STi-Thrill

Very odd problem here which I can't really put my finger on. My 94 Accord LX, when a tad below 1/4 of a tank of gas, when going DOWN a hill, stutters and almost dies when coming to a stop. There were times when the car actually did shut off completely, but most of the time it stutters (as if about to stall out, but it's in neutral!) and when the car completely stops it jumps up to about 1,100 RPM then settles back down to normal idle.


Am I just running out of gas? I've never had a problem like this with any car, ever - nor have I heard or read about it either on this forum or any forum.


PS: When going down a hill, the gas needle goes way down as if the tank is empty but it isn't, there is still a few gallons left - and the gas light is not on during any of these episodes.


The ****!??!

MAD_MIKE

Some vehicles have pickup issues like this when below 1/4 tank. Its best you do not run the tank low as you may begin to pickup any crud that may be at the bottom of the tank. This can clog the sock.

Do a little math next time you are at the pump. Fill up the tank as usual and then drive til you reach the 1/2 mark on the fuel gauge. Refill the tank again and see how many gallos/litres it takes. The 1/2 mark may be more or less than half the tank. If so the 1/4 mark may be less than an actual 1/4 tank. Extreme angles and low fuel will exacerbate fuel pickup issues.

phootbag

I have had my 94 accord not-start after parking face-down on a hill with 1/4 tank of gas before.

STi-Thrill

This has happened to me as well - the gas light was not on and I had just a little bit under 1/4 of a tank.



This is disappointing, I wasn't expecting this from a Honda.

STi-Thrill

So I think I may have fixed this problem. I was planning on trading in the car for something else, so I've been slowly returning it back to stock. I put the stock air intake back on, replugged the wires to the little grips/holders on the intake hose connecting to the throttle body, and this 1/4 of a tank nonsense is gone. I drove around on E for a while, once or twice - down hill, rough braking I tested it all! And it never even hesitated!



Now to just fix the rough idle.

STi-Thrill

Update::: It had nothing to do with the air intake.


The Fix: I tried correcting the rough idle by adjusting the idle screw (opening it up a lot more) - so I set it all the way back to stock and the "stalling down the hill" crap has seemed to stop. It may stutter going down a hill when super low on gas, but that's about it; the car is 17 years old.


Also, gas mileage shot up. I'd normally get 330 miles out of a tank, now I get over 400.