mgyip

I recently acquired a block-stock 92 DX sedan - the car ran GREAT for the first week after being parked for 3ish months achieving 45 mpg!!! Then on the way home one evening, the car started bucking like it'd jumped timing and ran hot climbing a steep hill. The car didn't overheat, just started getting hot so I cranked on the heater and backed off the throttle. The car no longer had the glassy smooth idle but barely idled and had no bottom-end.

I've changed the fuel filter, coil, igniter and plugs thinking that it was due to the 3 months of inactivity. I've set and set and set the cam timing until I can work on the car in my sleep but to no avail. The car starts up OK but the idle is lumpy and it still has no bottom-end. No CEL so it's hidden from the computer. The car has so little bottom-end that it barely moves away from an intersection unless I wind it up and slip the clutch. Even so, it chugs (literally) but at higher RPMs, it's much happier and smoother.

I've checked to see if it's hitting on all 4 cylinders by pulling a plug wire at a time while the car's running - the first time we did this, pulling #3 killed the car for good until I replaced the coil and the igniter. Then it fired up but ran the same as before - chugging and no low-end power.

I'm at my wit's end - I'm used to playing with VWs with CIS-E (read: ancient mechanical fuel infection that's ALMOST as good as a carburetor). Any suggestions on what to test? The no CEL has me really baffled - I was hoping that this OBD stuff would more easily pin-point the problem. Obviously the OBD Gods haven't smiled upon me...probably b/c I have a bad habit of using hapless Hondas, Datsuns and Toyotas as "confirmed kills" when I'm racing wheel-to-wheel.

mgyip

Any ideas? I have an ECU but it may be for a VTEC car. Will this work on the DX?

Former User

Does the engine still run hot?

Does the CEL work?

You may want to check for a clogged cat or fuel filter, as well as compression test the cylinders.

mgyip

The engine doesn't run hot now and the CEL works. However there aren't any codes stored in the ECU.

I need to replace the exhaust on this car and will do the catatonic perverter at the same time b/c the replacement piece has one already attached. The fuel filter is new - that was my first instinct, hoping that it would be an easy fix. True to form, it wasn't an easy fix b/c I seem to have the "Gee, that NEVER happens" gene in my blood.