My son has a 97 Accord SE with a 4 cylinder engine and 155,000 miles on it. About a month ago he began to have hesitation and problems at highway speed. While investigating we found there was oil inthe spark plug tubes so i replaced the upper and lower spark plug tube seals and the problem went away.

about two weeks ago the same thing happended this time during wet weather, so i replaced the Plugs and wires but it still hesitated. Then i replaced the cap (could not get a rotor) and the problem went away. Last night the problem came back (another rainy night) so i replaced the rotor, which i had sinced picked up but still hesitation.

i checked the spark plug tubes and they are all dry and free of oil. I ran the engine on high idle with the hood up while it was dark but did not see any arcing taking place.

I'm thinking about replacing the coil, but would like to test it first if that is possible. I'm also going to check all the connections to the fuel injectors to make sure they are tight and show no signs of arcing.

Is there anything else I should be checking?

Thanks

 

Does the car go on overdrive? Stomp on the gas to take the car to overdrive and if it doesnt pick speed and jerks the car back and forth then it's your distributor.

I also had a similar problem at highway speeds and it turned out I needed a new distributor.

Do you get a check engine light? Check for codes.

 

The coil sounds like a good place to start. also try spraying the wires with water at night and see if you get a fireworks show. Also take the distributer out and see if you have any oil in the bottom of it. clean it up and reinstall it, make sure the gasket is on the bottom of the cap and place correctly.

 

No CEL and the hesitation is from a dead star as well!

 

Is the removal of the distributor straight forward? I'll give you suggestions a try on Thursday after work!

 

As strait forward as it gets. A 3/8 drve with a 6" ext. and a 12mm is all that is needed. Un-plug the two connecters and remove the cap, set the cap on top of the motor. remove the three bolts that hold the dist. in and its out.When putting it back in, look at the end of the cam and you'll see there is an off set to the slot. Twist the dist. to match and it pops right back together. Good luck!

 

Any luck Buddy??

 

Hey, my car is having the same issues. I haven't tried swapping out the distributor cap, since it was replaced last summer, but I did some research and found this video. I went all the way until he drilled holes in the assembly... then I couldnt find a slide hammer. Maybe it'll help you out.

 

Sorry so long since I posted. the last thing I tried was I changed the coil and the car ran fine for about a month and a half then the misfire returned when my son was driving back from Syracuse in a snow storm. It started to miss fire so he slowed down and then it cleared and he was able to drive the rest of the way home without a problem. The check engine light came on but I have not had a chance to see what the code is. I'll post the code when I get it!

 

Sorry so long since I posted. the last thing I tried was I changed the coil and the car ran fine for about a month and a half then the misfire returned when my son was driving back from Syracuse in a snow storm. It started to miss fire so he slowed down and then it cleared and he was able to drive the rest of the way home without a problem. The check engine light came on but I have not had a chance to see what the code is. I'll post the code when I get it!

 

What brand plugs and wires did you replaced with?
The last time I had similar problem as yours with my old 87 corolla, the cap was not all the way tight as one fastener broke off. One of the wires got rust in it where you plug into the cap. I replaced the cap and wires, and the problem was gone.
How's the timing on your car? When taking the cap off, becareful not to drop the spring from the coil.

 

That check engine code is your ticket to the answer. Get the code and hopefully that will help to solve your problem.

 

I finally got to Advanced Auto over the weekend and the two codes that came up were 303 and 304 for cylinder 3 and clyinder 4 missfire. Don't see how that helps.

 

Odds are you just need to clean out your egr valve and plate and you should be good to go. Do a youtube search for "Eric the Car Guy egr clean plate" It's a lot easier on your car to clean than most cars.

 

btw your issue could be distributor but given that cleaning out the egr is almost free this is a lot less expensive than replacing the distributor plus it's good maintenance as well as you will save gas with a perfectly functioning egr system. Just clean out the egr valve and ports via that plate and if it doesn't fix the issue you can worry about the distributor.

 

I just downloaded the instructions to clean the EGR ports yesterday, so this wekend i will give that a shot! Should I be able to get the EGR Chamber gasket at any local autoparts store? if that does not work is there a way to test the distributor? The other things that I have changed so far didn't cost too much but before I spend the money on a Distributor I'd like to be able to test it if possible.
Thanks for all the help!

 

The oil leakage could have made carbon buildup in the cylinder if it went past the threads. It wouldn't hurt to seafoam the motor and give it a good cleaning.

 

http://techauto.awardspace.com/ignition.html

all the information to test the ignition system is there

 

Back on this again today and another iss has come up. When the car is first started until it warms up the rpm is surging.
So today pulled the EGR chamber cover off and cleaned out the EGR ports. None Of them were completely blocked but I cleaned them out out since I had it off.

Then I was getting ready to pull the throttle control assy to clean that out I noticed by air filter was soaked. Mthen when I pulled the air hose to the throttle control it had a lot of water in it. I think it was collecting in two plastic reservoirs under the air hose.

Is that a normal thing? It looks like this is some corrosion at the opening of the throttle body like the water was getting in there. I'm going back out to pull that out and clean it.

 

Turns out the air resonator box had a large broken piece off the top so it was filling up with water and the I guess getting sucked up through the air cleaner in to the throttle body! I'll pull the old one out and run it without it untilli can pick one up at a junk yard.

 

While I was at it there was a lot of oil under the distributer so I pulled it and replaced the o-ring which was rock hard. The leaking oil caused the heater hose under the distributer to develop a big bulge so I replaced that while I was in there.

After everything was done it's still surging when I start it cold and it continues untill It warm up. I disonnected the battery so the check engine light has gone out. I'll see if it comes back after we drive it for a while. Any ideas what Might be causing the surging?

 

The car is supposed to idle higher when the car is completely cold and the idle slowly goes down til it's warmed up then idle should be around 700-800.

What you think is surging is probably normal.

 

No what's happening is the rpm's are going up and down, up and down. This goes on until the car warms up. The coolant level is full and I bled the air out of the system , which I had read could be a cause of this condition.

 

You have a vacuum leak somewhere. You can get some carb cleaner and spray around the intake manifold and see where it's coming from. But first, tighten down the FITV a lil bit. That might just fix it and you won't have to chase a vacuum leak down.

 

Back at the car last night. After reading through a sticky on cleaning the IACV abd FITV I pulled them both last night along with the throttle body and think i found the problem. The FITV was fine, the white plastic disk that sometime sis loose was fine on mine by the IACV was pretty gunked up with carbon. there are two ports, one with a screen which was almost completely blocked with carbon and other bits of debris. I'm going to clean that up good tonight with throttle body cleaner and then re-install it. The Throttle body had evidence of a residue which i think is from the dirty water that was getting sucked up through air intake tube. you could also see particle of other crap that had gotten sucked in. I'll clean that up good tonight making sure all the passages are clean then install everything back, bleed the air from the coolant and reset the ECU.

Residue in TB




IACV


Broken Air Resonator Chamber