1988 honda accord LX starting problem and loss of power

welligiveup wrote:
> I have exactly the same bucking and loss of power problem with my
> wife's 1988 Accord LX. And believe it or not, she said the same thing
> when the problem started in November - it only seems to happen with
> less than half a tank of gas. But it's gotten worse and it happened to
> me recently with over 3/4 of a tank full.
>
> I also put dry gas in the tank. When it happened again, I replaced both
> fuel filters.
> I took it to a local independent Honda specialist who couldn't find the
> problem, but still charged me.
>
> Have you had any success in finding the problem?
>
> Thanks!

I hate to tell you that replacing the fuel pump will definitely solve
your problem as there's something wrong with the shotgun repair
approach, replacing something without proof.

However, if it consistently runs well with a full fuel tank, your fuel
pump is definitely suspect. It may not be cooled right so the bearings
may be seizing, in effect not maintaining fuel pressure or
intermittenly not providing fuel.
It is a common problem with immersed pumps, especially when they are
older.

Since it is quite difficult to determine an intermittent problem like
the health of your pump or fuel pressure while you are driving,
personally I'd break my rule and replace it. <g>
(especially since they experts can't find the problem

Remco

Thanks for the input.
I'll let you know how this turns out.

welligiveup wrote:
> Thanks for the input.
> I'll let you know how this turns out.

Dear Welligiveup:

I was about to put some wires and a 12V bulb and on the wires supplying
juice to my fuel pump, but I have a full tank now and the car is
running great (although I have been taking only 6-mile trips to work
lately). I do believe that a fuel problem makes sense, but I wanted to
put the light on the leads, as Remco suggested, to try to rule out a
bad fuel-pump cut out relay (or maybe the fault signal that another
person recommended). But as you can imagine, since the car is running
fine, I have less reason to go out in the garage and fix it!

I have just priced a fuel pump, and it really is only $104 (at
www.majestichonda.com), but unfortunately, their figure has three part
numbers listed, and I can't figure out which one is the right one. If
I figure it out and buy one, I'll let you know what happens. I guess
you saw that I already replaced the distributor ignitor (~$170) which I
though fixed my cold start problem, but in the end, it did not fix
that. It probably was not that.