Hi all
I've had my 6th gen Accord for 7 months - it's the 1.8S with 112k on the clock. It came with full service history (but not a very good one, it transpires). I'll get in it first thing in the morning and it's fine - for about 400 yards. Then, when changing up (most noticeably 1st, 2nd and 3rd) it stutters and hesitates, seemingly around 1500 to 2000 rpm. So the process is - I'm at a roundabout, go for a gap by applying revs and letting out the clutch. The car takes off, then the revs drop and the car stutters. Scary, half way across! I then have to depress the clutch a bit and give it plenty more revs, let off on the clutch and I'm off. Once the car is up to temperature, it behaves itself much better, but can still display the symptoms. I'm after some clues as to what's causing it, so here's what I've done / noticed with it.
I gave it a full service - oil, filter, spark plugs, ht leads, air filter, fuel filter. The fuel filter had never been changed. The consumables were cheapies (and to be fair I've stuck cheapies on too...). Most scary was the spark plugs. When I first opened the bonnet, I noticed the lead to #3 was sitting a bit high - there's good reason for that. I took out #1, #2, #4 no problem, but #3 was cross threaded. Plenty of WD40 and forward and backwards, it finally came out. Of the 4 plugs, three were different brands / part numbers, and I reckon the garage had ballsed up #3 years ago and never changed it. Dodgy cowboys... The new one into #3 seemed to go in okay, all things considered, although not as smoothly as the others. I've had a look at the distributor cap and rotor - seem okay. I've took the EGR valve off and gave it a clean, but it didn't seem unduly blocked. I've not cleaned the EGR plate - not sure I fancy tackling that...
So - what else can I look at? Reading the forums, I'm suspecting the Oxygen / lambda sensor, although I'm struggling to locate it. Should I have one, or two i.e. pre and post cat? There doesn't seem to be one at the front of the engine in the manifold - any light to shed? Other suspects - EGR plate? But as I said, the valve wasn't blocked. I was wondering about checking the OBD, but mine's pre-OBD2(?) i.e. there's no connector in the passenger footwell behind that tab of carpet. However, I located the blue 2 pin connector when I replaced the cabin filter - is it as case of short the 2 pins out, switching on the ignition and counting the flashes?
Hope some of you experts can cast some light on this, before I get caught out on a roundabout!
I've had my 6th gen Accord for 7 months - it's the 1.8S with 112k on the clock. It came with full service history (but not a very good one, it transpires). I'll get in it first thing in the morning and it's fine - for about 400 yards. Then, when changing up (most noticeably 1st, 2nd and 3rd) it stutters and hesitates, seemingly around 1500 to 2000 rpm. So the process is - I'm at a roundabout, go for a gap by applying revs and letting out the clutch. The car takes off, then the revs drop and the car stutters. Scary, half way across! I then have to depress the clutch a bit and give it plenty more revs, let off on the clutch and I'm off. Once the car is up to temperature, it behaves itself much better, but can still display the symptoms. I'm after some clues as to what's causing it, so here's what I've done / noticed with it.
I gave it a full service - oil, filter, spark plugs, ht leads, air filter, fuel filter. The fuel filter had never been changed. The consumables were cheapies (and to be fair I've stuck cheapies on too...). Most scary was the spark plugs. When I first opened the bonnet, I noticed the lead to #3 was sitting a bit high - there's good reason for that. I took out #1, #2, #4 no problem, but #3 was cross threaded. Plenty of WD40 and forward and backwards, it finally came out. Of the 4 plugs, three were different brands / part numbers, and I reckon the garage had ballsed up #3 years ago and never changed it. Dodgy cowboys... The new one into #3 seemed to go in okay, all things considered, although not as smoothly as the others. I've had a look at the distributor cap and rotor - seem okay. I've took the EGR valve off and gave it a clean, but it didn't seem unduly blocked. I've not cleaned the EGR plate - not sure I fancy tackling that...
So - what else can I look at? Reading the forums, I'm suspecting the Oxygen / lambda sensor, although I'm struggling to locate it. Should I have one, or two i.e. pre and post cat? There doesn't seem to be one at the front of the engine in the manifold - any light to shed? Other suspects - EGR plate? But as I said, the valve wasn't blocked. I was wondering about checking the OBD, but mine's pre-OBD2(?) i.e. there's no connector in the passenger footwell behind that tab of carpet. However, I located the blue 2 pin connector when I replaced the cabin filter - is it as case of short the 2 pins out, switching on the ignition and counting the flashes?
Hope some of you experts can cast some light on this, before I get caught out on a roundabout!