Lavarider1989

I'm having a strange issue with my 1993 Honda Accord that started several days ago. Upon starting the engine when the car is already hot from previous driving, the car cranks, acts like it will start, stumbles exactly ONCE, then catches fully and runs. This is predictable behavior, if I turn the car off without driving it, then crank it again, it will catch, stumble once, and run. If left in idle, after a few seconds the engine will begin to misfire heavily, so badly today in fact that I thought it was going to die, dropping to less than 100 rpm at one point before recovering. If I switch to drive and go any real distance under power, even just 100 feet down the road to my stop sign, the issue vanishes and the car will now idle normally and run perfectly smoothly and normally for the rest of the drive, no loss of power, no odd behavior. If I turn the car off at any point and restart it, the behavior re-asserts itself until I drive. If I start the car cold, none of this behavior occurs and the machine runs normally. The CEL has not come on, and the ECU has not thrown any codes. The spark plugs are relatively new, and the distributor cap and rotor were replaced several thousand miles ago. I have no idea what could cause this sort of behavior and am at a total loss, does anyone have any insight?

Nation Decay

brakedrum

Are you sure it's a misfire? A few years ago, I chased misfire in my 93 Accord, but it turned out to be the intake gasping (choking) on a bad air/fuel mix, due to a failing Oxygen Sensor. My OBD1 system did not show me a code.

Mine was bucking and lurching, but would occasionally run smoothly. I did not know the behavior of a bad oxygen sensor, so I was thinking it was a misfire. Then one night after struggling to get it home, I turned off the switch, but the engine chugged on for a few seconds and I could smell fuel. I had about 185,000 on the Honda when all that happened.