hi there. i have a 1990 prelude 2.0 ex. it runs fine if you have good warm weather but let it get cold and when you start it in the morning it misses like it is running on three cylinders or something. just wondering what could cause something like that. i have checked everything like the leads and plugs distributor cap coil and all are fine so i am stumped. help would be appreciated.

 

Define warm and cold weather for us here in the states.

Could be a coolant temp sensor acting up making it run overly rich on cold mornings. A worn out O2 sensor will also make the car run too rich, especially if the coolant temp sensor is also faulty.

 

well i live in ireland so my temps will be pretty much the same as yours. as i said i bought it second hand and i have changed the sparkplugs & plug leads. the only thing i have not changed is the rotor and the ditributor cap. i took it in to honda dealer and he says it is fine. but i think he wants me to send it in and he can charge me through the nose to fix what he can without touching anything. oh and i have changed the oil and filters like the air and oil.

 

In that case, I'd say start with the cheap stuff, like distributor cap and rotor.

Just sounds like a weak spark could be causing your issue if you haven't changed the cap and rotor.

 

ye that is what i thought only when the engine gets warm it goes away. there is only a small engine shack. i still get over 200 miles on 50 litres of fuel. this is what is confusing me.

 

I've read somewhere that cold air can cause a lean (or leaner than desired) condition in the fuel mixture. The temp sensors don't account for the extra amount of oxygen in the mix. Since a lot of Honda engines run an extra lean mixture when they're first started and at high rpm's, this idea sort of does it for me, if you know what I mean.

But of course I'm no mechanic by any stretch of the imagination...

 

yes i was told that but when it is cold it blows a lot of blue smoke out. till it gets warm. and if i put foot hard on the accelerator for a good takeoff it also smokes a lot then. at the moment i dont even have the air filter in to stop this. not so bad now.

 

Well.... it seems like a lot of cars blow off a little oil smoke when they first start up, and then the exhaust clears out a little later. The smoke you get when you floor it is natural to an extent, in that... your gonna get smoke in those cases. But it should really only be evident to someone behind you and it shouldn't be really heavy.

 

ok kewl. but i still dont know why it misses as if it is running on 2 or 3 cylinders when it is cold (below 20 degrees C). if it warmer than that it runs fine. do you think it could be the leads??? is there a book available on it that i could read to see what it could be?? the mechanic at honda says there are little filters in the vac lines that could block up and cause this.

 

well thanks all for the info. going to get new plugs and distributor cap. will see from there.