Accord Hesitation and Rant

[53orbigger]

I have a 2007 Accord that has a weird hesitation when you accelerate from a stop. It seems to be worse in the morning before the car warms up, but it is still there all day. It is particularly evident when you try to slowly accelerate like going around a corner from a stop sign. It can be so bad that it jerks your head back as it does its thing and the wife is not comfortable driving it anymore. Anyone have any thoughts? It is not throwing off any codes and the check engine light is not on. Here's the rant. I took it to my local mechanic and we went for a test drive and he agrees that something is wrong, but he says he wouldn't know where to begin without a code and it would be a dump shoot of changing parts hoping that it takes care of the problem and that I should just keep driving it until the check engine light comes on. I didn't think that would be right, so I called the Honda dealership and was told the same thing. Without a code they would just start replacing parts and I would be charged whether it fixed the problem or not. How did we ever diagnose car problems prior to the stupid onboard computers and is it a lost art?? Clearly there is something wrong with the car, but no one can figure it out without the computer telling them what is wrong? I'm not sure if it is a Honda thing or not, but I had a similar puzzling problem with my chevy truck that I took to the dealership. They didn't know what was wrong, but started replacing parts and removing them if that didn't fix the problem and after about 5 hours had figured it out, but they only charged me for the actual part that was bad and the time it would have taken to replace just that part, which I thought was the right thing to do. Was that an abnormal experience or would others expect the same thing and furthermore does anyone know of a mechanic or Honda dealership that operates like this and can fix my car without a code telling them what is wrong?

Thanks for letting me rant.

53orbigger

[K_Josh87]

have you checked the tranny fluid? sometimes the simplest things get missed...

[53orbigger]

Transmission fluid was just checked and was fine. It doesn't really feel like a slipping transmission it feels more like a momentary loss of power or a miss. It's hard to describe but very noticeable.

Thanks

[K_Josh87]

hmmm, i'm a lot better carpenter than i am mechanic, so, that being said... I really don't have much for ideas...

[chasineyes]

By any chance, did someone put in E85 gas? I'm guessing it's a fuel delivery problem. Not sure how hard it is to change the fuel filter but that might be a good start along with the PCV valve. Could also pull the plugs and see if any are "unusual".

[norm25]

Is it a 4cylinder or a v-6?

[Friar_Tuck]

hesitation is most times fuel or ignition related generally. but plugs, wires, distributer, coil, fuel filter, injectors are generally one of the culprits.

i always start with the cheapest fix first. plugs, wires, fuel filter, cap & rotor, ignition coil, distributor etc.

injectors can be tested with an ohm meter before replacing, costly buggers.

i'm not a mechanic but do most of my own work. i went through the same thing before & it was low spark from the distributor for mine, but that was an older mazda v6.

[Scott K]

If this was brought into me, I would check the fuel pressure while it was happening, I would remove, inspect, and clean the mass air flow sensor. I would take a water spray bottle. Try unplugging the egr valve, see if the problem goes away, if it does, replace the egr valve, if not remove the egr valve, and block off the ports, and see if the problem goes away. Next thing, is a possible timing tensioner going bad.

Is it a miss, or a jerk? Or just a flat no pwer for a second or so, then it takes off?

[JOHNBIGDOG]

1st of all if you called the dealer and they told you that, I would go to another dealership.

Working at a ford dealer there are plenty of customers concerns that no DTC is set. I still have to figure it out...

Hearing this makes me mad.....

[Jeremy airjer W]

MAF on a Honda?

Both engine options have coil over ignition. That should eliminate cap, rotor, and wires. Which leaves you with plugs and coils. I would be interested in the condition of the spark plugs as a start.

Do they RPMs come up and you just don't move or do the rpm's stay low?

Is the air conditioning on?

Did this start after a recent service or out of the blue?

Was the a/c or defrost on?

[SkunkedAgain]

Yeah, I want a better explanation of the "hesitation" because you called it a jerk. Accords are notorious for jerking from gear to gear as you accelerate. I remember hating my wife's '97 for that reason, then rode in an '04 that did the same thing. That owner (much more knowledgeable about Accords than me) said that they all jerk as they upshift to some degree, some worse than others.

It's a big turnoff to me since I'm a slow driver. I didn't like taking off at my normal turtle pace and then having the tranny jerk the car and whip my neck as it shifted into 2nd gear.

[53orbigger]

Thanks for the replies. It is the 4 cylinder. The MAF was taken out and cleaned and it didn't make any difference. It does it without the AC or defrost on. It seems like it has always kind of done this and I always assumed that is just shifted funny, but over the past several months it seems to have gotten worse. It has always shifted a bit different and I understand that is a common issue with Honda's, but this is something different. I wish I could do a better job of explaining it. After paying special attention to it this morning it is not really a miss. After its normal jerk into 2nd gear it seems like a momentary loss of power and then it kicks in again and it may do that a couple of times. It is mostly when you take off slow, when the engine is cold, and in second gear, but it does it at other times as well.

[norm25]

I would say there is a good chance you need you EGR ports cleaned. I have Cleaned many. Google "1997 Accord EGR Port clean" check the first link TSB 013 it give a good description and cleaning instructions. Good luck!

[Jeremy airjer W]

I would say there is a good chance you need you EGR ports cleaned. I have Cleaned many. Google "1997 Accord EGR Port clean" check the first link TSB 013 it give a good description and cleaning instructions. Good luck!

[53orbigger]

Thanks for the suggestions. The car started running terribly this morning and the check engine light came on and my wife wasn't able to get to work. So, it it at the mechanics right now and I just got a call saying they think it is the throttle position sensor (I think that is what they said). Part is supposed to come in tomorrow, so we will see if that is indeed the problem.

Thanks

53orbigger

[norm25]

Curious what the code was.

[fish_eat_sleep]

Well hopefully the throttle position sensor explains why it shifts but doesn't get going right away in 2nd. I bet the sensor being goofy could have contributed to the funny shift too but I'm not sure. Just a guess if that is indeed the issue.

[fish_eat_sleep]

At least we all know now that when a honda has an issue it hesitates.. But a toyota.. well, they'll just take off on you! hehe.. okay, okay, bad joke. Both are great cars.. couldn't help but say it.

good luck with your car!

[Jeremy airjer W]

Some insight on a TPS relationship to a transmission (in a nutshell).

A TPS in a modern vehicle Is one of the ways the transmission knows how much throttle the driver is giving the engine. In the old days we had a mechanical downshift either a cable or vacuum. So let's say hypotheticall the TPS is reading high at slight acceleration. There may not be any engine symptom or check engine light but the transmission will delay the sift points based on the TPS input. This would the same as a heavy acceleration. You would notice that the RPMS are much higher before the transmission upshifts verses a normal acceleration where the transmission shifts at much lower RPMs. The reason you do not feel a harsh jerk when the transmission upshifts under hard accel when everything is working correctly is the engine has the power to push through the shift.

[53orbigger]

Just as an update. I drove the car for the first time today and the TPS was definitely the problem as the symptoms are completely gone (including some that I just assumed were the Honda shifting issues). That said we have been having the symptoms for at least 2 years, with a definite deterioration in the last 4 weeks without any codes, which apparently the shops need to diagnose such problems. The way the car was driving was not only annoying, but in last 4 weeks I would say dangerous. It seems to me that their computer should have caught this problem much sooner than it did.

Thanks

53orbigger