1996 Honda Prelude 1.8 dual carbs

Getting sparks to all four spark plugs. Car acts like its choking up but not right away. I'll be driving and you can tell its going to stall. To get it where I'm going, I throw the clutch in, leave the car in gear, turn the ignition off then on again and then let the clutch out again. This forces the car to solve its own problem for the time being. but it will do it again just miles down the road. Worse in wet\cold weather and better in warm but not mutually exclusive.

I'm thinking its a fuel delivery problem. The air cleaner is pretty clean and I've put in fuel-line cleaner. I've used WD-40 on the throttle\choke linkages with moderate success (the problem did go away for months the first time but doesn't seem to work as well as it used to).

The car does not have a muffler and has 375 large on the clock so I'm not going to pour a large sum of money into it. I know doing a major tune-up would do the car a world of good but I'm not prepared to do that just yet.

Any help? L89

Reply to
VetteL89
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Maybe a different thing, but an 84 Nissan 300ZX I had did the same sort of thing, but like clockwork. A minute (IIRC) after restarting it would suddenly sag and I would have to turn the ignition off to clutch start it. The ECU was convinced the engine wasn't running (in spite of me yelling at it "you fool, you're the one making it run!") and would shut down the fuel pump. The main relay has a common failure mode something like this, and I wonder if it is just starting to become intermittent. TeGGeR, jim beam or one of the other Honda wizards can tell you more.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

not many can tell you about a '96 dual carb prelude - here in the u.s., i don't think the prelude's been carburetted since '88.

if it /is/ carburetted, e.g, it's an '86, not '96, it's likely something to do with the automatic choke mechanism not functioning properly - maybe a blocked water heater hose. further investigation is required.

Reply to
jim beam

Carb icing just behind the venturies

Reply to
Rolf

I considered icing - the weather info really suggests that - but the immediate fix by cycling the ignition led me to pretty much rule it out. Icing normally requires intake air heat or a minute's sitting to recover. Still, a check of the intake heat parts (duct and thermostat) couldn't hurt.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

Indeed it is an '86, I just mistyped. The choke makes the most sense given the symptoms but I've got no clue which of those stinking linkages is the right one.

Thanks all for your help. Good stuff and quick too. L89

Reply to
VetteL89

Not being familiar with this car begs this question: Are in carbs standard equipement for this type, and if so which countries where they available?

Reply to
Rolf

get the factory honda manual - it's by far the best way of finding out what to do. helm.com

Reply to
jim beam

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