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Ep3 pulling away bogs down and cuts out

A

Alex of Smeg

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29
I’ve had my EP3 facelift type R for about a week now and I’ve noticed some strange behaviour a couple of times now. What’s happened is when I go to pull away immediately after starting the engine, it kinda bogs down and cuts out. This has only happened a couple of times, both time with a slightly cold engine, but not fully cold. The other 20 odd times i’ve started it and pulled away without a problem. I’ve not had enough chance to figure out exactly how to get around it but I think if I leave it to idle for a few seconds before pulling away it seems to work.

I also noticed a bit of a grinding noise as the car started this morning which I haven’t heard before. Hard to describe.

As mentioned in another post, I have also been unsure whether vtec has been engaging/disengaging properly. It isn’t always very noticeable… Perhaps this could be related?
 
Check all fluid levels. It could be a fueling issue but hard to tell without more info. Do you start her on a hill or flat?
 
Update. I managed to get it started by hammering the throttle whilst turning it over. It's struggled at first but then held its idle and ran ok. However there was quite a bit of smoke from exhaust at first. I'm no good at determining whether it was oily or fuelly smelling but it smelt a bit oily to me. Anyway I got it home and will investigate further when I have a chance
 
What colour was the smoke?

Could be a couple teeth out on the timing chain perhaps?
 
It’ll run with the timing out to an extent. 2 more more teeth out and it’ll start having major problems. Stretched chains tend to slip a little over time. Mine was 1.5 teeth out at 90k miles and a slight stretch, maybe 5 to 8mm.

White smoke tends to suggest water (head gasket potentially) and blue smoke is usually valve seals or piston rings.
 
Alex of Smeg said:
I’ve had my EP3 facelift type R for about a week now and I’ve noticed some strange behaviour a couple of times now. What’s happened is when I go to pull away immediately after starting the engine, it kinda bogs down and cuts out. This has only happened a couple of times, both time with a slightly cold engine, but not fully cold. The other 20 odd times i’ve started it and pulled away without a problem. I’ve not had enough chance to figure out exactly how to get around it but I think if I leave it to idle for a few seconds before pulling away it seems to work.

I also noticed a bit of a grinding noise as the car started this morning which I haven’t heard before. Hard to describe.

As mentioned in another post, I have also been unsure whether vtec has been engaging/disengaging properly. It isn’t always very noticeable… Perhaps this could be related?
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Let your engine warm up at least 3 minutes then drive away
Replace your fuel filter
 
Ffs I hope its not something serious like head gasket, or a stretched/slipped chain for that matter! Could it possibly be moisture contaminant in the fuel?

I'm a new owner, does anyone know any good online suppliers of Honda parts for these cars? Nearest Honda dealer is miles away...
 
Hendy in the traders section is your place to go for OEM parts.

I’d be surprised if it was water in the fuel TBH. Unless the car’s been sat for a long time before you bought it perhaps?
 
Hazz said:
Hendy in the traders section is your place to go for OEM parts.

I’d be surprised if it was water in the fuel TBH. Unless the car’s been sat for a long time before you bought it perhaps?
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I think it may have sat for a while. Only did 1000 miles in last 15 months

And thanks, I will check out Hendy. What about service/workshop manuals? I had an awesome pdf file for my Toyota mr2. Would love something similar for this. Any idea where I can download something?
 
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Ahh, that could explain a few things then. You might have some build up on the injectors causing issues. MCM recently had the same problem on the 370Z build, they fixed it with a hammer IIRC (go and watch final build episode for that car).

Fuel tends to gunk up over time and clog injectors and fuel lines. Also something to do with carbon deposits happens, but I'm not sure on the science of this because in my mind if an engine isn't running then there can't be any more carbon introduced... I digress. Check your injectors and whilst your at it, check the colour of your spark plugs to see if the fuelling is looking there or there abouts.
 
Will have a look when I get a chance. But if there were clogged injectors or fuel lines then surely again, it wouldn't run well at all. Mine seems to run spot on once it actually runs. Just this weird issue when starting, and even that is intermittent. Will watch mcm episode this evening
 
Hazz said:
Ahh, that could explain a few things then. You might have some build up on the injectors causing issues. MCM recently had the same problem on the 370Z build, they fixed it with a hammer IIRC (go and watch final build episode for that car).

Fuel tends to gunk up over time and clog injectors and fuel lines. Also something to do with carbon deposits happens, but I'm not sure on the science of this because in my mind if an engine isn't running then there can't be any more carbon introduced... I digress. Check your injectors and whilst your at it, check the colour of your spark plugs to see if the fuelling is looking there or there abouts.
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This
Make sure you check the spark plugs and check for burning. You also need to check the seals around the spark plug barrels. Oil could be getting through these and down to the pistons and causing the smoke to have a slight blue tinge to it. If the spark plugs have what looks like burnt tips on them then replace them to be safe.

If it's been sat around for that long get it to a shop and get a full service done
 
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Could be low pressure fuel not getting through or has a poor spray/mist until it hits high pressure and runs for a while. Then gunks up again when you leave it. Who knows, it's hard to trouble shoot such issues behind a keyboard with limited info!!
 
Hazz said:
Could be low pressure fuel not getting through or has a poor spray/mist until it hits high pressure and runs for a while. Then gunks up again when you leave it. Who knows, it's hard to trouble shoot such issues behind a keyboard with limited info!!
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Yea I understand. I'll give the fuel system a flush with some kind of fuel system cleaner and replace the fuel filter. Also a good service and fingers crossed!
 
Oh another thing, may not be related but worth mentioning. The temp gauge always settles around 8 o'clock. Rather than dead centre at 9 o'clock. Is this unusual?
 
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