Questions and Answers

Honda Accord Crapping Out Q. 1986 Honda Accord LX, carbureted, manual, A/C, P/S. About a month ago or so, I noticed the car started stalling. You can start the car fine, warms up fine, seems to drive fine. After about ten minutes of driving, all of a sudden there is no throttle response. Whether tapping the pedal, or flooring it, the car does not accelerate, RPMs do nothing, engine does not rev.

This happens while you are in gear. If you put it in neutral, the car stalls. After about two minutes or so, you can start the car up, seems everything works great. About five minutes later the same problem occurs again. The fun part is that it only happens when you drive the car, I have not been able to reproduce the problem while the car idles in a parking lot.

At first I thought it was an electrical problem (car wasn't getting spark). So I checked the distributor, checked timing, changed cap and rotor, all spark plug wires, and spark plugs. Then, because I basically did a tune up already anyway, I changed both fuel filters (my car has two, one under hood, one in the back of the car), and, for good measure, the PCV valve (wasn't sure the last time is was changed). Car was still stalling.

I then read on your site about another carbureted Honda that was having similar symptoms. You explained that carbureted cars have an intake that can either suck in cold air through the fender well, or hot air through a hose that is connected to a shroud that is wrapped around the exhaust manifold. Apparently what happens with carbureted vehicles is that as it gets colder, the cold air that comes in the intake creates "icing" somewhere in the carburetor, cutting off all fuel and air mixture into the engine, causing it to stall. So, I checked out the system. The hose that runs from the exhaust manifold to the intake had a hole in it, so I replaced it.

Also it appeared that the door was stuck open (allowing all the air coming from the cold air intake). So I figured that was the problem, unstuck the door, but it still was not closing. So I replaced the Air intake Diaphragm. Now the door seems to work fine, but the problem persists. When I say the door seems to work fine, I mean, it works according to the book. It is closed when you start the car and gradually opens as the car warms up and idles. These are the last things I can think of to check/change:

O2 Sensor: not really sure if this would cause the problem, but I know it has not been changed in a long time.
Main Relay: I have heard that these have intermittent problems on older Hondas, but I also read that they will cause a "no-start" condition rather then a stalling condition.
Fuel Cutoff Relay
Fuel Pump: however, I would think that if this went, the car would not start, let alone warm up and run.
Carburetor: never really worked on one before. Heard it is easier to just buy a new one and slap it on rather then diagnosing an old one, but I want to exhaust all other possible solutions before touching this one. Plus, the problem occurs after the car is warm and the high idle has been kicked off. I can't see how the carburetor would cause this problem.

Any other suggestions are more then welcome, because I'm running out of things to fix. PLEASE HELP!

Scott Lau

A. I like the methodical approach you're taking with this. And also that you thought of the carburetor icing. This would be a classic carburetor icing symptom. Carburetor icing has bitten a lot of professional mechanics on the ass, especially the younger ones who have little or no experience with carburetors.

Along the lines of carburetor icing and fuel starvation, it does sound like a fuel problem to me, most likely a bad fuel pump. Fuel pumps are some that can work, not work and everything in between. It might be putting out pressure, but not volume. Both of these are tested for when testing a fuel pump.

Also, gasolines and gasohol's available in some areas may have higher volatility properties than required for the climatic conditions. When these fuels are used in a 1986 to 1988 carbureted Honda Accord, such fuels may cause hot engine running problems. These problems may occur when ambient temperatures are high and can be aggravated by high-altitude operation, especially during the spring and summer months. If this seems to fit your circumstances, a new fuel pump, P/N 17708-SEO-073 is available to correct the problem.