Hello every one,

I was hoping I could get some possible suggestions/advice for my current situation. I will start off with the originating problem, up to the current.

The systems of my troubled Honda started as:

One my way home on my commute, about 10 minutes into it my car started losing power. I pulled it off the the side of the road along a curb. I cranked over the engine which started up. When ever I attempted to give it gas from the accelerator the engine would bog down and then die. Repeating this several times I was getting the exact same results. The engine would turn over but any attempt in giving it gas would cause it to stall out.

I then tried pressing the accelerator lightly, in small increments. This allowed the car to rev the RPMs without stalling the engine. Slow pressing in the accelerator, only 1/4th the way. As soon as I tried giving it fuel gas again, the engine would die. Eventually the engine wouldn't even start. It would just try and turn over and over. I immediacy assumed that this was due to same type of fuel failure (I know the basics of working on cars).

Unfortunately I had my 18mo old down the road at daycare so I wasn't able to get to troubleshoot as I would liked to. I didn't have any tools in my car with me so I was pretty much S.O.L at the time. I called a tow truck and had the car pulled over to a service station .2 miles across the road ($65!!). I had the mechanics look it over and call me to let me know what was wrong. They said the ran a diagnosis on the car and said that the plugs were failed and the car was flooded. They replaced the plugs and the car was working (another $120!! I could have killed myself).

Car worked fine for a week, fast forward to this past Friday, same problem. Car wouldn't start up. Mind you that I did rain and it was cold outside. Knowing what was the cause the 1st time when having to take it to a service shop, I pulled out the plugs to inspect them. They were defiantly saturated with fuel. I pulled all of the plugs out and dried them off. I put them back in and the car started. It was a little cluggy-chuggy at first but then it was idling fine.

Well, same thing happened again this morning. Went out to start the car (4am), temperature was around 65 degrees and raining, again. The car would not start. Same thing, the engine would just crank and crank over and over. Pulled the plugs out, same thing, wet looking. Dried them off, popped them back inside the car. Started over like it should have.

While having the engine running, I noticed some ticking sound, like a spark. It sounded like it was coming from the alternator although I could be wrong. I was a constant snapping/popping/electric sound. Maybe I have never noticed this before, but I don't really think so, which is why it get my attention today.

Would could be the problem of why the car is getting flooded all of a sudden. the car has about 175k miles on it. It's a commuter car. I drive 170 miles a day M-Thur.

It has been a great car (got it for 1k with 110k miles). Is there something going wrong with the ignition system? Based off your technical knowledge, what would be your suggestions/recommendations?


I hope I posted this with enough information.

 

It would be good to check the fuel pressure. Do you see smoke of any sort coming out the tailpipe when you drive? (Have someone follow you in another car is the best way to tell). Is the check engine light coming on?

But you may just have an ignition problem. Consider simply replacing the cap and rotor. These are parts that are pre-emptively replaced in a tune up. Look for any burned spots on them, that might be why you heard sparking. You can also look for stray sparks on the outside of the cap and wires by watching in the dark. Generally though those will only affect one cylinder rather than all 4.

 

First off, thanks for your quick response!



I will try tonight when I get home to see if I can see any sparks. It was daylight this morning when I got it running so it would have been hard to see. Is it possible that it isn't getting enough spark to ignite the fuel?

I did notice the the spark plug on the right side (passenger) seemed dry, as the other were wet. To think about it, the other day when I pulled the plugs out. I took them off from left to right (left being driver, right being passenger) and the last one of the right had smoke coming out of the chamber, where as the other 3 didn't That made me assume that-that particular cylinder was igniting?

 

Is the CEL on? Click CEL link in my signature.

You should replace the plug wires, cap, and rotor and then go from there.

If the problem persists, check for spark as described at the link in my signature. Spark at each plug should be bright white, not weak orange or dark blue.