Hello, I am new to this site. I just bought my Type R last week, and am already having problems. Just my luck. I have searched the archived topics and cannot find an answer to why my car is stuttering/hesitating. Previous owner had a tune up done at 46K that included fuel filter, dizzy cap, rotor, wires, oil change, air filter. At 51K the car started stuttering/hesitating the dealer told previous owner it was cause he had aftermarket plugs, which he put on 20K ago, so they changed the plugs out to stock which fixed the problem......till now. I buy the car never having these symptoms on several test drives or the drive home after purchase, it drove great! But the next day after the purchase the problems start. The car has 55K on it now. I changed out the entire distributor today and it did not fix the problem. Yesterday i got it to throw a P0420 code which i have read could be a bad cat or O2 sensor. My mechanic buddy who swore it was the distributor told me yesterday that the code was thrown due to the fact that unburnt fuel was getting to the O2 sensor. But now that replacing the distributor didn't fix it does anyone have ANY ideas on what could be causing this headache? Thanks in advance!


Modified by typeR#338 at 12:46 PM 6/28/2008

 

P0420 Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold

I dont think that code is causing your stutter... Can you explain in more detail whats happening? what gear? what speed? decel? accel? ect....

 

anywhere from 1st-4th gear, seems to happen more on accel around 30-35rpms. At first it was rare and it only happened a couple times in an hour. It seemed the car had to warm up first, now i can barely drive the car it is happening so much. It doesn't matter if it is warmed up or not. It feels like i'm stepping on and off the throttle really fast and hard, it is a pretty violent stutter and jerks the car alot. The car has even completely stalled once, and i had to push it out of the road cause it wouldn''t start again. Almost like it was out of gas but it wasn't.
Oh and i had a compression test done before i bought the car and the numbers where fine, i don't know if that helps at all.

 

did take in some water water perhaps? in the intake or around the plugs? while someone was giving an engine shampoo? long shot, but gotta ask.

 

first thing I thought of was TPS or O2 sensor, but not sure if you will get a CEL for that or not. definitely sounds electrical or sensor related to me.

stock exhaust/cat? possible to swap with a known good O2 sensor or TPS to rule those out?

 

i don't know i haven't even owned it a week, is there a way you can tell if water got in? if water did get in and that's the problem wouldn't i have been getting these symptoms when i was driving around with the previous owner to the bank or on my ride home? Symptoms started very next day after purchasing car, i know water didn't get in in that time frame. Plus it has been getting worse and worse.
everything on the car is stock. don't have a spare o2 sensor to try but i have heard that you can just unplug it and if the symptoms stop, then the o2 sensor is the problem. Is that true? Should i try that?


Modified by typeR#338 at 2:10 PM 6/24/2008


Modified by typeR#338 at 12:47 PM 6/28/2008

 

I had a very similar issue with my car. My car never threw a code so I ended up replacing the dist. cap, rotor, spark plug wires, and PCV Valve, but the engine continued to cut out randomly. I then swapped my primary O2 sensor with the one on my '94 GSR and neither car had any issues. I then swapped them back and have had no problems since. I am not sure what corrected the problem as I also replaced the fuel filter around the same time. From what I have read there are a number of things which can cause this issue.


Modified by CWITR at 4:57 PM 6/24/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by typeR#338 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">anywhere from 1st-4th gear, seems to happen more on accel around 30-35rpms. At first it was rare and it only happened a couple times in an hour. It seemed the car had to warm up first, now i can barely drive the car it is happening so much. It doesn't matter if it is warmed up or not. It feels like i'm stepping on and off the throttle really fast and hard, it is a pretty violent stutter and jerks the car alot. The car has even completely stalled once, and i had to push it out of the road cause it wouldn''t start again. Almost like it was out of gas but it wasn't.
Oh and i had a compression test done before i bought the car and the numbers where fine, i don't know if that helps at all.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sounds like the throttle sensor, i would check that out as well. my car did that at one point and after replacing it the problem went away

my guess would be the throttle sensor. Good luck!

 

back to the top

i can't figure it out so i am having a honda specialist make a house call tomorrow. he knows honda's like the back of his hand, hopefully he can figure it out. if he can't i don't know who will. i'll let you know if he finds anything.


Modified by typeR#338 at 7:31 PM 6/25/2008


Modified by typeR#338 at 7:31 PM 6/25/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by typeR#338 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">back to the top

i can't figure it out so i am having a honda specialist make a house call tomorrow. he knows honda's like the back of his hand, hopefully he can figure it out. if he can't i don't know who will. i'll let you know if he finds anything.</TD></TR></TABLE>\

have you checked the throttle sensor? someone mentioned it earlier but i dont think you read it. That might be something you want to check.

