Recentlt bought a 1999 4cyl Accord EX w/ 167K. It was running rough, so I bought and changed:
Cap - Advance branded
Rotor - Advanced branded
Wires - AutoLite branded
Plugs - NGK @ $2.99 ea
Got everything at Advance Auto. Spent about 80 bucks.
Car runs as rough or worse than before. This is my first Honda....Are they finicky? Do I need the Honda OEM cap & rotor? And what's the BEST plug to run in these cars?
Thx
T

 

So you bought a bunch of off brand crap and are surprised it's not working great? What exactly was the problem to begin with?

I would highly recommend TAS Auto for stuff, either their OEM-equivalent or OEM parts. They only service Accords

http://www.tasauto.com/Product/Browse.aspx?h=916

Specifically, their 'Tune Up Kit' would replace all the stuff you just got.

http://www.tasauto.com/Product/Detai...102&d=1003&p=1

 

I prefer Kragen. They are the only guys who sell "Diagnostics in a can". It's great stuff. Open it up, pour it all over the top of the engine and put on the 3-D glasses ( supplied with the kit ) and you'll see the problem glow bright yellow. I think I paid $19.95 for it.

 

They aren't finicky, but if they've been neglected for 167k miles... they can be a real pain. it wasn't a bad idea to do a tune up on a used car purchase esp. if you don't know it's history. but in the tech lingo, you're just throwing parts at it. this can become expensive .

NGK is really the only brand you should run in these cars, so it's good you got those plugs. IIRC your motor may require the Platinums.. check your owners man. to confirm. Aside from that, the cheapo wires... not so good. i've found most anything other than NGK or Denso branded plug wires will rip apart or swell or "leak" even when new!

back to your real problem, you need to know why it's running rough before you make any more attempts to repair or replace. as Photobag humorously suggested this means you need to diagnose the cause. a few tips to get you started: cam timing (which affects ignition timing), cylinder compression (120-200psi with 10-15% variation between any two) and CEL on or stored DTC (CheckEngineLight- on the dash. DiagnosticTroubleCode- "read" the codes, maybe misfire... crank pos...)

enjoy your new honda!

 

clean the throttle body
Run some seafoam through the main vacuum hose on the intake
Put some injector cleaner in the gas
check the timing with a timing light
Properly gap the plugs