89 hatchback si d16

ok the car idles fine. i just put a header on it and hadnt put the o2 sensor in yet when it started this. but it idles good, revs up good with the clutch pushed in and when its in reverse it will back up just fine. but in any forward gears if you suddenly gas it to the floor the motor will chock in and out as it goes through the rpms as if the rev limiter is kicking in at all times. it will eventually get all the way through the rpm range but its like the motor chokes in and out. if you easy on the car it doesnt do this. i cracked the distributer cap a while back when i took it off cuz it got water in it while i was cleaning the motor but i just cracked it on the outside edge of where it bolts up and the car just now started acting this way. i put the o2 sensor back in it today thinking maybe this was the problem but it wasnt.

im reallly hard up for cash right now so just replacing parts till i find it is not an option. i dont know what it could be thats causeing this issue.

i have a lil tuner chip on the ats sensor on the intake and it does this wether its on it or off the sensor.

the plugs were suppose to be new when i got the car. ive put 15k on the car since then. although i never inspected the plugs.

the car just seems to do this when its under a load. oh and the rear tranny mount is broken. so would this have anything to do with the car not having this problem in reverse. its a 5 speed by the way.

 

Any CEL codes? If not, replace/inspect the spark plugs, distributor cap, and rotor. How old are the plug wires?

 

Misfiring under heavy acceleration is usually weak sparks. Outside chance it's starving for gas. That would be more apparent at high rpm where naturally you use more gas. If you get misfiring at low rpm (e.g. choosing a gear that's a little too high, then flooring it), that's almost always an ignition problem.

Get rid of that IAT "chip"- they don't do anything for power, they do lower your mpg and could burn up your cat converter.

 

well the cel is on but every mechanic in my town doesnt have a computer to hook up to for this early of a model honda. advance auto doesnt either. and i am takin off the chip its retarded. and it has this problem in any gear at any rpm only thing confusing is that it doesnt do it in reverse. i have intentionally tried to make it and it will not do this in reverse!

my buddy has a 90 model si crx i might try his distributer cap since mine is cracked. hopefully thats the issue!

 

You don't need a computer. You can pull the CEL codes:

 

ok i read the code and its the no. 1 cylinder position. what exactly does this mean. is meaning that the timing is off?

 

Generally, you need to replace the distributor to fix this problem.

 

lol thanks alot man i had no idea it was that easy to read the codes. i just did my homework and figured out it was in the distributor and was coming back to post that i figured it out. thanks alot man!