2001 Honda Accord 2001 accord miss on accel/steady driving

2001 HONDA ACCORD
93,000 MILES • 4 CYL • 2WD • MANUAL
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MERC68K
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Hi, I found your site by searching for a symptom I have with my 2001 accord (EX). It has what seems like a random miss/hesitation. If I am cruising or holding a steady speed usually between 2000 and 3000 rpm, and step into the throttle a bit, it will very often start to accelerate, then pause for up to a second, then finally pick up again. Other times during steady acceleration I can feel a slight missing as it revs up. Sometimes even with full throttle it does not respond for a few seconds.

This seems to be worst when the car has warmed up, when I start off in the morning it is very responsive, if I mash the gas in 1st gear it will spin the tires, but when warm it does not respond that sharply, it's more of a gradual ramp up in power.

I have replaced plugs, wires, dist. cap and rotor, and the o2 sensor. After doing that it was much better for a few days but now it is more or less back to the way it was.

You responded to another fellow with very similar symptoms in a 98 Accord by saying it sounded like the distributor and that that was a common thing (you used the term achilles heel) -- can you explain in more detail what you meant? Does that sound like it could be the problem in my case?

Thanks for any insight...
Apr 30, 2009 at 6:02 AM
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RASMATAZ
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Engine Hesitation or Stumbling:

Dirty fuel injectors (cleaning the injectors often fixes this).
Bad MAP (manifold absolute pressure) sensor
Bad TPS (throttle position) sensor
Bad or dirty MAF (mass airflow) sensor
Low fuel pressure (leaky fuel pressure regulator or weak fuel pump)
Vacuum leaks (intake manifold, vacuum hoses, throttle body, EGR valve)
Bad gasoline (fuel contaminated with water or too much alcohol)

Sometimes, what feels like a hesitation is actually ignition misfire rather than lean misfire. The causes of ignition misfire may include:

Dirty or worn spark plugs
Bad plug wires
Weak ignition coil
Wet plug wires
Apr 30, 2009 at 6:12 AM
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MERC68K
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Okay, I've looked at/replaced a lot of those things already... but I was really curious about your suggestion of a faulty distributor to another post here that sounds a lot like my problem -- are you aware of a common failure in this era accord distributor/ignition system?
May 16, 2009 at 12:05 PM
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RASMATAZ
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common failure in this era accord distributor/ignition system?

I've checked the Mit1 and there's no TSB's/Recalls on the distributor/ignition system

When you checked the fuel pressure what was the pressure reading?
May 16, 2009 at 4:22 PM
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MERC68K
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Fuel pressure is one of the things I havent checked, yet... I looked for a port or a way to connect a gauge but couldn't find any -- how does one check on this vehicle? I have the shop manual and a fuel pressure gauge but I am in the middle of moving so both are boxed up right now unfortunately.
May 16, 2009 at 6:20 PM
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RASMATAZ
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Look around within the fuel rail for a test port if none you must tee in at the fuel filter.
May 17, 2009 at 6:16 PM
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MERC68K
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Okay Ive looked a few times for a port but nothing was obvious to me; the filter is in the tank and the fittings are all crimped so it doesn't look like an easy thing to do sadly. I have put a second bottle of injector cleaner through now and I'll see if that has any effect in the meantime.
May 17, 2009 at 6:26 PM
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MERC68K
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Okay so I put another bottle of STP injector cleaner in. Filled the tank. After about a day I noticed the car was feeling quite responsive and smooth again. That lasted 3 days or so and it started to revert back to the way it was.

I unplugged the O2 sensor and ran it that way for a day. Although it lacked a bit of power there was no hesitation or miss at all that I noticed; it was quite smooth.

Seems like it is some kind of a fuel-related issue whether it's due to low pressure or dirty injectors.. or maybe a bad O2 sensor... would you agree with my shadetree diagnosis?
May 24, 2009 at 10:02 AM
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