I have had my 89' Accord for 6 years. Last September it developed a fuel problem I can't figure out. It starts and runs great until it warms up and the fuel pump drops. Then it begins to sputter, loses fuel supply to the engine, decelerates, and eventually dies. If I stop for a few minutes and start again, sometimes with 5 tries, it will go again only to develop the problem a little farther down the road. Often times if I stop when I feel it begin to sputter and remove the gas cap to relieve pressure it will fix the problem, sometimes not. Interestingly this happens only whent the gas tank is 1/4 of the way full to full, never under the 1/4 tank mark. I have heard it could be the gas tank vent and/or filter, the fuel pump, carberator, fuel injectors, malfunction of vacuum system, ECU, maybe even alternator. I use this car to get me back and forth to college, and I love it. I would really like to lick this problem. I already replace the fuel filters and gave it a tune up, and that didn't fix it. Any help would be great!

 

sounds like the fuel pump is not pumping enough flow. Especially since opening up the gas tank (and relieving vacuum) seems to help.

I'd look at replacing the fuel pump and/or having it cleaned. Though i don't know if that's possible to clean it. Find one from a recently wrecked accord perhaps?

Is your car an LX/DX or fuel-injected LX-i? How many miles on the car? Was it ever stored for long periods of time? (like for the winter?)

 

I agree it sounds like a pump. They're not a lot of $$$ at a wrecker.

You get to the fuel pump through an access panel in the left side of the trunk. The 89 accord has an in tank fuel pump. you just disconnect the electrical connector and the fuel lines, undo two nuts and pull it out. Install it in reverse order. It's pretty simple.

 

My car is a DX model, with just under 150,000 miles on it. It hasn't sat around much at all, unless it was before I purchased it 6 years ago.

 

change your fuel filters yes i said filters there is 2 of them on your car one small one near the carb and one on the side of the gas tank on the driver side they might be plugged

 

definitely replace the fuel filters first and see if that helps. If that doesnt, look into getting a pump from a junkyard. also checkout http://www.3geez.com it is an 86-89accord messageboard and can probably help you out better.

 

well gentlemen, thought I should let you know the fuel filters have been replaced twice, yes twice, in the span of the last 14 months. Is the fuel pump the next thing in line to replace?