Ive been battling a "sluggish" performance problem with my car for a few months now. Dealer says its fine because the computer isnt saying anything. I say its not fine, because the car is not running like it usually does. Takes a lot more pedal to get it up even the smallest hills, and performance overall doesnt seem right.

Anyway, I noticed something that is now happening with more frequency than when this problem originally started. If Im driving on the highway (it happens at any speed, but more prounounced on the highway) and start to coast (i.e. back off the gas), when I go to accelerate again, the tach goes down about 200 rpm then comes back up to the pre-acceleration level, and then the car accelerates. Sometimes the tach dips quickly and comes back up quickly..........sometimes you can see it happen and it takes a second or two to come back.

Is this normal and I just never noticed it, or does it indicate a problem? I figured it meant something might be up with the torque converter, but I figured Id ask here.

Thanks!!
-Chris

 

First tell us how old are all of the normal tune-up things (age & miles). This can be caused by fouled spark plugs, leaky plug wires, cap, rotor, fuel filter, dirty injectors, .... Before you start worrying about a bad torque converter, rule out the easy stuff first.

Accord EX V-6 from your name? but what year? How many miles??

 

Same problem here with my wifes 99 AV6. It's about 1,000 shy of the 60k tune-up but she just picked it up from getting it inspected and asked my mechanic to check the computer (Honda said nothing was wrong).

Turns out It needs the Evap Canister? replaced and a transmission sensor I believe. This is all from what I just heard from her so I'm not 100% sure if this is correct. I rarley drive her car but did noticed the transmission seemed extremely sluggish.

 

around how many miles can the fuel inectors be dirty , im thinking about cleaning mine i hate to step on the gas then 2 secs later the reaction is like my old pentium 133mhz

 

Thanks for the responses!!! Apparently emails werent getting sent to me when everyone was nice enough to respond.

Anyway, the usual suspects were mostly ruled out. The car has 39K miles on it, and its been feeling this way since about 36K. I havent checked the plugs yet because when I asked for replacements at the Honda dealer, the parts guy pretty much told me I was nuts to replace the plugs at 36K. Also havent checked the plug wires yet. As far as cap and rotor, I cant find them on the car, so Im assuming my year (2000) is when they started the DIS for the Accord. Someone told me it was 2001, but I dont see a cap or rotor, and I do see square "boxes" mounted where the spark plugs would normally be seen. To me that means ignition coils, and a DIS.

Ive also been told the fuel filter is not meant to be replaced, as is validated by the fact that none of the recommended Honda maintenance (list on OwnerLink) ever shows the fuel filter being replaced. Odd, that was the first thing I thought of when I started having issues. And Ive run plenty of fuel injector cleaner thru it (so short of getting the REAL fuel injector cleaning at a garage, Ive cleaned them enough myself I think).

Air filter was replaced immediately after this occurring, and that didnt fix the issue.

Computer shows no codes (surprise!!), but the car just isnt right. The tranny doesnt feel like its slipping (nor does the tach look like its slipping), but its really sluggish, sometimes it shifts a lot later than normal, sometimes it feels like it might not shift at all back into 4th after it downshifts into 3rd to make it up a hill, etc. Sometimes I get a "bucking" action at about 55-60.......instead of downshifting, it feels like the engine is stalling causing the car to buck, then it downshifts and accelerates.

Tranny fluid has been changed once already, I havent checked to see what color it is now (funny though, the dealer told me a brownish color is normal because Honda adds blah blah blah to it.......after he put new fluid in, I drove it a mile and pulled over to check.........hey look, its red, not brown like he said it would be).

Any ideas? Ive been to the dealer twice now for this, and since its not throwing any codes they pretty much want to have nothing to do with it.

Thanks again!!!
-Chris

 

I kinda agree, plugs shouldn't be bad at 36k. But you're having problems, so removing the plugs to look at their condition isn't a bad idea. Plugs say a lot about how an engine's running. And their not THAT expensive to replace, either.

Sounds like you have DI, so there aren't any wires. But maybe(?) take the coilpacs off & clean them? Put some sparkplug-boot grease on them? (Is that OK to use on DI???)

My '98 doesn't have a normal fuel filter either. There's a screen in the tank, kinda looks like a bag aound the inlet. It's not a routine replacement like the filter on my '95 Integra...

The rest of your description sounds like transmission problems. Is there a cable from your throttle to the transmission? (I don't know which years have that.) Maybe it needs to be adjusted so your transmission 'knows' your throttle position? But I'm guessing that in 2000 that's done electronically.

If the dealer says brown transmission fluid is OK, I'd take a hike. To another dealer. Or you could open a new bottle & show it to them... Honda USA has a customer service phone ## somewhere. They might be interested to learn which dealers are telling stories like that.

 

OK, I pulled the front 3 plugs (the ones that are easy to get to ). They all looked OK at first, but then I noticed the middle cylinder plug seemed to have oil build up on the OUTSIDE of where the washer seals against the head. Attached is a link to a pic. Im not sure if this is normal or not, so I figured Id ask here. Also note that the middle cylinder in the front is the only one that does not have a shiny clean head surface where the plug goes, and the spot shown in the picture is only one part of the plug, the buildup is around the whole plug itself just above where the washer is.

Does this indicate that the cylinder would leak compression out of this plug?

http://www.chris-and-kathy.com:8081/...ccord/plug.jpg

Thanks!!!
-Chris

 

That might be leaking from the valve cover gasket onto the outside of the plug. Got a V-6? Do they have those plug-tube seals like the I-4 engines? Basically in the I-4 engines the plug is down in a hole thru the valve cover. There's round gaskets around that tube that like to leak oil down onto the outside of the spark plug.

I'm looking at the brown stain towards the bottom of the ceramic part. Maybe evidence of arcing? That's one reason to put plug-boot grease in the rubber boot at the bottom of the coilpac.

The plug doesn't look bad but the gap looks big. What's the gap supposed to be for your car??

 

It is a V6, but I can really see any evidence in the spark plug tube that the gasket might be leaking (in fact, it looks like the tube is all one piece to me, so its tough to see any gasket at all).

As far as gap, its supposed to be 1.1mm, and using a feeler guage I can estimate that its set perfectly (I didnt have a 1.1mm feeler, so I put a .530 and a .489 together).

Im going to re-install the plugs today with some dielectric grease. Maybe tomorrow Ill check the back ones
`
-Chris

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but yesterday on the way home from work my car started making an annoying whining sound. It was on the accessory side of the engine, so I took it into the dealer figuring it was a shot alternator or something of the sort.

Turns out it was the tranny!!! So my replacement is on the way, and Im hoping it fixes all the issues Ive been asking about here.

Thanks for all the suggestions!!
-Chris