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Thank you Eric for all the videos! I had a 1987 Integra that I got to 235K and only had to sell as it was a manual and I was getting foot surgery.
Our issue is that with very slight acceleration, almost at a coast, the car bobbles slightly, like an ignition miss, but not as dramatic. Eric referred to the issue as “fish biting”. It is almost like we are taking our foot off and on the accelerator, but very lightly. It idles fine and under moderate to full acceleration runs fine. Does it in all gears, but most noticeable in 2nd gear at about 2,000 RPM/30 mph. I can duplicate the issue if I try an hold the car on a hill using the accelerator only. The engine/transmission power fluctuates slightly and we can hear the difference. There is no check engine light on the dash.
We have a 1994 Honda Accord EX with the VTEC 2.2 L and 4spd automatic transmission. Car has been maintained well and we had no issues until someone STOLE the radiator and attached fans, ignition wires, and wiper blades! They cut all the wiring and rubber hoses going to the radiator.
Girlfriend tried to start the car and it sounded weird, she opened the hood and said “Something is definitely missing!” 🙂
We replaced the radiator, the cooling fan (but not the A/C condenser fan as the A/C is dead, (2) radiator hoses, and (2) ATF oil cooler hoses. We added coolant and bled the system and add ATF fluid (Type 6). We put on $50 NAPA Belden Edge ignition wires and used dielectric grease on the boots. We read the forum and made sure that the coolant was bled of air several times and the ATF level measures full with the car warm and off, on level ground. 30K service was performed about 2 month prior – new aftermarket cap and rotor – and no problems until after the parts were stolen. Spark plugs replaced with NGK ZFR5FGP (no emissions sticker under hood).
I was thinking of getting a good, spare ignition wire and then seeing if the issue goes away when I swap out each wire, one-by-one.
Any suggestions out there would be greatly appreciated!
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It does sound ignition related. Hondas don’t like aftermarket ignition parts. To be honest you should never have to replace the wires if they are OE honda. I hate to say it but to prevent future ignition problems you might want to swap the stuff out for OE or NGK, Napa won’t cut it unfortunately. As for the ATF you should once again only use Honda fluid. Not doing so can damage the transmission.
Actually the first thing I thought of when reading your post was bad tires. You might want to rotate them to see if the problem goes away or changes.
Keep us posted on your progress.
:stick:
Thank you for the suggestions Eric. I don’t think it’s the tires as I have new information. I can duplicate the fish biting feeling when we pull the car up out steep driveway. If I add slight resistance with the emergency brake the engine “fish-bites” and the power changes/goes up and down. Also, it is more pronounced when it is raining/humid which makes me think electrical.
Attached is photo of the stolen radiator and ignition wires.
We have a neighborhood Facebook page and after I posted about the crime I had so many people respond with 80’s/90’s Honda that had break-ins for parts.
Thank you again for your videos and help!
A sad picture indeed. As I said in the last post Honda’s don’t like aftermarket ignition parts. You also mentioned that it might be ignition related. It could be your wires. I can say that if you buy OE it will be the last set you buy IF they don’t get stolen. It’s difficult to say if that’s your problem though. Given that there might have been damage to other components during the break in I suppose it could be any number of things including a transmission issue. Often in a situation like this it’s a matter of eliminating the suspects one by one till you find the right one.
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