my lude is sick :(

[soccmid]

help. my lude is sick it has been for a while but because i drive it so little it wasnt a big deal but now i have to drive it. i took it to emissions and i failed miserably (passin is 1.00 and i was at like 5.034) on hydrocarbons which is just unburnt fuel. i need some ideas of what may be wrong. i have a black residue on my tail pipes that tends to cake up if i do not clean the tail pipes. heres a list of what i have done to try and fix teh problem
new pcv valve
new sparks
new distributor case and rotor
new intake head
changed my oil and my tires ( jus fyi wasnt smart went to emissions with bad tires and dirty oil)
Thats all i have done so far. any advice or comments r welcome

[AcesHigh]

Two words: Catalytic converter.

[soccmid]

any other ideas i kno little of this cars history as far as whats been replaced. im gonna take a look at the cat when i change my oil in a week or so any other ideas. btw thanks ACES

[FDTT]

What year lude do you have?

If you are running a carbed lude then you could have a leaky jet, mixture is to rich.
If you got a FI then you could have a cat problem but i dought it cause even without a cat you would not register that high in HC. I think maby you have a leaky injector. But deffinetly a fuel delivery problem. I know that Preludes generly run rich so i guess that it is possible for the cat to be at fault but i find that very unlikley.

[soccmid]

thanks . . . new update when i changed my spark plugs they were black and brown and smelled like gasoline. so something is defitnely wrong . im losing fuel economy and damn power iwth this problem. i must eb running rich/ have a FI prelude jus to let u kno 92 si

[AcesHigh]

What kind of plugs are you using.

[soccmid]

my odl ones were ngk but now i have bosch plugs. the ngk were defintely brownish and smell of gasoline. thanks a lot u guys

[soccmid]

help please jus tryin to get an idea

[AcesHigh]

You are burning too much gasoline. Mine were the same when I used Bosch +4 plugs. Switch out to some colder plugs for awhile, and try some fuel injector cleaner solution in your gasoline. See if that helps.

[soccmid]

thanks aces u been helpful . i tried some otehr sparks and ive run like 4 fuel injector cleaner thinsg thru it but nothin helpin major. imma take off eth fuel rail and get a look at teh injectors to chek emm out. this sux my car is slower than focuses

[Stereo]

is your check engine light staying on? if so it could be somthing wrong with one of the sensors like the map sensor or coolant temp sensor even a sticking injector also use only Nd or NGK plugs on your car the autolites and Bosch plugs don't work too well in hondas

[hondaprelude88]

O2 sensor if its fuel injected these get gumbed up and make the car run extreamly rich. Just a thought.

[soccmid]

i cheked out all teh sensors today and the cat. all look fine my buddy joe has a shop with an emissions diagnostic testing machine. im jus gonna let him take a look at it. hopefully it will know.

[SBallerk2]

R u guys kidding me I just got Bosch +4 spark plugs and replaced my stocked NGK (which i'm guessing we're never replaced) but they didn't look so nasty they had normal black around the plug i guess but i threw the plugs away (NGK) r Bosch +4 spark plugs that bad? please give reason's if they are? should I replace them even thou there about 3 days old? and i'm thinking of buying the wireset too which r some good one's? thankxxx guys...sorry soccmid i ain't got a clue what could be wrong with ur car...

[hondaprelude88]

Originally Posted by SBallerk2

R u guys kidding me I just got Bosch +4 spark plugs and replaced my stocked NGK (which i'm guessing we're never replaced) but they didn't look so nasty they had normal black around the plug i guess but i threw the plugs away (NGK) r Bosch +4 spark plugs that bad? please give reason's if they are? should I replace them even thou there about 3 days old? and i'm thinking of buying the wireset too which r some good one's? thankxxx guys...sorry soccmid i ain't got a clue what could be wrong with ur car...

I am standing beside this that its not your plugs, they have nothing to do with weather a car is running rich or not. I would check out things that have to do with fuel control. The plugs are fine.