engine power / stuttering issues

[emosun]

Short:

I feel as though my cb9 isn't making the amount of power it should. If i had to guess I would say a little over half it's normal horse power. The vehicle makes a stuttering sound when accelerating. If normal acceleration between gears made a "vroooooooom" sound , mine makes a "vr vr vr vr vr vr vr vroooom" sound. Idle sounds fine , starts fine , cruising at a set speed is fine. My 100% guesses are fuel filter/injectors/spark plugs/wires/cap/rotor? None have been changed in 4 years and 38k.

Someone also mentioned to check the timing which I've never done on any car.

I watched a Motorweek episode of a 91 wagon and when they tested it in stock configuration it did 0-60 in under 9 seconds. Mine is very much nowhere near that , If i floored it maybe 15. If I stayed under 3000rpm about 30.

Extra:

It feels as if the car is very heavy , which would make sense if the engine was down on power because it's power to weight ratio would be worse and therefore heavier.

I feel the engine works very hard just to keep up with traffic. A simple stop light and every other car just takes off. I don't want to floor it everywhere I want the car to last , it's not a tuner or racer of any kind all stock.

When I had a 4 door 1990 ex manual , it was really quick. My mom got pulled over in it accidentally doing 80 and she didn't even notice. The wagon is heavier and the auto transmission is geared lower but surly there's something wrong with it.

[Fleetw00d]

Time to stop guessing and start troubleshooting. The plugs should probably be changed regardless - it is time. If there is a lot of oil in the plug holes, that can cause a problem. Air filter and fuel filter can't hurt. If the stuttering starts at about 1800 rpm, EGR may be acting up. Disconnect and plug the EGR vacuum hose and see if the stuttering goes away. How is the compression?

[deevergote]

In addition to the things fleetw00d mentioned, the o2 sensor, ignition timing, spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor, and bad ground connections are certainly possible.

Is your check engine light on? If it is not, does the bulb work (I once watched a guy spend 3 days trying to diagnose a problem, insisting there was no check engine light... only to discover that the bulb was blown. When he replaced the bulb, there were 5 codes! When he fixed the issues reported by the ECU, the problems went away.)

[lbus9168]

Emosun, it was me who told you to check timing and I've anyway told you to do everything that's been posted in this thread and the old one.

Have you checked anything, or are you still just posting on the internet? Sometimes it's better to just go try it out.

[emosun]

Time to stop guessing and start troubleshooting. The plugs should probably be changed regardless - it is time. If there is a lot of oil in the plug holes, that can cause a problem. Air filter and fuel filter can't hurt. If the stuttering starts at about 1800 rpm, EGR may be acting up. Disconnect and plug the EGR vacuum hose and see if the stuttering goes away. How is the compression?

The plugs look ok , i actually took all four out and they aren't burned or gunked up or anything but I'll change them anyway. Yes there is a lot of oil in the plug wells. I know it's bad seals but I saw the tutorial for changing the seals and all that top end dissassembly scares me. Air filter is new , fuel filter is old and should be changed.

I don't have a compression tester so I'll have to borrow one but I'll try the easier fixes first.

As for the egr vacuum hose , which one is it?

[emosun]

In addition to the things fleetw00d mentioned, the o2 sensor, ignition timing, spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor, and bad ground connections are certainly possible.

Is your check engine light on? If it is not, does the bulb work (I once watched a guy spend 3 days trying to diagnose a problem, insisting there was no check engine light... only to discover that the bulb was blown. When he replaced the bulb, there were 5 codes! When he fixed the issues reported by the ECU, the problems went away.)

The o2 sensor is new, the wires/capand rotor are pretty old. The cel isn't on , bulb works. I cave to clear the code and wait a bit before I check if there are any as the O2 sensor wasn't connected a few times while I was working on the exhaust so that'll be stored in there I'm sure.

[emosun]

Emosun, it was me who told you to check timing and I've anyway told you to do everything that's been posted in this thread and the old one.

Have you checked anything, or are you still just posting on the internet? Sometimes it's better to just go try it out.

sorry the original thread is MIA so i had to make it over again

[JDMDriver]

My input and 2 cents.

This may be relevant, I felt something similar in my crx and the feeling was more power lag or a delay.

It turned out to be the ignition control module which can gradually fail, fail intermittently or even instantaneously like it did in my cb7 accord.

[emosun]

Question

So the spark plug seals are bad obviously and I'm a little timid to attempt to fixing them.

I had another idea. As a temporary fix could I put some rtv around the spark plug wires themselves to prevent oil from going into the wire connection between the plug and wire?

This will not solve the leak at all, but just keep oil off the connection.

Also , to my knowledge if a car starts really well (As in it only cranks for a half second before fires) that's a good sign of a healthy sparking system , but if you have to crank it a lot the spark isn't getting there very well. Is this at least somewhat true?

Only because the plug ends are very clean for being 4 years ago , so I'm assuming each cylinder must be firing quite well.

[emosun]

Also , to my knowledge if a car starts really well (As in it only cranks for a half second before fires) that's a good sign of a healthy sparking system , but if you have to crank it a lot the spark isn't getting there very well. Is this at least somewhat true?

Only because the plug ends are very clean for being 4 years ago , so I'm assuming each cylinder must be firing quite well.

any comment on this specific one?

If i hate to describe the issue it has I would almost say that it's fuel filter/injector related.

Should I make a video of the stuttering issue?

[emosun]

I watch a video on timing the accord and the guy mentioned the top bolt should be set relatively in the middle. mine isn't , it's pushed pretty much all the way back. So I know the timing isn't right , I'll have to borrow a timing light so I can fix it.

[emosun]

UPDATE:

I noticed the car doesn't really run any worse when I unplug cylinder 3. (3 being the second from the passenger side).

Now that plug looks the same as every other plug , so surely that cylinder MUST be firing. Just to be sure I replaced the cap and rotor. I also replaced the fuel filter because why not. None of these fixed it.

My next idea is to clean the injectors. I'm going to remove and clean some injectors from my parts car. I'm also going to borrow some wire from the parts cars as well just to make sure the car runs the same with different wires.

Any input on anything I've done thus far? Again should I make a video of the stuttering and maybe it'll be easier for you guys to know what it could be?

[Honda_Lady]

I did my lower spark plug seals for the first time without any issues, I actually had to do it twice because the first time I used aftermarket and they didn't seal very good. Its not a difficult job, I was intimidated too at first, but had no problems.

[emosun]

I replace some front exhaust pieces that had minor leaks and it made the problem less apparent , but I can still tell it's happening.

Could someone who has their engine timed correctly take a picture or measurement of where their distributor is positioned so I can position mine to match?

I believe the distributor (not the cap and rotor) is the original so it should match everyone else's.

[deevergote]

A picture of someone else's distributor isn't going to help you correctly set your own timing.


If you unplug the wire from #3 and it makes no difference, then it's not firing. Or it's not getting fuel. Either way, if there's no change in how the engine runs, cylinder #3 isn't doing anything at all. Start there. Perhaps a compression test.

If you don't own or have access to a compression tester or timing light, look into getting both tools.