1991 Accord stalling problem

[inflight]

OK, so I was on a long road trip when I noticed that my car was suddenly not getting any power when I pushed on the gas to go up a slight hill. Then it stalled, and stalled again, and finally would not start (but would still crank.) I got my car towed to the local repair shop in Buffalo Texas. The guy said it was the fuel pump and probably b/c I ran the gas too low. He said there was about 2 inches of gas left in the tank. My gauge however showed a quarter tank at the time of the incident. (P.S. I'm NOT one of those people who drives around on empty and puts $3 of gas in at a pop.) It is quite possible my guage is out of whack since the car is so old.

 

OK, so I go pick up the car, and the dang thing stalls out completely when I come to a stop. Bascially anything that causes a g-force on the car will stall it. I had the luxury of driving around with the guy who repaired the car and he suggested I fill up the tank. OK, so I did that, and problem seemed to be solved.

 

But now, whenever my tank gets about 6 gallons under full (that's about with 8 gallons left in the tank) the same problem keeps happening.

 

Stalling scenarios:

1) Reasonably abrupt stops,

2) Stops on hills when I'm pointed down the hill.

3) Turns when I coast around the corner as opposed to in-gear.

 

So, am I stuck with filling my tank up every dang 5 gallons?

 

This guy said he replaced the fuel pump, but I have my doubts....

 

Any suggestions? The engine runs great otherwise and I'm broke and can't afford a new car.

 

As a side note, the vehicle speed sensor went out a year ago (I checked the code on the check engine light) but the VSS doesn't seem to effect anything other than the speedometer which works only intermittently.

 

Is it a clogged fuel line? Main relay? It's the g-force thing that's really freaking me out. I mean I can reproduce a stall on command like its my job.

 

Any suggestions would help. I'm already $300 in on a new fuel pump, which if I find out that my old pump is in there, someone's going to get a beat down from Visa

 

Thanks in advance.

 

(Any good mechanics here in Austin?)

[Dabbs93Accord]

Really seems like something is wrong with the Sending Unit, most Honda cars have the unit situated towards the back of the tank, which is why when the car is pointing down, the gas follows, and if it doesn't have a lot of gas, it could starve the pump. Under normal circumstances the car shouldnn't stall out with as much gas as you say it has in it. That's why I think something could be wrong with the unit. If not that, then I'm not sure.

[inflight]

Thanks, any idea on what this will cost?

 

I imagine $100 to drop and reinstall the tank, but any idea on the sending unit?

 

I'll go to autozone tomorrow and try to pick one up and see if I can get the fellows down the street to pop one in for me, but I just want to be sure I'm asking for a "sending unit" when I go to autozone. Obviously, I'm not a mechanic and if there's another word for this part I might get some blank stares.

 

Thanks again, and I'll post my results and perhaps that will help some future old honda driver out.

[99HondaAccord]

Thanks, any idea on what this will cost?

 

I imagine $100 to drop and reinstall the tank, but any idea on the sending unit?

 

I'll go to autozone tomorrow and try to pick one up and see if I can get the fellows down the street to pop one in for me, but I just want to be sure I'm asking for a "sending unit" when I go to autozone. Obviously, I'm not a mechanic and if there's another word for this part I might get some blank stares.

 

Thanks again, and I'll post my results and perhaps that will help some future old honda driver out.

Not to patronize anybody that has given you advice but you shouldnt just listen to everyone here and then run out and buy parts. Not everyone here is gonna be right and you're going to end up wasting a lot of money. My advice, take to a BETTER shop (make sure they're ASE certified). If you want to install parts yourself, have them diagnose the problem first. If you dont, let them fix it. That being said, check your fuel pressure, if something (anything) is clogged, you will have less than perfect fuel pressure. Then you just have to figure out WHAT is clogged (fuel filter?) If you have good fuel pressure you can move on to other diagnostics instead of replacing every piece of equipment in your fuel delivery system only to find out you don't need any of it.

[Dabbs93Accord]

Yeah I agree with the person above even though I gave the initial advice! I hope you didn't buy a unit for it yet, but I doubt zone would have it anyways. If you are going to buy your own parts, get them from Honda in my opinion. Anyways, this is one of those touchy systems in a car, so I would take it somewhere known to be good, or even take it to a Honda dealer if possible. I do work at a garage, but don't normally come in contact with the fuel systems of Hondas, because typically, they last. Good luck to you!

[Kegger]

First diagnostic question that should have come out of everyones keyboard should have been "Is your check engine light on?"

 

Then attempt to diagnose from there.

 

So are you throwing a CEL?

[crxtacy]

try this,before you come to an abrupt stop, put it in neutral than stop. see if it stalls ?

[inflight]

Thanks for the advice all. I haven't done anything yet, as I haven't had time. As long as I keep the tank more than half full it doesn't stall.

 

The car's manual so the neutral question doesn't apply.

 

One more symptom is that it take longer to start than normal. Like when I turn the key it takes more cranks for the engine to turn over. That problem goes away if I'm running around town running errands starting and stopping the car and then engine is "warm". If the car stays off for more than a couple hours though, it goes back to the long crank time to start up scenario.

 

The CEL is on, but it was always on b/c the vehicle speed sensor is bad. I haven't checked the CEL again to see if the CEL is telling me something in addition to the VSS.

 

Sorry so long in reply. For some reason I stopped getting notices when people posted here.

[jolleyjoe]

for me it was my distributer