HELP: Honda eg9 jerking

[tenno01]

Hi All,

I've a problem with my car. It seems that when i drive my car long enough, say about 30 minutes, it starts to jerking, on low and high rpms. I've changed my spark plugs, but not yet try cable or anything else. Lately I've changed my auto steering pump & rod, and my oil sump because of leaking.

I also noticed that when the car is on idle state, there is a certain jerk for between 1 -2 minutes, almost like the engine choked. What could be the problem??

p/s-btw I'm driving an 1.6 auto, converted to eg9. Thanks!!

 

[shiroitenshi]

The way you describe it is too generic.

It could range from a faulty 02 sensor to leaky valves or vaccuum leak, etc. etc.

Plug cables also might be an issue.. I've had one where the car only jerks when revved hard from low rpm, but not at high rpm.. guess what? cable worn out, the spark happens but not hot enough, so jerking occurs when there's sudden addition of fuel.

 

[tenno01]

hi shiroitenshi,

Thanks for ur reply. I couldn't specify the problem deep enuf as this my 1st car, so pliz excuse me 4 that :).

I've went to my fav. workshop, and already changed the spark plugs. It only solved half of the problem, as the engine stops jerking badly, but it still there. So I went there again to re-check, and he said it could be the coil coz when he moved it a bit, seems it solved the whole issue! But this is only for temporary solution, and the pomen said change the coil will solved the issue completely.

I need to be sure, coz the change the coil will cost me about rm200+. How about cable, how much would it cost? And I've heard clean the o2 sensor also helps. Is any workshop capable of doing this and how much would it cost?

Thanks again.

 

[shiroitenshi]

well, if the mech says it's the coil, it probably is.. as you yourself said that when he tinkered with it, it was gone.

o2 sensor, usually just replace, the EG uses the 4 wire (or was it 3?)narrowband, and I don't think it's expensive like the wideband o2 on the streams and odesseys. Most workshops can also source one for you easily. As for cleaning, kind of depends, if you've seen the sensor end, you can see why cleaning is quite a difficult task.

If you have these kinds of trouble, it's best if you have a friend or something with the same part, and you can transfer the components such as a distributor or cable to test. Some workshops specializing in hondas sometimes keep one unit of distributor for troubleshooting purposes.

 

[tenno01]

Hi there,

This morning en route to office, the problem re-surface :D ... Oh my, headache lor. I will try to change the cable see if that resolved the whole thing. It seems when the car is on low rpm it will jerking abit and continues even to high rpm. If its just the cable or coil then I can still tolerate, but if the problem within the engine then Im in a big mess :D ...

I dont have any colleagues nor frens to swap cable or parts cause they already owned much better car than me, hehe... So maybe I just buy the cable and test 'em.

Thanks for the reply bro.

 

[shiroitenshi]

Nah.. jerking problems usually nothing to do with inside the engine. If it's just the coil, why not just replace the coil? Instead of buying cables.. original cables for B16's not exactly cheap either.
If you're worried that the problem is coming from inside the engine, then you should note the water levels of the radiator reservoir tank and how much oil you're topping per mileage, those two things can help you identify whether there's possible problems in the engine or not.

There are other methods that complement that as well, like compression testing, etc, but jerking is probably a common problem that's related to parts outside the engine like vacuum hoses, dirty injectors, etc. etc.

 

[cekau]

do trial and error .. get your friends to help you .. swap what ever things/parts that could be the possible problem .. after that, change the bad parts .. can save you time and money ..

 

[10KRPM]

If it's the O2 sensor, you would have the check light come on. Basically when o2 sensors crap out you tend to loose revs and lack of power. That's based on my experience. My car didnt jerk or anything like that. If it's not the coil, the other possiblity i can think off is that you might need a new fuel pump coz you're starving the engine that's why it's jerking whether you're on high revs or low revs..

 

[tenno01]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies. I've change the coil and cable, so far so good, and will continue to monitor the car for a while.

But regarding with the check light turn on, my problem with it is, when i push the car above 160kmh for 1 -2 minutes, the check light will be turn on and will never turn off until i stop the engine. Is it something to do with O2 sensor??

 

[shiroitenshi]

hmm.. that might be possible, but intermitten problems are hard to troubleshoot. I can't really think of any reason for a checklight to turn on suddenly at high speed. I've had one experience with another car where the checklight turned on during very heavy rain, but it never reoccured again, even under the same conditions.

I'm not EXACTLY sure if under what conditions trigger a checklight with regards to 02 sensor, but if I'm not wrong, only if the circuit for the 02 heater is broken will the checklight occur. Under circumstances the 02 craps out, where heater circuit is okay, but only the signal wire is affected, then there will be no check light, but you will notice that your engine runs roughly due to constant fuel corrections by the ECU.

 

[10KRPM]

"Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies. I've change the coil and cable, so far so good, and will continue to monitor the car for a while.

But regarding with the check light turn on, my problem with it is, when i push the car above 160kmh for 1 -2 minutes, the check light will be turn on and will never turn off until i stop the engine. Is it something to do with O2 sensor??"

Truthfully, the answer is no. If there's something to do with ya O2 sensor, the check light will come on at any speed. You'd need to drive it for a good 15 or so minutes before it comes on or slightly longer depending how bugged the O2 sensor is. It's definitely an electrical fault if you're getting the check light come on on you. It's gotta be some other sensor if that's the case.

One mre thing to note tenno, dont drive fast if your car has issues. If anything goes wrong, it's KABOOM

 

[shiroitenshi]

You can try swapping ECU's and seeing if the problem disappears, but make sure you know the sounds of knocking, and you know the feel of your engine going tight on you (means you know how to feel when the engine is losing power), that way, you can let off the throttle before something bad happens.

The B16A is a hardy engine, considering the age and abuse I've managed to put it through, so unless the timing belt snaps/lost fuel pressure at high rpm/pre-ignition/detonation/overrev and other extreme abuses that shouldn't happen unless you've been using chipped ECU/piggyback that is not exactly designed for your engine/lack of maintainance/etc..

Easy way to troubleshoot, start from the ECU. if it occurs even with another 'working' ECU, then it's not the ECU, possible cause #1 eliminated. Then it could be either the wiring, or the other sensors, like 10KRPM said. Or it could be an electrical gremlin, which is usually the case on harnesses that got butchered.

Process of elimination is the only way to find out.

 

[10KRPM]

You can try swapping ECU's and seeing if the problem disappears, but make sure you know the sounds of knocking, and you know the feel of your engine going tight on you (means you know how to feel when the engine is losing power), that way, you can let off the throttle before something bad happens.

The B16A is a hardy engine, considering the age and abuse I've managed to put it through, so unless the timing belt snaps/lost fuel pressure at high rpm/pre-ignition/detonation/overrev and other extreme abuses that shouldn't happen unless you've been using chipped ECU/piggyback that is not exactly designed for your engine/lack of maintainance/etc..

Easy way to troubleshoot, start from the ECU. if it occurs even with another 'working' ECU, then it's not the ECU, possible cause #1 eliminated. Then it could be either the wiring, or the other sensors, like 10KRPM said. Or it could be an electrical gremlin, which is usually the case on harnesses that got butchered.

Process of elimination is the only way to find out.

I completely agree with shiroi. Also to add tenno, you can also reset the ECU. Disconnect the earth cable for 10 - 20 mins and reconnect and see if that fixes the problem. Sometimes the ECU just needs a nice restart