Car studders durring acceleration...

Plug leads?

SD

It really sounds like a failing spark plug, but it could be plug wires or even the distributor cap or rotor. If the plugs are old or are Champion or Bosch (even if new), replacement is a good idea. Ditto with the ignition tune-up parts. Lotsa experienced people here are adamant about using genuine Honda ignition parts (except plugs... NGK are okay). I came around to their way of thinking through sad experience.

Anyway, fixing up the ignition is a great place to start. I suspect it is even the answer you are looking for.

Mike

I don?t know why that thought never crossed my mind. Thanks guys, I?ll give it a try.

"Rorus33" wrote: > I own a 98 Accord EX 4cyl with 120k miles... I took a long > road trip about 6,000 miles ago and noticed that durring > medium to heavy acceleration my car studdered in 2nd and 3rd > gear at around 3500-4000 rpm's. If I baby it and accelerate > with about 1/4 to half throtle there is no problem. Anyway, I > took it to my mechanic and had the trany flushed and refilled. > The problem seemed to be solved. Now, while on my way to > work thismorning it started up again. I just got off the > on-ramp to the highway, started accelerating into traffic and > all of a sudden the car hits 3700rpm's and studders, jolts and > slips until i take my foot off the throtle and baby it through > the gears. Does anyone have any suggestions? Fuel filter > perhaps?

If the tranny flush worked once, it was probably the tranny.

My 1999 CL was the same generation as your Accord, and the 4-speed auto really sucked as you described from day one. At 30k I had it flushed on scheduled maint, and for the first time I could accelerate out of cruise without the tranny slipping then downshifting two gears instead of one racing the engine, and other crap.

I suspect *most* Honda products of that period have this problem to one extent or another, and drivers baby their cars and don't notice, or figure it's the engine computer or other intended behavior, when it's really seriously sucky transmission performance.

The five speeds seem a little more solid now, but after they had to fix or replace a couple hundred thousand of them on six-cylinder engines, you be the judge.

The bad trannies are really Honda's dark secret.

J.

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When you do a drain-n-fill on a Honda automatic it's supposed to be three times, or four. You may have only replaced about 1/3 rd of the capacity. Be sure to use only Honda Z1, no substitutes. At 120,000 MILES and 8 years you owe your tranny a bit of care for sure.

'Curly'

I'm having a very similar problem with a much older Honda (1987 prelude).

I'm certainly no expert but in my car it seems to be related to either ignition or fuel delivery because it sounds suspiciously like a car running out of gas. I have a 5 speed manual transmission which reinforces my thinking that it's not related to the tranny. I've had a vehicle where the clutch slips and another where the gears are stripped and it doesn't feel like that at all. It feels as though the engine is just not firing due to lack of fuel or failure to spark.

I managed to download a shop manual which had a troubleshooting chart. The troubleshooting table suggests any number of things could be the problem when you have a lack of power at lo/mid/hi RPM

• fuel injector open or short circuited, stuck injector (they do seem to be leaking)

• faulty fuel pump / fuel pump relay OR poor grounding

• improper fuel line pressure OR clogged fuel filter

• manifold absolute pressure sensor - open or short circuited, broken or disconnected hose, faulty sensor

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