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I have a 1994 Honda Concerto 1.5l gasoline car, fuel injected.

When the engine is cold there are no accleration problems. But once it warms up it stutters if I step hard on the gas.

When it does this is only stutters until it reaches a certain RPM (around 2500-3000), then it abruptly stops stuttering.

The stuttering happens only when the car is moving. It does not happen when the car is parked.

It does not stutter if I accelerate slowly, but over time it's been getting worse. It's getting harder and hard to climb a hill.

The stuttering is even.

The stuttering happens in all speeds.

The last time X was repaced:

  • plugs: 2 years (20000km) ago, and the old plugs looked fine. Current plugs look good.
  • wires: never
  • cap: five years ago, it had a crack in it which led to starting problems when it was humid.
  • wires: never, but I did the check-the-wire-is-sparking test when I was troubleshooting the problem that led to the cap replacement and the wires behaved normally
  • rotor: never
  • coil: never
  • Emissions testing (in France, which is C02 at least): recently passed.
  • O2 sensor, recently replaced. I was getting a vague code and the mechanic's guide's troubleshooting said to try replacing the O2 sensor. This made the codes go away and abated the problem somewhat, but not entirely.
  • Fuel filter, replaced one year ago. Previous filter did not seem particularly dirty and it was there for several years.

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    The car may be missfiring. When was the last time the plugs, wires, cap, rotor and coil replaced?
    – vini_i
    Commented Apr 13, 2016 at 16:35
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    I have a 94 integra GSR (1.8 DOHC VTEC), this issue just start on my car yesterday. I did fail emissions on HC a couple weeks ago, so I know its running rich. No codes. Typically, missing when warm is the coil. Going to start with coil, cap, rotor, wires, and plugs. I'm wondering if one of the sensors is reporting incorrectly, and the ECU is dumping fuel and pulling timing.
    – rpmerf
    Commented Apr 15, 2016 at 12:48
  • FYI - hooked a scanner up. All sensors look to be responding properly
    – rpmerf
    Commented Apr 16, 2016 at 2:29
  • Unnnnnfortunately two things happened: 1. the problem did not reappear, even with warm weather. 2: The car got schmuked and is now a pizza. So we'll never know.
    – ssimm
    Commented Jun 6, 2016 at 11:12

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I encountered a similar problem with my Honda D15 engine. The car would start fine when it was cold, but have trouble starting warm, stumble under acceleration and sputter/die at idle.

I had also tried replacing the fuel filter, plugs, wires, and an o2 sensor to no avail. I then purchased a coil pack and distributor rotor/cap.

I had just enough time to replace the rotor/cap before having to pick a friend up at the airport. The engine seemed to be running better than ever, so I did not miss the opportunity to brag about my mechanical prowess on the way home. After stopping/starting the car a few times, both to display my excellence, and to pick up pizza and beer, I pulled onto the main highway a few miles from my house, got up to 30 mph, and the engine died. I tried cranking and roll-starting the engine while we still had momentum, but it didn't even hint that it was trying fire up.

We were able to push the car into a nearby gas station, and I was lucky/lazy enough to still have my tools and the new coil pack in the back of the car. We swapped out the bad coil pack, crossed our fingers, and the little engine sprung back to life. I never had a problem with warm starting/idle again.

The End!

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    My car never had problems while idling. The symptoms don't match exactly. And... due to circumstances described above I can no longer pursue this question. But you deserve points for an answer that maybe was the right answer. Much obliged.
    – ssimm
    Commented Jun 6, 2016 at 11:18

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