I DRIVE A 2002 ACCORD SE SEDAN 5SPD. ON OCCASION, ABOUT 2 TIMES A MONTH, THE CAR STALLS WHEN I DOWNSHIFT FROM 3RD TO 2ND. ON EACH OCCURENCE, THE GAS PEDAL IS RELEASED DURING THE SHIFT, AND THE RPM DROPS FROM ITS NOMINAL POSITION TO ZERO. THE DEALERSHIP SAYS THERE IS NO SERVICE BULLETIN ITEM ON THIS ISSUE; HOWEVER, THE NUMBER OF RELATED COMPLAINTS ON MYCARSTATS.COM SHOWS THAT THIS PROBLEM IS NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENT. IN ALL CASES, THE DEALERSHIP WAS UNABLE TO FIX THE PROBLEM.

HAS ANYONE EXPERIENCED THIS BEHAVIOR ON YOUR ACCORD? WHAT DID YOU DO TO FIX IT?

THANKS FOR YOUR ADVICE.

 

NO. AND I CAN"T BE BOTHERED TO READ YOUR POST IN CAPS.

 

did you rev match, when down shifted? your supposed to rev up in neutral then shift to second cuz when you down shift 2nd gear your rpms are suppose to be higher than what they were in 3rd gear.

BTW CAPS ARE AITE TO USE.

 

Sorry about the caps. The content was copied&pasted from another web forum (myCarStats.com) which displayed it in caps. I was too lazy to re-type everything into this forum.

Thanks for your response. I normally do add gas to rev-match during downshifts, but sometimes I don't. The problem only occurs intermittently when gas is released and the clutch is held in. I've tried repeatedly to reproduce the problem, but it's not predictable. Most of the time the rpm stabilizes at idle as it should. However, there are times when the rpm drops below idle and the engine struggles to stay running. If I quickly add gas, the engine revs up and avoids stalling.

Someone I know suggested that it appears to be a problem with the fuel intake control system. When the gas is released, the control system should adjust the fuel mixture appropriately for idle. His speculation is that this fuel adjustment is not happening for the transition from driving to idle.

This sounds possible because, as I stated above, when I add gas to avoid stalling, the fuel adjustment for driving kicks in and keeps the engine running.

The scary thing about all this is that the Honda mechanics cannot even fix this problem, and it's a problem that can easily cause a fatality.

Anyways, thanks for reading what I have to say. Any ideas is appreciated.

TC

 

I think the problem is resolved with a new set of spark plugs. The original plugs were three years old with 35K meterage; this is well below the life expectancy of platinum plugs (100K). However, there were scorch marks around the base of the porcelin section of all four plugs. This indicates that the charge is escaping through the side of the plug causing a mis-fire.

It's been over a month with the new plugs and the car has not stalled! This makes me wonder about the true life expectancy of these platinum plugs. Do they actually lasts 5x longer than conventional plugs, or is this claim just a marketing scam to justify their cost to be 5x more than regular plugs?!... Or maybe, the plugs were just faulty.

If anyone has a similar experience with platinum plugs, do let me know.

TC

 

Im a firm believer in the idea that you should just replace them about every 30K miles no matter what brand you use, regular, platinum, etc. 1 tipped 2, 4 whatever. Now i have no idea about how long the iridium (SP?) plugs really last but you better off just replacing them when ever your in doubt or your car starts to misfire. Good luck in the future.