Problem with my del Sol

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ebonicsleazy

New Member
So I've got my head re-worked recently, and since then, the car runs like crap (bogs down, backfires) when the car gets up to temp. About 2 or 3 seconds before it starts messing up, the tach jumps around like crazy from 1k to 9k. I've searched for a bad ground wire, but can't find one. I really don't think it's the timing, because the car runs great for the first 10-15 minutes, until the engine gets up to normal temp. The car never overheats, even when I'm letting it idle for about 30 minutes to look for problems. Anyone have any idea what the problem could be from?
 
I know some of you may not be able to sleep because you are wondering if the problem has been solved.
Well. it has not. I'm still looking for suggestions. Please get some sleep. Don't worry about the car. We can figure something out tomorrow.
 
I know some of you may not be able to sleep because you are wondering if the problem has been solved.
Well. it has not. I'm still looking for suggestions. Please get some sleep. Don't worry about the car. We can figure something out tomorrow.
yep im pretty tired here.

checkout the wires on the distributor and the firing order, along with the grounding on the valve cover.
 
I'm not gettting any kind of check engine light or anything. I got my car to Autozone to have them put the computer thing on it to see if it could find anything, but the assholes told me my car was too old for them to check.

I am at work now, and won't be back at my car til next week. But I will check out the distributer. The ground wire from the head is secure, but 1 or 2 strands are broken, but for the most part, it's good.

Which would be more difficult to change out, the distributor, or the ECU. I think one of those is going bad, but then again I'm a mechanical retard.
 
places like autozone can only diagnose cars 96 and up, you are running obd1 and you can check it yourself by a jumper and counting flashes on the check engine light.

does your check engine light even turn on when you first turn the key o ignition on? if it doesnt the light may be burnt out.
 
Yeah, the check engine light comes on when I turn the ignition on. It would also come on when I would forget to plug some wire back in on my fuel rail the last time I changed an injector.
 
its sounds like u have a crack in your distributor cap that is expanding enough once its hot to cause problems. could also be a similar problem within the distrubutor though i would start with a cap and rotor first. if that works finish off the tune up. if not, start soaking down the dist before it gets hot and see if u can make it arc out.
 
Thank you for the idea. I'll have to check that when I get back home.
So just to make sure I got what you are saying.....
I get a water hose, and while the engine is running I just constanly spray down the distributor? Or do I just have to get it wet once?
If it is the distributor, is it easy to replace? I hope it's just a matter of unscrewing a couple of bolts, then screwing them back in. Will it involve redoing my timing?
 
your better off soaking it down with a spray bottle of soapy water. just enough to keep it wet. if there is a problem youll hear the engine start to miss or a change in revs once its wet. soak the wires too while your at it. Changing the dist is very easy. 3 bolts, 1 plug. your timing wont be changed. the only thing you have to pay attention to is the part of the dist that goes into the cam is keyed slightly. its not very obvious, but one end of it is slightly offset from the other, and you can force it in the wrong way. so just make sure you dont do that and youll be fine.
 
Well, I soaked the distributor, and it did not affect it at all. So I decided to drive it to Honda. To make a long story short, Honda says my TPS is bad, and my VTEC solinoid went out. This is the second time in 2 years that the VTEC solinoid went out. Anyone else have problems with their VTECs?
 
Well, I soaked the distributor, and it did not affect it at all. So I decided to drive it to Honda. To make a long story short, Honda says my TPS is bad, and my VTEC solinoid went out. This is the second time in 2 years that the VTEC solinoid went out. Anyone else have problems with their VTECs?
I'm not so sure about those parts being bad with the problems you describe. Sometimes bad parts can do crazy thing though.

I would look at swapping out the distributor with a known good one to see if that fixes it. If you don't have access to one though check the voltages coming off your TPS sensor and compare it to what its supposed to range from in the manual.
 
I picked up the car from Honda last night, and after about 30 minutes of driving, the same problems came up again. I am going to give the car back to Honda to figure out again. Very frustrating. I was planning on taking the del sol to GA next week, but it looks like I'm going to be going in the MR2. Oh well, the MR2 is more fun to drive anyways.
 
So I drive my car from work to the Honda dealership (about 30 minutes away) and the car runs perfect. So, like the mechanical retard that I am, I figure maybe the problem was bad fuel or something, and it should start running like normal again. So I drive back home (about another 30 minutes). I stop by Auto Zone to get some new brake pads and a new air filter. Just as I arrive at Auto Zone the car starts acting up again. When I get out of the car an Auto Zone worker asks "EGR valve?" I told him I'm not sure what the problem is, and apparently neither do the Honda mechanics.

So, my question is, what is an EGR valve? If it were bad, what would the symptoms be?
 
its a round object with a 2 wire plug on the back of most honda manifolds. You can take it out and clean it but it doesnt sound like the problem.

As you are saying it only does this once the car is warm, check your thermostat housing, and pretty much anything related to your idle, leave it run in your driveway till it warms up.. :confused:
 
Well, the car surges when idling all the time, warm or cold. between 1-1.75 k.
As far as the major problem, it does appear that the problem only occurs when the engine is warm. Since getting it back from Honda, it does go alot longer before it starts acting up.
Once this starts, the car has little to no throttle response. I can rev the engine when in neutral, though there is a lot of "popping". Almost like it is out of time, I would guess. But when the car is driving, throttle response is cut down to almost nothing. The car runs really ruugh, and only gives me 2 options, shift gears before 2k rpm, or stall out. When that happens, I am probably the most disliked driver on the road.
 
EGR for sure for the idle, clean it out to start with. Then go through the steps in a the honda manual for the idle adjustment and go from there to weed out the other issue/issues.
 
i would take it back to the dealer, and suggest to them that it is perhaps the EGR (hint hint) As they tried to fix it once and did not, all further diagnosis/ repairs should be free or severly discounted, and once they find the root cause of the problem, the original repairs you have paid for should be reimbursed. As long as you are capable of bitching and moaning and perhaps calling their 1-800 customer service number. Its the way the automotive world goes round.

Also, note the mileage when u drop the vehicle off, and tell the service writer that it needs to be driven for atleast 30 min if not more before it acts up. the mileage should be considerably higher when u pick the car back up, for atleast 2 long drives (before repair to confirm problem and after to confirm fix) My guess is the tech didnt drive it enough to duplicate the problem and just shot from the hip a diagnosis. If you dont see alot more miles on your car, youll know they tried the same thing again. Good luck.
 
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