guys,
I’ll give it a try.

 

If the tranny flush worked once, it was probably the tranny.

My 1999 CL was the same generation as your Accord, and the 4-speed
auto really sucked as you described from day one. At 30k I had it
flushed on scheduled maint, and for the first time I could accelerate
out of cruise without the tranny slipping then downshifting two gears
instead of one racing the engine, and other crap.

I suspect *most* Honda products of that period have this problem to
one extent or another, and drivers baby their cars and don't notice,
or figure it's the engine computer or other intended behavior, when
it's really seriously sucky transmission performance.

The five speeds seem a little more solid now, but after they had to
fix or replace a couple hundred thousand of them on six-cylinder
engines, you be the judge.

The bad trannies are really Honda's dark secret.

J.

 

======================================

When you do a drain-n-fill on a Honda automatic it's supposed to be
three times, or four. You may have only replaced about 1/3 rd of the
capacity. Be sure to use only Honda Z1, no substitutes. At 120,000 MILES
and 8 years you owe your tranny a bit of care for sure.

'Curly'

 

I'm having a very similar problem with a much older Honda (1987
prelude).

I'm certainly no expert but in my car it seems to be related to either
ignition or fuel delivery because it sounds suspiciously like a car
running out of gas. I have a 5 speed manual transmission which
reinforces my thinking that it's not related to the tranny. I've had a
vehicle where the clutch slips and another where the gears are stripped
and it doesn't feel like that at all. It feels as though the engine is
just not firing due to lack of fuel or failure to spark.

I managed to download a shop manual which had a troubleshooting chart.
The troubleshooting table suggests any number of things could be
the problem when you have a lack of power at lo/mid/hi RPM
* fuel injector open or short circuited, stuck injector (they do seem
to be leaking)
* faulty fuel pump / fuel pump relay OR poor grounding
* improper fuel line pressure OR clogged fuel filter
* manifold absolute pressure sensor - open or short circuited, broken
or disconnected hose, faulty sensor