Hey guys, I'm back again! Thanks for the advice last time; those issues have been resolved.

As before, this is a 1991 Accord LX 5-Speed, has 313,5XX miles this time.

New problem: performance in my car has started to REALLY suck. I track my fuel economy very closely, and it has gone from 32 to 26...this is unsat. It feels like I'm hauling a ton of bricks when I drop it into gear and accelerate, and sometimes it seems to miss and skip a little during heavy acceleration. I want my Red Sexy back to normal!

Useful background: oil changed every 4000 miles, filter, too. New plugs 6 months ago. Plug wires are NOT new. Fuel filter is NOT new. Oxygen sensor is NOT new. Distributor is original. Catalytic converter is original.

This morning, a local repair shop told me that my distributor was leaking a little oil, and the catalytic converter was starting to go.

I don't want to spend money replacing things that are fine. Any ideas? Thanks so much for your help!

 

Is the oil inside the dist or coming from the o-ring?

Checked for any stored codes? Cap and rotor replaced????

 

You'll have to forgive my ignorance, because I am learning about cars as I go. I have no idea what you mean about stored codes unless you're referring to the OBD1 sensor/check engine light.

Mechanic said the oil was coming from inside distributor. I haven't opened it up myself yet to determine exactly where inside it's coming from, and I'm not sure I would know if I did. I can definitely say that the cap and rotor have NOT been replaced. How can I tell if either are defective?

Thanks for your help.

 

Omission from the previous post: check engine light is not on. Didn't get them to hook up the computer because of that; seemed like it might be a waste of $25.

 

Checking the codes on this generation, only need a paper clip and be able to count flashing lights.....so, IMO the $25, search for the "how to". If you can find it on here PM me and I'll can give you a link

Next, if the oil is "inside" the dist. Depends on how much but it can cause issues. Pull the dist cap, look at the condition of the "contacts" of both.....if worn or they seem to have "stuff" growing on them, replace.....pretty simple job, if you need help, let me know. On a 4th gen (90-93) I think you can get away with only need a screwdriver....I'll have to look.

To the others, yes I'm trying to help someone, please keep the comments down...Thanks.

 

could be as simple as a tune up. spark plugs, plug wires, distributor rotor(the thing that spins inside the distributor cap, distributor cap.

does it have any smoke coming from the tailpipe? if that cat is burnt up there is a high chance the oxygen sensor is all burnt. bad o2 sensor will definitely cause bad mpgs

could also be a map sensor which can easily be acquired at a junkyard for way cheaper then a parts store


it would be a little more easier to diagnose if we knew under what conditions it is slacking in. under litght or heavy throttle? in low, mid, or high rpms? does it hesitate bad between 2k-3k rpms then seem to pick up after 3k?

 

For the oil on the distributor you can replace only the seal. It's on partstrain.com
Gotta take apart the dizzy but that's fairly straightforward.

Give it a tune up and take a look at the EGR ports. Take off the hose to the EGR and apply vacuum. The motor should die. If it doesn't then you have an issue with the ports being clogged.

 

All right, thanks guys for all these ideas! I think I have plenty to be going on with; the problem is that time to check them out... Going to start on the simple stuff when I get back from class. I'll reply with what I find as I get to it.

 

I recently had the oil leak in the distributor on my '99 Accord EX 4 cylinder. All the contacts on the cap and the rotor were heavily fouled and corroded as well as an oil film being present inside. The shop could not find a separate seal and so the distributor body was replaced.

I had taken the car into the shop because it was getting poor mileage. No check engine light was showing. We read the plugs and they looked OK but the gap looked rather large and the edges of the electrode were rounded somewhat more than I thought they should be for 13k miles on them. I asked them to put in the Iridium plugs that became standard equipment in 2000. The plug wires were not changed as the shop said they looked OK and last about 200k miles. (I was at 133k miles.)

We put a can of BG 44k in the tank and then some Seafoam in the next tank. The gas mileage is up, although the A/C is on all the time because of the 100 plus degree tems in Texas right now. I did have to replace the fan motor for the A/C condenser in the middle of all this. I also disconnected the battery overnight so that the ECU would reset and start over in the learning mode.

I recently got an UltraGauge which reads OBD II information when the engine is running. The instantaneous fuel mileage is fairly decent when I get it above about 50 MPH when the torque converter locks up and continues to do well up through about 70 MPH. in the lower gears the instantaneous mileage is not so great which has convinced me to accelerate briskly to get the automatic into top gear.

I have been checking the engine temp readout and it gets up into the 170s fairly quickly and then takes a while to getup to 195. I think I will have to wait for cooler weather to get a better idea of the thermostat's performance.

I get the feeling that the engine is just getting up on the cam at highway speed (a bit over 2,500 RPM at 70 MPH) on the level. I don't think the VTECH is suppose to be doing any thing at that RPM.

There is no check engine light showing and the UltraGauge shows the system working in closed loop mode as it should be. The oxygen sensor would supposedly throw a code if it was malfunctioning, but I do not know if that would be the case with a so-called lazy oxygen sensor. From what little I have been able to find out about this, reading the voltage changes from the oxygen sensor on an oscilloscope may be the only way to actually tell if that is the case.

The one other thing I have noticed is that the intake temp gets rather high. I may need to look into a cold air induction kit.

Anyway, the gas mileage is much improved, but I am not sure that I have found everything. I will say that the instantaneous mileage readout of the UltraGauge has made me much more aware of the impact on fuel consumption of slight upgrades on the road.

 

the f22 vtec cracks at that rpm. that engine is for fuel economy.