[snehanshuchk]

I own a 1998 honda city and I have been facing this problem for a few weeks....Sudden lack of acceleration: When this happens the car stops accelerating even when I have floored the acceleration, the car refuses to behave as it should but this lasts for just 2-3 seconds.Check Engine lights comes on but vanishes after if turn the car back on (mostly appears when I rev up the engine while driving)Rough idle: the car normally idles fine but sometimes the car drops to the 200-300rpm range and it feels like the car will stall...again this too lasts for around 3-4 seconds and goes back to normal. I did some research on the internet before coming to this forum and it sounds like a faulty O2 sensor which is located between the exhaust manifold and catalytic converter. Just wanted to make sure that was the issue.
Location of the sensor:

(one of the other symptoms of faulty o2 sensor is bad fuel economy but currently the speedometer cable is broken so can't calculate the fuel economy)

[vishy76]

Your car is a 1998, which means it should have the OBD-II protocol for diagnostics if I am not wrong. Just have it scanned using a good scanner and you should find the error codes in the fault code history. Begin diagnosis on the basis of those error codes.

Hit and trial methods especially wrt O2 sensors are quite expensive and might or might not yield results. It's better to take advantage of the fact that you have a CEL showing up sometimes and diagnose using the error code.

[snehanshuchk]

Originally Posted by vishy76

Your car is a 1998, which means it should have the OBD-II protocol for diagnostics if I am not wrong.

This car technically has an obd2 port but the ports look like this :


I could be wrong but these are the only ports I could find.

[Tgo]

Diagnosing through an OBD scan is the best way to know about the issue. For the age of your car, O2 sensor and the MAF of MAP sensor would be the suspects based on the symptoms you mention.

On a separate note, would love to hear about the car and see some more pictures of it after running for so long.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by snehanshuchk

This car technically has an obd2 port but the ports look like this :
Attachment 2273838

I could be wrong but these are the only ports I could find.

That is indeed the OBD port. You do not find the standard 16-pin OBD2 port here. You will need a pin conversion adapter to plug into a standard OBD2 scanner AFAIK, but I have no idea where you'll find one in Kolkata. Before setting out to replace sensors etc., it would be a good idea, as others have suggested too, to get the Diagnostic Trouble Codes by connecting to the ECM. I believe you already have an OBD2 scanner, you'll just need the adapter.

[snehanshuchk]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

I believe you already have an OBD2 scanner, you'll just need the adapter.

Yes, I just need the 3pin adapter.

Originally Posted by Tgo

On a separate note, would love to hear about the car and see some more pictures of it after running for so long.

This is my 1st car and I only had it for a few months. My current objective with the city is to restore it back to its original form as much as I can. I bought the car in a pretty decent shape (for a car older which 4 years older than I am )

here is a picture of the car :

Originally Posted by Tgo

On a separate note, would love to hear about the car and see some more pictures of it after running for so long.

I am writing a review of the car along with all the things that have been changed since I got the car. I will post it soon.

Mod Note: Please do not post back-to-back, use multi-quote instead. Thanks.

[Tgo]

You might have already gone through this thread which suggests a basic method (shorting the 2 pin connector with a piece of wirw and then reading the blinks of the check engine light) for identifying the fault codes which you can go through here.

[sandeepmohan]

A scan is the only way to diagnose the issue. Head to the closest Honda dealer and ask them if they can help you with a scan. Tell them you're trying to identify a fault code. They may charge a small fee for the scan (or they might just do it for free). Besides; if there is someone genuine and experienced there, the problem is easily identified.

It sounds like you're missing a spark so could be a weak distributor, spark plugs or even frayed high tension spark plug wires. You should check if there is an arcing on the wires when you rev up the engine. If you have a spark plug removal tool, pull them all out and check if they look clean. If anyone of them is dirty (is wet), its one way to point to a weak distributor or spark plug.

Good luck.

[snehanshuchk]

Originally Posted by Tgo

You might have already gone through this thread which suggests a basic method (shorting the 2 pin connector with a piece of wirw and then reading the blinks of the check engine light) for identifying the fault codes which you can go through here.

Thank you so much....I have identified 2 error codes by this method
CODE 1:Heated oxygen sensor A
CODE 17:Vehicle speed sensor

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

It sounds like you're missing a spark so could be a weak distributor, spark plugs or even frayed high tension spark plug wires. You should check if there is an arcing on the wires when you rev up the engine. If you have a spark plug removal tool, pull them all out and check if they look clean. If anyone of them is dirty (is wet), its one way to point to a weak distributor or spark plug.

Good luck.

I found error codes for vehicle speed sensor and o2 sensor, so I am changing those out for new ones and I was planning on buying a set of four new spark plugs for the car anyways.

[Tgo]

Originally Posted by snehanshuchk

I found error codes for vehicle speed sensor and o2 sensor, so I am changing those out for new ones and I was planning on buying a set of four new spark plugs for the car anyways.

Giving this some thought I realized if we have a chicken and egg problem to deal with. It could be one error code leading to the second or vise versa?

I would address the Vehicle Speed Sensor fault along with an inspection of the spark plugs unless the spares are dirt cheap. Usually O2 sensors cost 5 figures.

[snehanshuchk]

Originally Posted by Tgo

Usually O2 sensors cost 5 figures.

I checked the o2 sensor with a multimeter and it was showing constant voltage when the car was running, the issue was the connector, the wire which was connected to it just had a strand of wire and when I tried to open it, I tore the wire. So...I connected the wire directly to the o2 sensor wire and covered it with electrical tape. Didn't face any acceleration issues with the car after the direct connection. I also checked the codes, it now shows just one code (code 17:vechical speed sensor). Fitting a new speedometer cable should fix this issue.

Also found out that this car was running on sparkplugs with heat range of 5 (should be 6), so I would be changing the spark plugs with the correct specifications.