manheime@nbs-amrf.UUCP (Ken Manheimer) (03/23/86)
I'm nearing wit's end contending with some car problems and would appreciate any suggestions, advice, and commiseration (.-) I own a '78 Honda Accord (5 spd manual) that has about 76,500 miles on it and has provided me with about 2.5 years good service, almost entirely brief commutes. I've changed the oil about every 5-6000 miles (i.e. twice since i got the car at 65,000 mi). It has given me few problems until recently. A few weeks ago i was having serious problems with the engine running extremely unevenly, due apparently to wear of the cam rider (rubbing block) of the contact points. I replaced the points, adjusted the dwell and timing, and the car resumed running beautifully... Until soon thereafter, when i noticed the engine faultering in a way similar to what happened when the dwell was way off - it would periodically hesitate/ shudder, as if a cylinder were missing occasionally. Sometimes the problem was very pronounced, making the car jerk down the road until i could pull over. The dwell and timing are still just right. The fuel filter was *very* dirty, so i replaced it, hoping that would solve the problem. I drove some more, haven't noticed the drastic faultering anymore, but it is still definitely having the problem. What is going on? Should i check the cylinder compression? By the way, much of the diagnosis was due to a local Honda place (Herson's Honda, Rockville), who caught other problems but didn't warn me of the remaining ones. I've had the car there twice in the past 4 months; first for 'minor maintenance' (i had a complimentary coupon) before any of the problems occurred, and then out of desperation when i didn't have a dwell meter. I was having other problems and basically gave them a lot of business, but asked them to not change the points, i wanted to do that myself. Did i make a mistake considering doing that, and should they have caught whatever problem remains, assuming i didn't cause it with my own repairs (ie replacing the points and adjusting the dwell.) The car is scheduled to go back there tomorrow (i can't afford to put off the repair any longer) but i'd like to know what is going on and don't know if i can rely on the people at Herson's to give me the full story. Please let me know if you have any suggestions, Thanks, Ken Manheimer.
andyc@hplsla.UUCP (andyc) (03/25/86)
# Written 1:06 pm Mar 22, 1986 by nbs-amrf!manheime in hplsla:net.auto # ---------- "Honda Accord Engine Faultering" ---------- >right. The fuel filter was *very* dirty, so i replaced it, hoping >that would solve the problem. I drove some more, haven't noticed >the drastic faultering anymore, but it is still definitely having >the problem. What is going on? Should i check the cylinder >compression? Very dirty fuel filters do a poor job of filtering. Some foreign matter probably found its way into your expensive Honda carburetor, and partially plugged the jets. Most likely you are noticing the effects of a very lean mixture on the performance of your engine. Symptoms are: cyclical idle speed variations; surging while cruising; good gas mileage; maybe low power. Remedies are to rebuild the carb or replace it. Rebuilds don't always work. A friend with a Civic had to buy a new carb because no one would touch the old one with a ten foot pole. His car had so much crud in the fuel filter that the element broke; whereupon his carb loaded up with so much crap the car stopped running. Replay of what happened to my 76 Rabbit years ago. You know where the Honda manual calls for replacing that pesky fuel filter every 30K miles? Well, this is why!!! Good luck. I hope I'm wrong and there's just a leaky vacuum line or something else that's cheap. andyc @ hplsla