Jacob wrote:
>
> I just finished installing a new distributor cap and rotor. It made
> things worse. now my car idles poorly. You can hear sputtering coming
> from my tailpipe. It's a very erradic idle. up and down. It almost
> sounds like it's going to stall at some points. I have no trouble
> starting the car though.
>
> I made sure the cooling system was bled properly. I let my car idle
> for almost an hour. It took a long time for the fan to come on but it
> did twice.
>
> I did not see any arching when I looked at the wires while it was
> running in the dark.
>
> I tried checking the wires (which I did not yet replace) with an ohm
> meter. I don't know what the problem is, but I cannot get any
> continuity accross any of the wires. I put one lead in the spark plug
> end, making sure I had contact with metal, and I put the other lead on
> the distributor end touching metal, and nothing. The meter did
> nothing. I even stuck a screwdriver into the sparkplug end to make
> sure I was toughing the right park of metal.
> I don't see how the car would be running if there was no continuity at
> all, so i must be doing something wrong.
>
> I guess I could try replacing the wires, but I hate to keep throwing
> money at this and only making it worse.
>
> Thanks for your help though. I appreciate all the information. and I
> would appreciate anymore help you can provide me with.

-----------------------------------------

Hmmm. I wonder if you've been pursuing an untamed ornithoid. A Honda
automatic will give the symptoms you described if the ATF is old, or has
been replaced with non-Honda stuff. I'd do a drain-n-fill with Honda Z1
and see if it shapes up. Actually, at your mileage I'd do it at least
twice,and I'd fill the coolant reservoir to the MAX, because the owner's
manual says you should after any rad work.

'Curly'