Car bogging and check engine light after being stored

[Brocz]

We finally got a great day in Wisconsin so I decided to take my stored car out for a spin.

I took it out in February on a nice day we had then and the car ran awful. It bogged, no power at the low end until it hit 5k RPM and then it felt pretty good. On that same day in February I drove about 20 miles and the problem never got better. I parked in my driveway, let it sit for an hour while I ate lunch, then drove it around the block before putting it back in the garage. My drive around the block felt like the car was completely normal.

Today, I took it out and it ran great. I drove it about 8-10 miles, all was well. Then I stopped the car while running an errand, and when I got back in it was bogging and running like crap again. I got out on the highway, drove about 5 miles and then the TCS and Check Engine lights came on at the same time. I pulled off the road and the before I turned the car off the TCS light went off but not the check engine.

I turned it off, got out, check some basics, and everything seemed fine. I started the car up, the Check Engine light was still on, so I drove home, about 3 miles, kept it below 40MPH and 2500RPM.

Again, the car was stored, I put Sta-Bil in the tank back in November. The only time I drove it since was in Feb, as I mentioned above.

Help me out NSX'ers, is this something for a professional?

 

[hlweyl]

Could be bad gas although I doubt that. You could try cleaning out the throttle body and checking for vacuum leaks. After that start looking at plugs, coils, etc.

There is a procedure for pulling the codes in the FAQ. I would do that next time you get a CEL.

 

[Larry Bastanza]

I would give a serious look at the battery terminals too.

HTH,
LarryB

 

[Brocz]

Interesting that you mention the battery cables. I had a trickle charge on the car most of the winter and one thing I noticed is that when the clips are tightened to the posts I can still pull them right off. I am not sure how to remedy this right now but it was on my list of To-Do's for the spring.

What effect does that have on the problems I am experiencing if I may ask?

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Well that is probably the issue. The TCS light gives it away, since the TCS computer will throw a code for low battery voltage.

Temporarily you can take a peice of copper wire (like 14 gauge stuff for your house wiring) and wedge a piece into the terminal and snug it up. I would replace the ground lead, it is short, the other end is mounted to the body just under the blower housing.

I typically find the + lead is not so bad and will snug up OK. The problem is that they stretch easily if over tightened. It happens often on Honda products.

HTH,
LarryB

 

[NSXCessive]

I had a simlar problem due to condensation getting into my coils. :frown: Could be bad gas, or battery terminals. If anything get the engine code dumped that will at least point you in the right direction. Hope this helps?

Thanks,

 

[Brocz]

Well, I pulled the batter out to check and clean the terminals and found out that the connections were not only loose, but the battery was installed in '98. I bought a new battery, cleaned the connectors, cleaned everything I could see actually, then hooked it up. When I fired the engine up it was purring like a kitten.

I hated having my car running poorly, it was hard to sleep knowing that. I think I have issues.

Thanks for the posts, it was a big help, and surely saved me some coin by not taking it in and getting ripped.

 

[Brocz]

I hate to be a pain to the board, but my bogging/hesitation issue is back, or perhaps it never really went away.

I drove the car today and after about 20 miles I noticed it started to hesitate again, primarily at 2-4k RPM.

I also notice that during cold start up today and yesterday, that when the car initially fires up, the RPM need drops way down to below 500 RPM. In fact, yesterday, when I cold started it, the needle went up as usually then dropped down and the car actually choked off!!! It was about to do the same today until I blipped the throttle and then it was OK. At a stop when in nueatral, the needle will dip below 500 RPM and then level off at just below a thousand.

It is pretty inconsistent though, sometimes I rev the car up and it is responsive as usual and then sometimes it hesitates/bogs down like its starved for fuel/air? No CEL.

Any thoughts, throttle body, fuel filter, bad gas?

 

[hlweyl]

Again, I would start with a thorough cleaning of the throttle body and check for vacuum leaks and go from there. If it's still acting up after that, reset the idle following the procedure here: http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/Referen...1991_svcman.htm

good luck

 

[FramerJohn]

Well that is probably the issue. The TCS light gives it away, since the TCS computer will throw a code for low battery voltage.

Temporarily you can take a peice of copper wire (like 14 gauge stuff for your house wiring) and wedge a piece into the terminal and snug it up. I would replace the ground lead, it is short, the other end is mounted to the body just under the blower housing.

I typically find the + lead is not so bad and will snug up OK. The problem is that they stretch easily if over tightened. It happens often on Honda products.

HTH,
LarryB

Hi Larry,
My car is also doing close to the samething. After sitting the winter the battery was real weak and the check engine light and sometimes the TCS light would come on. I have reset it a few times. The car seemed to be running fine until the week, really bogging down. When I got home I reset the clock fuse. The lights shut off so I took it for a burn down the street. At the High RPMs the TCS light would flash almost feeling like it was kicking in. I have an apointment to bring the car in next week. I thought I would do some home work before it gets there. Since I rest the clock fuse is that a problem for the garage to get the problem codes? Would a weak terminal make the car bog if it tripped some code?
Thanks for any help John

 

[ATERPAK]

Has anybody drained out all that old gas and replaced it with some fresh fuel? I mean stored gasoline turns a little gummy and this residue takes some time to get cleaned out of the cars system. If you store the car without running it for a few months at a time, you should be putting in some form of fuel stablelizer to keep it from breaking down over time. Also change the fuel filter. A partially clogged filter can create all types of problems.

The battery terminals are also a good thing to look at as Larry has pointed out.

Good luck.

 

[m3456y]

I had the same problem as you, as far as the idle. Read one of the posts here in your topic and cleaned my throttle body out with carb cleaner. My car now idles perfect and doesn't die anymore. Thanks for the help.

 

[brakel8r]

I replied to a post above here. After draining the gas(Acura said it was bad), Installing new plugs, Changing out the coils, Installing new injectors(all of this by the way was done under warranty and at different times over about 2 months time, thanks Honda ext. war.), FINALLY.................they replaced the throttle body!..........DONE! My tcs and chk eng light came on the time it stalled. This sounds similar. hope it helps. If you don't have warranty, take the above posts reply and clean the throt bod. and whatever else you can. I didn't want to know the cost of this stuff.......But it can't be cheap..........LATER

 

[jfcroni]

When I had this problem, it was a loose baffle in my muffler. It became loose and under acceleration it would move and block the opening to exhaust air thus would bog down. I had to replace the muffler. It had aftermarket stainless steel on the outside (noisy) mufflers. The material on the inside was not stainless and rusted loose.

 

[nsxexotic]

Its always different when you take your car out of storage..... i always try to keep it running or at least started every other week in the winter.

 

[CarbonNSX]

I had a problem similar to this and it happend to be a coil pack was bad, the coil cost $100 dollars from Acura and i replaced it myself =D

 

[martin]

Hi

I have had similar problems when I have washed my NSX underneath. Also if the car has been sitting in wet grass for a while.

I can drive off and get "Check engine light" and some bogging. I pull the main fuse for 30 seconds and then reinsert it. It usually clears the problem.

Your problem seems a bit worse though, but you could try to pull the main fuse and see if it gets better after that.

The problem I have is that the lambda thingy on the exhaust somewhere get wet or moist and feeds the engine management system false values or something like that.

Regards