I was pushing my car today and in 2nd gear at around 6500rpm the car sputtered almost as if it was out of gas or something. I noticed the gas light was on, so I put a bunch of gas in and it happened again a little later. It hasn't happened since then. I'm wondering if I should be worried or if it was a bit of air in my fuel line or something since i was close to completely out of gas. Couple things about the car:

- Plugs and wires were replaced <100mi ago
- Oil change is 1000mi late. Haven't had time

It's sputtered like this before, again in the 6500rpm range at WOT. I'm not sure if it was low on gas then too though. Should I be worried or is it just because I'm low on gas?

And yes, I know I need to put more gas in my car.

UPDATE:

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by xthephilx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The problem with the sputter seems to have been solved. I did the following:

- Changed oil/filter
- Redid frayed ground wires

The engine still gurgles. Things I'm considering:

- Valve adjustment (never done, bought the car 15k miles ago)
- Fuel filter replacement
- Distributor/coil replacement

Anything else I'm missing? Any advice on any of these? Thanks.</TD></TR></TABLE>


Modified by xthephilx at 4:31 PM 6/27/2005

 

How about fuel filter?

 

Haven't thought about that. Would that really make it sputter then though? I would think it would make the car sputter all the time.

 

maybe vtec related with oil pressure. but i doubt it. that would be a consistant problem. are you throwing any codes with it?

 

No codes at all. Check engine light came on once when I was out of gas. I'm thinking something related to low fuel pressure or something, because the engine sputtered and died right as the light came on. When I turned the car back on, CEL was gone. Since then, the battery has been disconnected for a while, so the ECU isn't storing the code at all.

VTEC works perfectly fine.

 

maybe your fuel filter is clogged and not able to flow enough at high rpm....

if its always at the same rpm its electrical, thats a good rule of thumb....unless of course it was a vtec hardware issue...otherwise that is true....

if it comes at different rpm i would check/change the fuel filter...

 

It happened again, same range. It feels like a rev limiter. I'm definitely not in limp mode however.

I'm also noticing a gurgling sound in my exhaust, kind of like it's backfiring. Any insight into this?

 

The gurgling sound seems to be coming from the header/flex pipe area. If that helps.

 

Thinking of replacing my ground wires. I noticed a fray on one of them while changing my coilover settings today. I've got some spare wire in the basement and I'll probably pick up some terminals from radio shack.

Also going to change my oil tomorrow. Hopefully that should solve the problem.

 

Could be a clogged cat. Take a look.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by L8ApexH22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Could be a clogged cat. Take a look.</TD></TR></TABLE>

How do you check your cat for clogging?

 

check your plugs first

 

Plugs were replaced about 200 miles ago.

 

The problem with the sputter seems to have been solved. I did the following:

- Changed oil/filter
- Redid frayed ground wires

The engine still gurgles. Things I'm considering:

- Valve adjustment (never done, bought the car 15k miles ago)
- Fuel filter replacement
- Distributor/coil replacement

Anything else I'm missing? Any advice on any of these? Thanks.

 

Does the car jerk? cuz if it does it mite be ur clutch system or ur flywheel cuz if its messed up u mite not be gettin so much air in

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by C-Mob &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Does the car jerk? cuz if it does it mite be ur clutch system or ur flywheel cuz if its messed up u mite not be gettin so much air in</TD></TR></TABLE>

The problem is not the clutch or flywheel. It still gurgles if i have my feet off the pedals, just coasting.

 

I'm getting the feeling it's running really rich. It smells faintly of gasoline almost constantly, and the smell is very noticeable after a trip past the vtec crossover.