[Moonbaby]

Hello everybody!

My wife and I recently purchased an 88 CRX Si for her project car. Long of the short is we developed a sort of "bucking" or stuttering problem when it goes into a heavier throttle at about 3k RMP+ and continues throughout like a horrible misfire. Could be unrelated but when the car is warmed up, like running errands, it takes a couple of cranks to actually start..

We've read Haynes, read forums, self-diagnosed and replaced:

Fuel pump, fuel filter, plugs, ignition coil, TPS, and checked everything for vacuum leaks with no luck finding a culprit. I feel like we're missing something obvious.

Turning to you for help in checking something we're missing. Cat is next on our list and O2 sensors as we're now developing a bad smell but it's not quite a sulfur or rotten egg kinda smell. Haven't done a compression test yet and the timing was done about ~6k miles ago. There's no smoke color or smoke at all for that matter just an off smell. I'm open to any suggestions as we're going to shoot the distributor itself next and/or maybe replace the rotor next.

Dizzy cap and wires are fairly new (looking at least). There's no mods to the car other than a no-brand muffler that the previous owner attached because the old one was rusted out. I'll attach a picture for attention shortly.

Thanks in advance for any help/guidance!

*edited for grammar

 

[joelidge]

I would start by checking the timing, changing the spark plugs, testing the coil, checking the charging system voltage at different RPMs and checking all the grounds are connected and cleaning them. If I didn't find anything there I would check the igniter connections and potentially replace it. When my ignitor failed last time, it would only fault when the engine was hot. On a cold start, the car would run fine but once the distributer was heat soaked, the engine would start to misfire at higher RPM then fail entirely. Once the engine had cooled off, the car would run fine until it got hot again.

 

[SoFLO88CrxSI]

I would start by checking the timing, changing the spark plugs, testing the coil, checking the charging system voltage at different RPMs and checking all the grounds are connected and cleaning them. If I didn't find anything there I would check the igniter connections and potentially replace it. When my ignitor failed last time, it would only fault when the engine was hot. On a cold start, the car would run fine but once the distributer was heat soaked, the engine would start to misfire at higher RPM then fail entirely. Once the engine had cooled off, the car would run fine until it got hot again.

I would suggest you change out your distributor all together, mine had the same issue about 2 months ago and i changed out my distributor.