Hi all,

I have a '90 prelude 2.0si thats developed a strange problem which I'm having a hard time diagnosing properly. here's the deal.

When I start the car and start driving, i find that as Im cruising down the road if I put pressure on the accelerator, the car starts to sputter and almost act like it wants to stall - until i take my foot of the gas, at which points it floats back to normal idle and then i can apply slight pressure at it speeds up ok for a few then goes into this wierd sputtering/flooding thing again. After I drive for awhile on the highway (it always takes driving long distances), the check engine light comes on. When this happens, all of a sudden the acceleration problem is gone. Essentially it drives fine (except that the check engine light is on) until I shut it off. After restarting, its the same old problem until the check engine light kicks in.

I took it to the dealer, and they looked at it. They tell me that the check engine light is being caused by a failed o2 sensor. And they say that the sputtering is somehow related to the fuel injectors and they want to replace them - all four for like $800 ack. They think that its not injecting fuel properly but they didn't elaborate.

now I know that the check engine light puts the car into "limp" mode, but here's where I'm getting concerned. I took it to a dealer to have the look at it. problem is, I forgot to tell them about the "change" in apparent performance when the check engine light came on. I've arranged to have the o2 sensor replaced regardless, and I toild them I need to think about the fuel injectors because of the expense. It then dawned on me that perhaps they're diagnosis might have been different if they knew that the car drives almost perfectly when the check engine light is on. and i guess my feeling is that if the injectors were actually a failing component, that the symptoms would be there regardless of the check engine light status.

Is anyone familiar with these symptoms?

So I guess I have three questions. The first is:

- Would a failed o2 sensor cause bad / misfiring combustion? Im wondering if the sensor itself is causing the problem. kinda hoping actually....

- If the fuel injector(s) was failing as the dealer now believes, does it make sense that it would be "fixed" buy the check engine state? I guess I have a hard time believing this to be true... yes/no? thoughts?

and finally:

- If there is in fact a failing injector, isn't there some sort of test procedure that can isolate the faulty injector*without simplying replacing them with known good ones - the dealer doesnt have any in stock and they won't order them just for troubleshooting.. but ... to replace them all just for the hell of it... ack


sorry for the long questions, I hope someone out there has experienced (and solved) this problem and may be able to chime in. I just don't want these guys to be roping me in for a really expensive job, and some of the logic they're throwing at me doesn't seem to add up....

thanks for any help!

Jason

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JasonA &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hi all,

I have a '90 prelude 2.0si thats developed a strange problem which I'm having a hard time diagnosing properly. here's the deal.

When I start the car and start driving, i find that as Im cruising down the road if I put pressure on the accelerator, the car starts to sputter and almost act like it wants to stall - until i take my foot of the gas, at which points it floats back to normal idle and then i can apply slight pressure at it speeds up ok for a few then goes into this wierd sputtering/flooding thing again. After I drive for awhile on the highway (it always takes driving long distances), the check engine light comes on. When this happens, all of a sudden the acceleration problem is gone. Essentially it drives fine (except that the check engine light is on) until I shut it off. After restarting, its the same old problem until the check engine light kicks in.

I took it to the dealer, and they looked at it. They tell me that the check engine light is being caused by a failed o2 sensor. And they say that the sputtering is somehow related to the fuel injectors and they want to replace them - all four for like $800 ack. They think that its not injecting fuel properly but they didn't elaborate.

now I know that the check engine light puts the car into "limp" mode, but here's where I'm getting concerned. I took it to a dealer to have the look at it. problem is, I forgot to tell them about the "change" in apparent performance when the check engine light came on. I've arranged to have the o2 sensor replaced regardless, and I toild them I need to think about the fuel injectors because of the expense. It then dawned on me that perhaps they're diagnosis might have been different if they knew that the car drives almost perfectly when the check engine light is on. and i guess my feeling is that if the injectors were actually a failing component, that the symptoms would be there regardless of the check engine light status.

Is anyone familiar with these symptoms?

So I guess I have three questions. The first is:

- Would a failed o2 sensor cause bad / misfiring combustion? Im wondering if the sensor itself is causing the problem. kinda hoping actually....

- If the fuel injector(s) was failing as the dealer now believes, does it make sense that it would be "fixed" buy the check engine state? I guess I have a hard time believing this to be true... yes/no? thoughts?

and finally:

- If there is in fact a failing injector, isn't there some sort of test procedure that can isolate the faulty injector*without simplying replacing them with known good ones - the dealer doesnt have any in stock and they won't order them just for troubleshooting.. but ... to replace them all just for the hell of it... ack


sorry for the long questions, I hope someone out there has experienced (and solved) this problem and may be able to chime in. I just don't want these guys to be roping me in for a really expensive job, and some of the logic they're throwing at me doesn't seem to add up....

thanks for any help!

Jason
</TD></TR></TABLE>


The first thing to do is due a major tune up, plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, air filter, fuel filter.

The second thing to change with the 3rd gen ludes when this happens is the O2 sensor, and please use a good quality one.
The Bosch brands tend to go bad fairly easily.

For better information for the 3rd gen ludes come over to http://www.preludpower.com we specialize in Preludes and especially the 3rd gen ludes.

Check out the FAQ's at the top of the 3rd gen section.

Sean

 

If you have a 2.0Si you're OBD0 and use 2 single wire 02 sensors. I highly recommend using a B21 exhaust manifold and switching over to a single 4 wire oxygen sensor.

As for the injectors, send them to get cleaned, repaired or blue printed.... a lot cheaper then spending 800 dollars at honda.