I've ran into some problems w/ my 1992 Prelude Si (140k) this past week or 2, and was wondering if you pros out there can give a learning noob some help..

I've been smelling something like oil burning inside of my car on my usual 30 mile commute to work. I can definitely smell it, and others who have ridden in my car have also. About a week ago, I noticed a good amount of oil leaked on my garage floor. I checked my oil and it was low, slightly above the second hole on the dipstick. I bought a quart of 10w40 Castrol Synth. Blend (which I changed my oil with about 1200 miles ago) and filled it up to where it should be. One thing I noticed is that when I take the dipstick out to check my oil, the oil seems pretty thin and drippy, but don't know if that's normal. Anyone know what can be causing this, and what I should check for leaks?

Now today, I was making a left turn into a shopping center, slowed down and put my 92 lude into 2nd gear when my car stalls halfway through the street rolling into the parking lot. Luckily there was no cars coming fast my way or it could have been bad. I parked, turned off my car, and started it up again. My car began to struggle and idled at 500- rpms.. couple revs and my needle drops close to 0 about to stall and kicks up to around 500- again.

My car normally idles around 700+ rpms (usually at that white line under 1000rpms). Is this too low? Today was the first time it had stalled really bad, and it kept idling really low. I decided to just get home, and after driving a good 25 miles, it seemed to begin idling around its usual 700+ rpms again. But I'm afraid this will happen again and could be in a uglier situation. Shouldn't I be idling around 1000 rpms anyway? What could be causing this?

A couple threads down a 5th gen owner has an idling problem also, couple people said main relay...

I'm doing a tune-up slowly as I get money. A couple days ago, I installed a new distributor cap, rotor, NGK wireset, and spark plugs, but could this have caused anything? I also recently changed my fuel filter. I'm also getting valve adjustment done within the next week or 2 b/c I can hear a ticking/tapping noise from my valve cover.

Any ideas?

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

I had some low idle problems recently - and threw up a code 43 as well. Swapping out the O2 sensor helped, and I also changed my fuel filter, which I swear was full of mud. I plan on getting some new injectors and probably a new pressure regulator too. I resoldered the main relay a while back, but that only caused my car to have problems starting (never stalled because of it).
Doesn't sound quite like the same thing, but if you have a manual, try to do some of the fuel supply troubleshooting.

 

Yeah my prelude is a 5 speed.. What minor things can I change that have to do with fuel supply? My car has been running pretty strong until this happened.. I actually just bought this car during the summer, and I believe the previous owner used regular oil. As I said earlier I did only one oil change with synth. blend. Could changing to slightly synth. cause some oil leak also?

Thanks for your response.

 

Drove my car a couple miles today, and no problems. Wonder why it suddenly stalled yesterday..

Any other ideas on oil leak or my low idle/stalling problem?

Thanks for the help.

 

Your car will idle at about 700/750 when warm and that is normal. You may be experiencing some idle air control valve issues. If you can ever catch it acting up, disconnect your 2-pin connector on the front center/right of your intake manifold. This is your iac connector. The iac looks like a cylender with a connector jetting out and 2 coolant hoses. If it continues to run the same as before you pull the plug you have an iac problem. If it dies out, it is most likely something else.

Do you ever experience a rolling idle? If so, when cold or hot?

Switching to synthetic oil can/will cause oil leaks. It is not really recommended to switch. Synthetic even of the same weight will leak for easier than a natural oil.

Travis