89 Accord stalling out

Help! I just spent $800 to get parts of my exhaust system fixed but now my car is stalling out. It mostly happens when I am slowing down or idling. Sometime it's just fine and others it just dies. It starts up just fine afterwards. Does any one have any idea what could be going wrong? Thanks in advance!

Jill

My '88 Accord did the same thing for a while. Check your air, oil, and fuel filters lately? Mine turned out to be my fuel filter.

Thanks for your reply. Amazingly, the next time I drove the car it did not stall at all. I added some fuel injector cleaner to the gas tank, so maybe that helped? Also, I was thinking perhaps the brand-new exhaust system needed to be broken in a bit. I will look into checking the fuel filter, too. Is this hard to do?

Thanks.

Didn't know your car was fuel injected. My Accord's an LX and is carbureted. Not sure if your car's setup the same as far as the fuel system is concerned (excluding the fact that it's fuel injected with injectors), but if your injector's were dirty or clogged that could have been part of the issue since your engine wouldn't have been getting enough fuel. I think we've got a fuel filter in the back toward the gas tank, or there's one in the engine bay somewhere. I'll have to look in my service manual to be sure.

Also, if the exhaust wasn't put in correctly, you could have an exhaust leak and could be losing compression which could cause it to stall out when in idle or going slow. Also check your air filter to make sure that's not dirty either.

In the mean time, if you want expert help, the folks over at 3geez will know. It's an entire forum dedicated to 3rd gen Accords like ours. Jump on over there and see if they can give you a hand. I'll have to get back to you on where the fuel filter is since I'm at work right now. :wink:

www.3geez.com

Thanks for your feedback...that's a good point about the car not being fuel injected. It didn't stall for a week or so and then it stalled again tonight, right after I was teaching someone to drive stick on it, which I don't think is a good idea. Both times it stalled was right after the driving lesson...seems to be too hard for the car to take. After an hour rest and a few more stalls it started and stayed engaged just fine. I am thinking it has something to do with the RPMs going too low...have you heard anything about setting the RPMs higher? The only thing, is that it really does seem to be only intermittent - twice in the last month, both times after driving lessons. I will check out that web site you recommended. Thanks.

Could either be a loss in compression due to an exhaust leak or a bad filter or possibly your idle controller (had to replace mine as well) if it has one, which I think it would. Or maybe the computer is set to have the idle too low. For my car my low idle is supposed to be around 700rpm or 900rpm (can't remember which at the moment). Not sure if yours is supposed to be the same. What year and model is your car? Is it an LX-i? Again, let me see if I can find the time to check my service manual to see if it has any info on your car. I'm just really swamped with work right now so I'm sorry for the delay.

It could really be one of a lot of things or a combination of them. Fuel injectors, filters, spark plugs or wires, distributor, exhaust leak, electrical short somewhere (happend to me too where the key is located... had to jiggle it to get the car to come back on), or something else I can't think of.

I would run by a Honda dealership and bring it in for them to take a look at. Dealerships are a bit pricey, but Honda parts, fluids, and service are top notch. And it's a lot less for them just to inspect it and give you an idea what the problem is before they really make any repairs anyway. I take both my 1988 Accord and my 1995 Del Sol to the dealership for service when they need it (at least until I learn enough to work on my car on my own :biggrin: ).

Just remember I'm not an expert mechanic. Just basing this off my own experiences. :biggrin: