Accent engine hesitation

Nah, no smoke on cold starts...just after idling for a period of time.

Nice, puffy, gray-blue smoke.

After driving for a few minutes, the smoke clears up.

Problem seems to be worse if I idle with the AC on.

Meh...its in really good shape. And she's been so dependable, I feel a
measure of loyalty to her Besides, after going through everything
else with a fine tooth comb, I know this car inside out! Already
replaced the tranny about 20k miles ago, and the new one only had 17k
on it.

I think I'll try to fix this one to the point it will last me at least
a year or so, then I'll invest in a new Accent.

Law school is expensive after all.

 

It may be worth replacing the valve stem seals just to see if that fixes
it. The blue smoke during prolonged idling suggests a valve seal problem.
At closed throttle, intake vacuum is high and serves to suck the oil down
the valve guides if the seals are hardened and loose.

This repair can be done without removing the head from the vehicle.
Remove the valve cover, rocker arm and shaft assemblies, and spark plugs.
Fill a cylinder with compressed air to hold up the valves, remove the
springs and replace the seals on each valve one at a time. You will need
a tool to compress the valve springs. And don't forget to move the air to
the next cylinder when it's time.

The downside of this is that the head hasn't been removed for inspection
of the cylinder walls, valves, guides, etc.

 

One other question...

And I forgot to mention this to the tech at the dealership, so I'm
hoping you can shed some light on this for me.

The one symptom I left out of everything else we discussed here is
that no matter how rough its running, if I just barely give it gas,
then accelerate nice and slow, I usually have no problems.

Its only when I give it a normal size amount of throttle, or floor it
that I get the aforementioned symptoms.

If I just ease onto the throttle, or feather it a bit while I'm
driving, the stalling/missing type behavior seems to go away.

Any thoughts?

 

It sounds consistent with what they've found. An ignition misfire (which
this is, for all intensive purposes, since it's preventing proper spark)
tends to become worse under load.

 

I have Accent GL, 2001, 4 cyliner, 37,792 miles in it. I previously posted
my problem but did not get any response, probably got lost among other
mail. I am re-stating my problem:

Sometimes I get a feeling that a lot of gas is rushing into when I am not
pushing much - I am just giving a little push and I feel gas running
into cylinder. Then sometimes when I am starting from stopped position, I
am pressing my pedal more but very little power in engine, making
tremendous noise and then slowly starts and gets a big push from nowhere,
almost feeling someone kicked me from behind and become stable slowly.
When these happen I can feel a distinct jerk during driving, making a
distinct noise during transmission change. I also feel the jerk when I
move from drive to reverse position and so forth. Few days back I checked
my gas and I found during this event I spent almost a gallon of gas for 2
miles. So overall, I am geting a very rough ride, poor engine power, and
spending a lot of gas.

And out of blue, suddenly one day everything becomes so normal, riding so
smoothly, no noise, no jerk, perfect.

Whats happening? Whats the reason of this jerk and loss of engine power or
sudden gain in power from very little push on gas pedal? I am going to
dealer shop, but I am automobile ignorant, so I dont know what to look
for.

I changed oil and serviced last month and they said everything alright.

Any help is very much appreciated.

Sudip

 

It sounds (at least partialy) transmission related. My wife's accent
did that rough shift from reverse to drive. It is kinda like a jerk
or a thump when the car finally decides to go. Also a similar
sensation from the first few stop signs in the morning. Step on the
gas and get nothing.. press harder... wham your'e off with a jolt.

Turned out to be a simple fix. They adjusted or reprogramed the
transmission and replaced the pulse <something> generator. In and
out in an hour with no similar problems since.

 

Hi, tech, any way I can turn the inst lights on the XG350 so I can see the
odometer in the daytime. It is unreadable in the sunlight,

Thanks in advance.

Gary