I bought this 90 accord lx 3 month ago. Everything has been good until last week. The car was good the first time I drove it to work in the morning (about 1 mile). Half an hour later, I started the car again, the engine suddenly became very shaky and the exhaust smells really bad. I quickly found out that one cylinder caused the problem (Put my hand on each spark plug cap, I can easily felt the knock on the third one from the left.). So I changed the 4 spark plugs. In fact the plug on the problematic cylinder is already very loose, I didn’t felt any resistance while try to loose it.

After the change of plugs, the engine seems to run smoothly at cold. But when it heats up and idle speed drops to normal 800 rpm, it starts to shake again. But this time I wouldn’t feel any difference among the four cylinders.

Really appreciate any suggestions.

 

Sounds like it's time for a full tune up. Cap, rotor, plug wires, fuel filter, air filter, oil change, tranny fluid change. Better to do this now than be sorry later. When you buy a used car and don't know what maintenance has been done.

 

Sell it and buy my car!

 

well, is it a vibration or a shake? there is a difference. My 91 ex has 164k miles on it and when it idles it vibrates a little, but no bad noises or anything, i'm sure that's just the way it is. It doesn't seem to be a problem because i've done everything to the car i can and it still is like that. Try just a tune up and if that doesn't help anything then it's probably just the standard vibration you are getting.

 

Thanks for the reply. It is pretty bad shake. You can actually see it by looking at the engine. Though the car is old, it has only 90k miles on it. I bought from a friend who had the car for years. I drove it only 4 miles a day and 5 days a week, won't bother with any small vibration at all.

Drop the car at a garage today. Will post the result if they fix it.

I

 

does it shake hard while while you are inside the car...check you motor mounts.

 

are u getting fuel to that cylinder? could be a bad injector.

 

Problem fixed. It was the faulty ignition wiring that caused the engine to miss fire, at least that what I was told by mechanics. This morning, the car is happy running again.

Thank you all.