I drive a 1992 Honda Accord (but have regular maintenance done on it) and whenever I take off, no power is getting to the engine and it putts/jerks like it is out of gas.
All of a sudden, the car will catch up with itself, the check engine light will come on and everything will go back to normal. Once I park and get out of the car, I can smell some type of smoke but don't see any visual signs of it.
I just got a tune up and a new Cat and the problem still exists. Can this mean that I need a new O2 Sensor?
Do I need to change my Oxygen (O2) Sensor?
The easiest thing to do is to check the electrical connector to make sure it's tight. Since the catalytic converter was replaced, there's a reasonable chance the O2 sensor was removed and connecter was not plugged in tight when it was reinstalled.
You can check the sensor with a scanner, but since this is a '92 it probably doesn't work with OBDII scanners.
If you can take it out, you can inspect it to see if it's clogged or excessively sooty.
If you have a electrical voltmeter, you can also check it by removing it, put it in a vise, then heating it up with a propane torch. When it gets hot the voltage between the output terminals should be about 1.0 volts. When you take away the torch the voltage will quickly drop to zero.
Another way to check it is to leave it on the car but put straight pins through the wires so that you can hook up your meter while the sensor is in the engine. It should read about 0.6 volts with the car running.
One thing you mentioned that could indicate the O2 sensor is that the engine stabilizes after the CEL comes on. That could be happening b/c of the O2 sensor. The computer can run the engine %26quot;open loop%26quot; or %26quot;closed loop%26quot;. Closed loop is when the computer is using the sensor reading to adjust air/fuel mixture. When it's open loop, the sensor output is ignored and the computer uses %26quot;default%26quot; settings.
The computer might be switching to open loop when the CEL comes on, thereby taking the O2 sensor out of the control loop.
A new sensor costs ~$75.
Do I need to change my Oxygen (O2) Sensor?
The smell is probably the new cat. it should go away after awhile. O2 sensors should be replaced every 50,000 or 100,000 miles. If theres that many miles on it, get a new one or two or three. depends on your make of car how many o2 sensors are present.
Stupid question for you Is your parking brake engaged????
Without knowing more and doing some testing can't really answer this one Sorry
You need to hook it up to a scanner and get the codes that were set when the check engine light came on. Parts stores will sometimes do that for free. It could be water in the fuel, fuel filter or many things so need the code before I can really give any more help. Your car probably has more than one O2 sensor, so that can get expensive and you want to be sure that is the problem.
