[lespaul]

1992 Si VTEC H22A

Guys,

My present 'Lude is on it's last chance - BIG TIME. It's my 2nd 'Lude in 4 years. The first one was an '93 Auto non-VTEC which I sold a couple of years back. It had a good few problems with it during the year or so I owned it - electrics problem, O2 sensor etc. but all in all it was a decent car. Then I bought a BMW 320i which was a great car - very reliable, comfortable and economic BUT not very quick. That's when I thought I'd go back to my roots and do the 'Prelude Thang' right - full on VTEC all the way. Thought I'd get TCS, 4WS, ICE, 17" and all the rest thrown in as well. Now, to insure my Prelude here in Ireland cost me €2300 PA, taxing the car is €615 PA and let me tell ya petrol ain't cheap either!

When I bought my 'Lude it drove really for a couple of weeks. It had a Boy Racer back-box on it from the previous owner, which I didn't like the sound of - so I paid a garage to take it off and replace the stock version. After a few days the car started to bog down really bad and basically drive like a dog. This 'Hesitation' seems to be a HUGE problem with Preludes and I for one have had enough of it. I don't see the point in paying all that money for a (quote insurance co.) "high risk, high performance sports car" when my BMW was a million times quicker - yeah it's that bad. What have I done about it? Well I had the car to 3 different garages and they've changed most of the bleedin' engine from the damn bills I've been getting back! Cap, Leads, Rotor, Full Service, Pumps and still not a bean of difference. And yes, I've reset the ECU! Not one could give me a decent answer. Now I've been told that it could be the Distributor unit itself (the after-market back box was "masking" the problem apparently) and I've sourced one out for a couple hundred Euro. Which leads my to the actual questions:

1:/ Do you guys think getting a new Distributor could solve the Hesitation issue or am I wasting more money and I should just cut my loses?

2:/ Is the Distributor difficult to install?

I'm very sorry about the rant but the car is just driving me mad and really making me wish that I didn't buy it. If it was running the way it should, I'm sure I'll fall in lust with it again. But for now.......

Thanks guys and apologies again.

 

[jebarco1]

1: Whats a boy racer?
2: Distributer is very easy to replace just mark the head and dis, so you can install it at the same timing. I would also get it timed by a professional or do it yourself if you feel up to it. Also leave the spark plug wires on the dis cap and just move it over to the new dis. Why no start by doing a compression check on each cylinder. And while you have the spark plugs out, check the gapping and what they look like, one way to see of the car is running lean or rich by the color. Next , check to make sure the ground wire to the engine is okay , if not replace it with a 4 gauge wires , short as possible. The battery ground also should be checked. Next , I would check the throttle body , and clean it. Check the air filter also. And , final go threw the fuel system. Replace the filters, and run some fuel injector cleaner threw. These are the small things you need to check. Might want to reset the computer to , by taking the battery ground off, and letting it set for a few minutes, then put back. On a older car , these things should be check every 2 oil changes. Well, thats my preference I had a civic with 180k on it when i sold it and it still had that original throttle response.

1

 

[lespaul]

Whats a boy racer?

Next , I would check the throttle body , and clean it.

Thanks for the response!

A "Boy Racer" is what you guys call a 'Rice Boy' or something like that. These guys normally wear Baseball Caps and slap on huge exhausts and light up their Nissan Mirca's like Christmas Trees!

Stupid question I'm sure, but how do you clean the throttle body? Where is it located? Don't suppose you've any images of the process - wishful thinking, eh?

Thanks again.

 

[jebarco1]

Here is a picture of the throttle body. To left of the gold piece that the throttle cable is attacted to, remove the intake hose clamp. Pull the intake hose off, and spray some brake cleaner or cabuertor cleaner in there with the car off. Left it set for a 10 minutes or so..... Most of the time of you let the filter get back this will affect how clean this area is. Example if you car will start but shuts off at a light, most of the time this area is dirty. Don't get sucker into a shop tell you the throttle position sensor is bad, or idle control valve.........

 

[lespaul]

The image won't show up on my machine for some reason - can you email it to me, if it's not too much trouble that is!?

[email protected]

Thanks!

 

[lespaul]

Ooopps it's there now - must be this slow connection! Broadband isn't readily available round these parts!!

Ta!