I've got several ignition/emission problems, but the worst starts to happen when my Accord Hatchback ('88, 4-cyl, carburator, clutch, 150K miles) hits about 2000 RPM. There is a brief hesitation then a surge causing the car to buck. As load increases it seems to happen at higher RPMs and is less noticible, but if I'm on a slight downhill and feeding it just a little gas then the hestitation and surge cuts in at almost exactly 2K RPM and can repeat turning the car into a bucking bronco. I'm sure I look like a first timer on a clutch. Rather embarrassing.

Some things I have found are:

- the constant vacuum generator produces vacuum at the very bottom of the allowable range.
- there is a very slow leak in one of the distributor advance diaphrams (inside port I think)
- the resistance in one of the spark plug wires (the shortest) is about 4K ohms, while the rest are 1400 ohms or less.
- the distributor rotor is slightly pitted and cap studs slightly worn. Don't remember when I last replaced them.
- EGR seems to work fine, but I'll probably redo the tests just to be sure.

None seem likely causes, but I'll probably do the low cost ones anyway. I've got the OEM manual, but lack of experience with these kinds of problems doesn't make any particular cause stand out to me. I hope someone can suggest some likely things to check.

The other, and possibly related problems, are slightly rough idle (more preceptable when the car warms up and even detectable when cruising, but it never gets bad) and high NOx (to the point that the car is now a "gross polluter" per California standards, but HC and CO are well below the max so I think the catalytic converter is okay.) The emissions test is what spurred me to deal with the assortment of problems. Since the car is now a GP there is no limit to repair costs so I'm stongly motivated to try to fix it myself first.

It's a great car. Very little work done on it, and mostly by myself. Gotta make it last because there's been nothing like it from Honda for a long time.

Thanks,
Marc G.