so here is the story i was driving home Wed. morning in my 1998 ITR (with 118k miles) and my gas light came on so i stopped and got gas at the same place i always stop at. When i leave the gas station it kinda acts jumpy but quits before i get home, when i left the house that night it acted fine until i got on the highway where it started acting jumpy and kinda felt like i was losing power. so i put it in Neutral and it died so i cranked it back and drove to meet my buddies but it died at every stop light on the way and when i pulled into the parking lot. My buddy said i prob got some bad gas so we added some octane booster and it worked, it ran fine until today when i cranked it started ideling funny and started smoking really bad, if i rev it seems like there is no power and dies when i let off the gas. So i need help what the crap is wrong with my car.


Modified by journeytyper at 7:11 PM 7/13/2007

 

have you washed the engine recently?

 

nope and that wouldn't cause it to smoke

 

okay, good luck with that

 

LOL John, hmmm...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JjuuN R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">LOL John, hmmm...</TD></TR></TABLE>


I know... I'm a ********.

FYI, washed the motor a few weeks ago. Motor loaded up and spit and sputtered at idle. Then died. It smoked while doing that.

 

What color is the smoke?

A quick search for "smoke idle"on team-integra.net yielded this link
-In this particular case, the OP was having fuel issues as well so this could be a similar situation.

Search on H/T yielded a wide variety of results here.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Comp97GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


I know... I'm a ********.

FYI, washed the motor a few weeks ago. Motor loaded up and spit and sputtered at idle. Then died. It smoked while doing that. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm really sorry. i was really upset and i didn't mean to take it out on you, thanks for the help. i hope you can forgive me man

 

maybe you put a special blend jdm 87 octane leaded fuel.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rjgerolaga &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">maybe you put a special blend jdm 87 octane leaded fuel.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm leaning more towards him living in a very small town, and just a case of bad gas. I spoke with Josh (Journey) tonight, and mentioned that the last tank I bought from his town was bad. I had to buy a can of octane booster just to get the car out of the pump lane. This was from a BP station mind you, one (if not the only) major gas stations in his town.

I am meeting him for the Indy Race tomorrow and later this weekend we are going to get together and do more diagnosing. I recommended checking the plugs, ignition wires, and seafoam in the gas tank.

My questions is, adding seafoam to the mix of gas+octane booster isn't going to have any negative effects is it?

 

I'd just skip the Seafoam man.

 

How much gas is left in the tank? I suppose some Heet are something would be better to try. Before jumping into adding additives, I would double check to make sure that these are not bumping the octane reading excessively. I doubt that they would but..... you know.


Journey, It is all good. I take very little of what goes on H-T seriously.

 

are you sure it's the octane? I know that 92 octane is different than 87, but I don't think that gas would cause such dramatic problems such as sputtering and stalling. I remember that some guy on here an 87 in his car for a long time which is not good, but his car still ran.
It almost sounds as if you got some diesel in the car, which i guess could happen as a freak accident i guess. I'm pretty sure, 87 octane will still let your car run.

 

I am sure their thinking is water in the gas, not a lower octane.

 

My tank hasn't seen anything under 100 for the last 6 years.

 

Comp, ohh, I Guessed I blanked for a second, that seems more probable. I guess I got cought up in the whole octane booster thing.

 

thanks for the help guys i'm gonna try the HEET tommorw and we will see what happens

 

few years ago i used to owned an E46 M3 and yeh, instead of using the 93, i accidentally used the 87.Some reasons, i thought that all 93 is on the far right but i guessed some stations are different.The car feels like its losing power and doesnt want to pulled...GL with your car man, havent seen you in a while..

 

I have had the same problem before ... its a bad tank of gas... go to a different gas station when you have room in your tank and put some of theres in it, its a temporary fix until you need to refill again.

You should be fine.

 

If you think it's 87 octane, a gallon or two of Xylene or Toluene will fix it right-quick.

If you think it's water, a gallon or two of E-85 might fix it.

Also change your fuel filter sometime soon.

 

Journey lives in the sticks, but I have yet to see E-85 for sale anywhere around here. *Goes to google some gas stations. TN E-85 Stations

I'm curious what the science is behind adding E-85?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris F &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Also change your fuel filter sometime soon. </TD></TR></TABLE>

If it does turn out to be water, I would HIGHLY recommend the fuel filter, it's easy to do, and a cheap procaution.

 

already got one from Acura and gonna drain all gas sometime today or tommorow

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by coolhandluke &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm curious what the science is behind adding E-85? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Ethanol (Alchohol) dissolves water, and also mixes with gas. So, if you have some water in your gas, the alchohol will dissolve it and let your car burn it.

Might be a bad idea, though I think it'll work anyway... scroll to "Water contamination" section.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...gines

-Chris

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chris F &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Ethanol (Alchohol) dissolves water, and also mixes with gas. So, if you have some water in your gas, the alchohol will dissolve it and let your car burn it.

Might be a bad idea, though I think it'll work anyway... scroll to "Water contamination" section.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...gines

-Chris</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks, that clears up my questions.

Update:

Removed radiator cap and started the car (testing if possible head gasket issue.) No pressure or bubbling, everything acting as normal.

Heet was added and we let it sit for close to an hour. At this point, we started the car and let it idle watching the smoke. There is not thick smoke, but it is noticable. Smoke appeared white and did not have a sweat smell.

Car still dies inconsistantly during idle and when releasing the throttle at low speed.