Honda Prelude startup problems?

Question

On random occasions my '98 Prelude sputters and sounds like It's running on half its cylinders for about 3-5 seconds right after I start it. If I rev it once or twice it will break loose and smooth out and will run perfectly fine untill I turn it off and try starting it again. It won't sputter or miss or anything while I'm driving, even while pulling a hill.

Today I replaced the plug wires, cleaned the plugs and EGR valve...and its still acting up...

Anyone have any ideas?

Answer 1

the valve adjustment is critical on that car to maximize engine performance and fuel economy. Chances are that the valves are out of adjustment and because of that you have a lean mixture at start-up that causes the spitting and sputtering.
The first thing I would recommend is to have the valves adjusted. On that car the valves should be adjusted every 30k.

You should also check the throttle body to clean out any carbon that may be restricting the idle air passages. Carbon build-up is quite common on older cars and if the idle passages are restricted there won't be enough air bypassing the idle to allow the engine to runs smoothly under cold start enrichment.

if the conditon remains unchanged after the valve adjustment and throttle body cleaning, the other item would be the coolant temperature sensor. That sensor 'tells' the computer that the engine is cold and that signal triggers the cold start enrichment. If the sensor signal isn't right, the fuel mixture on the cold engine won't be right.


the valve adjustment is the most likely a cause; then the carbon build up and lastely the coolant sensor.

hope that helps