Accent engine hesitation

What year Accent?

 

My friend's accent has a problem with engine hestitation at low rpms. When
you step on the gas below 2500-300 rpm, it goes chug-chug-chug-chug and has
no power. While driving, this also causes a jerky effect. The spark plugs
are new. Is this a common problem? I heard the ignition system has
frequent failures, so could this likely be the cause of it?

 

When was the gas filter changed, ignition wires,fuel injection
attended to? Timing chain? etc.....

 

I have same problem. I drive Accent GL, 2001, four door sedan. When I am
starting, say in the morning, it behaves strangely initial few minutes, it
does not move; I feel like some one is simply holding the car behind, then
after one min I feel a sudden rush of gas (although I didnt not press
further) and then a jerk and then slowly speed up and I can distinctly
feel its trying hard to change gear. It takes around 5-6 min before
everything becomes normal and then it runs fine.

Is it because of engine temperature? Right now I am living in Worcester,
MA, USA and we have 34-36 F in morning.

Sudip

Sudip Bhattacharjee
Ph.D. Student
Pavement Research Group
Civil Engineering
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
100 Institute Road
Worcester, MA-01609, USA
Tell: 508-831-5011 (off)
508-831-6034 (asphalt lab)
508=831-6134 (graduate computer lab)

 

How many kilos on the odometer?

 

Look up these shops in the phone book, call the nearest one from your home to
schedule an appointment, take your car to the shop to have it diagnosed.

Auto Diagnostics Inc
Auto Doctor
AutoPro Import Repair
Chadwick Sq. Texaco
P & P motors
S+o Auto Inc.

 

It's a 1995 with the 12 valve engine

 

Check engine light on? Flashing at anytime, like during acceleration?

Car recently died suddenly?

Beebo

 

About 150,000. It was bought at around 120,000 without the hesitation.

 

no to all of that

 

Nothing wrong when running, no warning lights. Everything is normal, only
it just does not want to move at starting. I guess its purely temperature
related problem, because after few hours of running, it starts smoothly
w/o any problem.

I suppose Accent GLs are manufactured in Koria. Can any one give me an
idea what specifications they use, whether they follow US standards or
not.

 

If the check engine light isn't on, or flashing during acceleration, I
would say that rules out any serious ignition problems, or air/fuel
delivery problems.

Check the timing and see if its steady at 5o BTDC or have a shop check
for you. Minimal cost there, but it will tell you if you have any
misses or if its a timing issue and its just not serious enough to
trigger the Check Engine Light.

Does it do this with the car in park or neutral with the accelerator
pressed as well as normal driving speeds?

Beebo

 

Since this is a 1995, it doesn't have obdII misfire monitoring. The
computer won't detect an ignition problem unliss it's on the primary side.
The timing is not adjustable and won't remain steady because the computer
is constantly adjusting it.

The description sounds exactly like an ignition misfire. I'd be checking
the coil, wires, plugs. Check the plugs and wires especially for a carbon
track down the porcelain of the plug and inside the wire boot. Spray down
the wires with water and see if there is any arcing. If you don't find
anything abnormal above, you may be looking at a weak sparking coil.

 

There are several ecm reflashes for this condition on a 2001 Accent. You
may wish to take the vehicle to the dealer for them to check. It may not
have the latest update.

 

Thanks. I found in my search that these coil packs fail often. I'll be
checking that out. Plugs are new, wires aren't. If the coils are bad,
wouldn't that show up as a weak or intermittent spark? I was planning to
remove the wires one at a time and check the spark on each cylinder. Other
than that, I don't know how to test a coil with any certainty.

 

Doh!

Thanks for setting me straight!

I have a 96 Accent and I'm going through similar problems, so I
thought I could help the guy out by going over the first phase of
troubleshooting I went through.

Now perhaps you could help with my problem?

