1992 Honda Accord Repair Question
Sluggish start up / choking
Asked by steveal01Answer
Are you still having coolant losses issues?
Get a pressure test to check for a bad head gasket.
Have the compression test to determine engine cylinder condition.
If the MIL is indicating, get the trouble code. If no codes are present and above conditions/test are good, have the valve clearances checked/adjusted.
Not loosing any coolant or overflowing. There are no codes popping up on the ECU. But i do notice that i can smell fuel fumes while this sputtering is happening. then once car runs normal then the smell goes away. This seemed to start heppening when the intake manifold gasket was replaced.
When engine misfires, you would smell fuel fumes. What you are experiencing is misfiring and if it is a intake manifild gasket problem, the idling speed would more likely to increase, seldom have sputtering issues.
Have you checked the spark plug and wires? Get an ohmmeter to test the spark plug wire resistances, they should be less than 25 k ohms and not infinity.
Discovered the problem. The TPS sensor was off by 2 ohms (was at 4.8 ohms). Re-adjusted to 5.0 ohms (oem spec)+ i decided to completely clean the throttle body by removing completely from intake manifold. Fired right up with no hesitation. Fired up again when i left to work the following morning again with no problems (bogging and such). Figured it was related to throttlebody or intake due to the simptoms not being a constant issue while car was running and not just at start up.
The dirty throttle body was the cause.
Adjustment of the TPS is by using volts. 0.5 volts at fully closed and 4.5 volts at fully opened open throttle
I was not sure if it was being dirty, i think mainly the TPS adjustment being slightly off. Funny that the smallest and the impossible things could cause such problems. Thank you for your help.
We'll she has started up again and reacted the same way it has before. i referred to your original responce that it could have been possible the head gasket so i decided to remove and it looks like it has been seeping anti through the cylinders 3 & 4. so, while i was at it, i had the head resurfaced and had a broken bolt (exhaust) replaced. Now assembled and system bled, now instantly overheats and slight misfire. timing checked at 15 degrees. I replaced a temp sensor, new plugs gapped at .044 but still no difference. This new issue seemed to have happened after the head was re-suraced. Could this be the problem.
There are people who say that refacing the cylinder head would cause overheating but I do not see the relationship.
Did you bleed the system correctly?
Are the cooling fans working?
Are you still getting coolant losses issues?
Did you check the valve clearances?
-system has been bled, no bubbles just pure coolant flowed.
-fans are not engaging. i think reason it that one the upper hose is warrming to the touch when the lower is cool. like it's not flowing.
-i did not see any coolant loss, checked the oil again jsut in case and clean.
-i have not checked the valve clearances. i will check on that.
What does happen- when turn key to on position, the temp indi. travels like to normal temp area, but when fires up travels up to hot line (just below)and i shut down. when i turn key to on position again, it again goes to normal position. Knocking myself on this one, so i had to stop to get a break.
Check the ground circuit connections, especially those at thermostat housing and behind headlights. I believe the engine is not overheating but rather the temperature gauge is not registering correctly. Usually you need about 20 minutes of running time after starting from cold for the fans to start engaging.
If the upper hose is hot with lower hose cool after more than 10 minutes, the thermostat is stuck.