95 Civic acceleration problem

I have a 1995 Civic LX which has developed an acceleration problem very
recently. From a dead stop when I accelerate heavily (say to merge into
traffic), the car seems to shudder and then finally pick up speed. I should
note the transition from "shuddering" to normal acceleration happens very
quickly, as if a switch was being thrown.

I was thinking fuel filter, but it would seem that acceleration would be
poor at all times if that were the case.

If it is fuel filter, how easy is it to change? As I recall, one is near the
engine and the other inside the fuel tank (?)

 

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Guy, It almost sounds like you've jumped a tooth on your timing belt.
You said it happened suddenly, or just recently? What's your service
history? When's the last time you ran a can of injector cleaner thru the
beast? Fuel filter problems only appear suddenly if it injests some
water. Did it all start after filling at a station you never go to? Is
ethanol-enhanced fuel available to you?

'Curly'

-=============

 

Curly,

The timing belt was recently replaced (about 4 weeks ago or so). I just
noticed this problem yesterday, when attempting to accelerate into traffic.
Putting the pedal to the floor yields practically nothing for several
seconds.

The gas I've used I've used before, and truth be told it has been a while
since I've run some injector cleaner through. I'll do that on the next
fill-up.

But your mention of the timing belt has me worried.... a new one was put on
but is it possible it could go bad, or be mis-aligned somehow?

 

Guy, if the timing belt was not tensioned properly the belt could jump a
tooth and the typical complaint sounds like: 'gutless acceleration, but
somewhat better when warmed up fully' More likely it was put back
together 'out of time', but that will require an hour or so of work to
correct.

Was it 'sick' since it came back from the shop? Does it start exactly
the way it did before, does it idle rougher? Have you checked your dash
lights according to the manual, as well as all fluid levels under the hood?


'Curly'

 

Try removing the distributor cap and scrub it clean in the sink. Dry it
off
and use a bit of silicone polish to shine up the inside and outside and
provide a bit of damp-proofing.

HTH

 

hood?

Whether the car is warmed up seems to have no effect... I suspect I would
have noticed the timing belt problem prior to this, since it was changed
around 3-4 weeks ago and the problem just popped up a couple of days ago.
Car was fine after the belt was replaced.

No lights on panel, fluid levels okay. Starts fine, idles fine.

I don't notice the problem under normal acceleration, only when depressing
the accelerator almost to the floor as one would do when attempting to pull
into traffic from a dead stop, or under emergency conditions.

 

You mentioned that it was sluggish for four seconds after you hit the
gas. What happens then? Does it go to full power or is it still
slow? If the former, does the power come on smoothly or is it sudden?
Is the problem consistent or intermittent?

 

After being sluggish the power returns suddenly. The problem seems to be
consistent and worsening. Before it only occured during rapid acceleration,
ow it seems to happen even with normal acceleration.

 

==============

Now you've hit on something. If you have a lot of corrosion in your
area, it could be that one of your electrical ground wires is
intermittent when the engine torques a bit more than usual, or maybe the
wiring to an engine component, like the O2 sensor, or coolant temp
sensor is going 'open', ever since you had that work done on the timing
belt.

A really thorough visual inspection would be in order, but you'll have
to get a person who really knows Hondas, or they might not spot
something that's out of place.

Make sense to anybody? 'Curly'

================

 

OK, here's something to check.

I had a very similar problem on my '86 Integra starting when it was
about six years old. It started out very subtle but slowly got worse
over the course of a year or more. At the end the car was very
sluggish below about 3200 rpm. It would pull steady - no missing or
jerking - but it was weak. When it got to about 3200 it was like
someone threw a switch and it would almost jerk your head as it
screamed right up to red line. Pretty much did it all the time but
some days seemed a little better than others.

On a hunch I put a timing light on it. The timing was funny - I don't
remember exactly how but it was hard to set or didn't run right when
set to spec or something. I took it to a mechanic who (after I
insisted) opened up the distributor and found that the centrifugal
advance mechanism was all gummed up. As a result, timing was retarded
until about 3200 rpm when the vacuum advanced kicked in. He cleaned
up the mechanism and it ran great for another three years when I sold
it.

So if that sounds like your problem, check the advance mechanisms for
proper operation. Let us know what you find.

 

Good call, but the '95 Civic did not have centrifugal advance, nor
vacuum advance. The RPM and load adjustments of ignition timing was done
by the ECU (based on RPM and manifold vacuum, but not through a
mechanical centrifugal advance or vacuum diaphragm