1996 Accent
1.5l SOHC Alpha engine
126k miles

My check engine light is on with the following codes stored:
P1123
P0304
P0302

Car idles ok, but misfires and runs rough at normal driving speed.
Lots of jerking and kicking at times (like a bad tranny) . Not
consistently though. Same type of hesitation as the OP described.

I've replaced my plugs, plug wires, and ignition coil (even though the
coil resistance was within spec according to hmaservice.com, just in
case there was an intermittent problem with it).

Checked for vacuum leaks.

I've checked the resistance of my Throttle Position Sensor, between
terminal 2 & 3 and I get a reading of 1.9 kohms. Out of spec or within
tolerance?

I would assume if my MAF, TPS or other sensor had gone bad, I would
see a relevant trouble code stored as well, but I don't.

I'm completely stumped.

/pray
Please don't let it be my ECM....

Beebo

 

Can you tell me what can cause a jerking action during drive? I have
Accent GL, 2001, 37,700 miles. I get no warning lights. I get a slow start
when i start after a long idle engine, e.g. in morning. I feels like it
does not move, something is holding it behind. Again I get no warning
lights. It becomes easy in few minutes when engine gets hot. But jerking
actions during drive remains. Whats the problem?

Sudip

 

P0302 and P0304 represent misfires on cylinders 2 and 4, respectively.
P1123 is a rich fuel trim code. So far, you've hit on all the likely
points that would cause misfire and dump fuel into exhaust. I'd tend to
rule out TPS, MAF and such because they would affect all cylinders
equally.

Does this engine have an egr? I can't remember. I've seen egr valves
stuck open causing misfire codes. Apparently the egr passages are such
that it adds exhaust to some cylinders more than others.

If you're satisfied everything above is ok, I'd recommend checking
compression and/or switching the #2 and #4 injectors with the #1 and #3
injectors. If you clear the codes and the lamp returns with P0301 and
P0303, then you know it was the injectors. You can try similar strategies
with the plugs and wires (if they reach) if you are not sure of their
quality. I will say that some brands of aftermarket plugs have been
especially troublesome and nearly all aftermarket wires have been junk
based on what I have seen.

 

Nope, no EGR valve...

Switched the injectors....same codes as before.

And replaced the wires with OEM wires from the dealership today.
Plus were NGK plugs..

While I was at the dealership, I had them pull the codes and run a bit
of troubleshooting for me.

They came up with the same responses you did.

Not the TPS, MAF or the ignition coil.

I may have left out a large chunk of relevant information that may
help...

The tech noticed my car is burning oil. I've had the compression
tested and the previous mechanic said that the results indicated my
oil rings were most likely fine, but I most likely need a valve job as
oil was leaking into the combustion chamber.

Pulling my plugs, we noticed they're fouling out.

His theory:

The plugs are fouling out and causing the non-burned fuel/air mixture
to be dumped. When this mixture hits the O2 sensor, it triggers the
P1123 too rich code. The ECM tries to compensate by adjusting the
timing to get a more efficient burn, which explains the timing jumping
around so much.

So, fix the oil leak and fix the problem?

Or not plausible?

I'm going to take the care into either another shop, or back to the
dealership to have the compression rechecked.

Any situation that you can think of in which the compression checks
out fine but it may still be the oil rings?

$300 for a valve job I can stomach.

$1500 for a rebuild, I dunno about.

Car just isn't worth that much.

(*** On a side note, the dealership didn't even charge me for the
30-45 min the tech spent on looking at the car! I was impressed as I
was ready to fork over the $70 just so I'd know from a reliable source
what the !$#@ my problem was!)

 

Sounds like they've done a good job. Chances are, if you fix the oil leak,
you also fix everything else. Also sounds like you have a major problem.
You're either looking at a valve stem seal issue or a ring issue. If you
have no blue smoke present on cold starts or after idling for a
significant period of time, you're likely looking at a lower end issue.
It sounds to me like unless this car is in exceptional shape, the repairs
will be too much for a 1996 Accent. Then again, I work in the high rent
district. The prices you listed seem very low to me.