 

R015....i think you mentioned it earlier. I did read it but unfortunately do not have the car today, I'm stuck at work for 24 hrs. if the throttle sensor was the problem wouldn't it throw a CEL? I have read that it will but didn't know if it throws it all the time. Did yours ever throw the CEL before you replaced yours? I will check it first thing in the morning. Thanks

 

my car had the same issue, and im running a P28 ECU so i dont know if it throws codes? i ended up disconnecting it than reconnecting it and that resolved the issue... hopefully your luck is as good as mine was that day...

 

ok i'll try that in the morning. i don't know about my luck, i will try to stay positive, but it is so frustrating! i hate electrical problems.

 

By any chance have you thought of a clogged cat converter?It would fall under 8 yrs 80k federal warranty.. why don't you get it changed at the dealer for free as long as it's a 00' or 01' it will be covered

 

Also you stated the car had non oem plugs. I've seen it time after time at toyota ppl doing tune ups ahead of time on there own with non oem plugs causing the car to have alot of unburnt fuel and clogging cats.

 

haven't even thought of that....could that cause my symptoms?? I didn't even know about that federal warranty. Guess i'll check that out, i don't know if the previous owner changed it or not.

 

Yes, the exhaust has to get out. If it's clogged it has now where to go causing your engine to hesitate and stutter. You don't usually change cat. converter's as a tune up item as there very expensive , so it's prob the orginal one.

 

alright so the previous owner had NGK plugs in for appx. 20K, the dealer then put denzo plugs in 3K ago. So the 20K of driving on the NGK's could of maybe clogged the cat which could be why I got the P0420 code and the hesitation? So if i take it to the dealer and they swap it for a new cat and find out that it's not defective/clogged will they end up charging me for it or will they just write it off as warranty and not even check it? Sorry, for the questions but I just want to make sure i got it right, i don't want a suprise bill at the end.

 

ngk's wouldn't hurt anything hondas come stock with them.

 

Also where did you buy it from? and what year is it

 

Well depending on what plug was put it, could have been the wrong part number or wrong gap.But Yes if the car is a 00' or a 01' the warranty would still be in effect. The dealer can not do any repair without your authorization. The warranty is 8yrs or 80,000 miles.Good luck bud, just call them and give them the zin and tell them you checked the code its a po420 and should be all set

 

could be your injectors, i would test the voltage to the plugs, and also, long shot, if you got a friend with a gsr or type r, ask to borrow their injectors and see if those fix it. do it injector by injector to see which one it is.

its a long shot, but clogged/old injectors could do it. Running some seafoam through the brake booster line will clean them (read up on it).

Ofcourse this is all pretty drastic, I would exhaust other easier possibilities first.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jdmeg6b18b &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Also where did you buy it from? and what year is it</TD></TR></TABLE>

it's an 01, i bought it from a private seller.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by goota &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">could be your injectors, i would test the voltage to the plugs.</TD></TR></TABLE>

tested the voltage already and everything looked good

Yah Its a R......i talked to the dealer yesterday and they were going to check to see if the warranty covers it or not. They also said that they would have to run a full diagnostic on the car themselves, I guess they can't just trust me to say that it's throwing the code. The car seems like it is running perfect, for the last 2 days anyhow. I didn't do anything to the car it just stopped the jerky hesitation on it's own. It is however stilll throwing the P0420 code. So i am probably going to get a new o2 sensor and see what the dealer says about the cat situation. Anyone know off the top of their head what's OEM for o2 sensors? I have read that it is Denso, is that true?

I have one other question, just out of curiosity.....someone earlier mentioned the TPS sensor.....on my scanner it says that it's open 90.8% when the pedal is floored, and 9.8% at idle. Is it suppost to read 100% at open throttle? I asked both my mechanic buddies and they didn't know so i thought i'd throw it out there to you guys. My haynes book just talks about volts not percentages.




Modified by typeR#338 at 12:13 PM 6/27/2008

 

dont use a scanner. the scanner might not be reading it correctly. use a multimeter and read the actual voltage at the sensor. should be .5V closed to 4.5V WOT if I remember correctly. and if its fluctuating a lot it might have a problem. im sure they are threads in the archives with the exact specifics how to check it, I havent done it in awhile.

 

Your the other guy lol. I tried really hard to buy that car I got all the money for it and everything. Brent would not call me back. I live in cape coral, due to your recent problems if your willing to sell it let me know, Otherwise good luck and sorry to hear about your mishap. I think it will all work out for you though because I drove in that car and it was mint.