91 Stiva spittin and sputterin

[bigt]

This is my second post. Maybe you guys can help me out a little. I have a 91 Stiva L with 203,000 miles. A week ago or so I noticed that my car was hesitating as I accelerate. It goes on off and on untill I get to 5 gear. It is also dying on me everytime I slow down to stop at a stoplight or stop sign. The car starts right back up every time. A buddy said it might be some sensors. I have a spare TPS and MAF sensors. I installed the spare MAF and nothing has changed. I have not yet tried the TPS sensor yet. What do you guys think? I need this car to run for a few more weeks without putting a ton of $ into it. I have another 91 with a 140,000 miles that is is alot better shape but has a know in the engine and has no get up and got to it all. I am thinking of just rebuilding the motor on the other car because it is in such good shape, but I need old faithful to keep going just a little longer. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,

Mike T

[miami man]

sputtering

hey mike i live in st.Louis and work off of highway 367. mine did the same thing and the distributor cap was bad. this is the second time that the coil tower of the cap had corrosion in it and i changed it and it ran like new.

[mechanicaldj]

sensors usually have a check engine light or code with it

tune up parts do not

plus it it easier and cheaper to start doing a complete tune up than it is replacing sensors (including all of the filters)

[mattswabb]

I agree, start with a tune up. Wires, plugs, cap, rotor.

[bigt]

tune up

Thanks for the good info. I give my little stiva new plugs ever year and wires about every 2 years whether their need or not but have only changed the dist. cap once. A little brain fart on my part. I will give that a try tomorrow and will let you know how things went. Thanks

Mike T

[bigt]

My stiva was running like it has been today. On my way home I stopped by the parts store to get a dist. cap and rotor. I installed the wires on the new cap as they were on the old one. I tried to start the car and it would not start at all. I got the firing order right and it would not run at all. We started switching some wires around and got it to run. I'm not sure not what order we had it in but it would run, but like crap. I made it 10 miles home and installed new plugs and wires and return the plug wires back to the proper order. I could get it to run but just like it did on the way home. I took the new cap and rotor off and put the old one back hoping to get it back to the way it was this morning. The car would still barely run. I called a friend and he said maybe the timing belt is bad. It is time for one. It has about 70,000 miles on the one thats in it. I went and bought a new one tonight and started to tear it down. The belt looks like new. I can't believe it. No teeth missing, no cracks. I am at a loss now. I made another call a a friend said that if the new cap is off just a bit from the old cap, that the car might just need to be re-timed. The cap is installed in the right position and the wire are all correct. He also thinks that I might have a clogged injector thats causing the original problem of the sputtering that I get until I get up to hiway speeds. What are your guys thoughts on this. My check engine light is still off at this time. Thanks,

Mike Tatman

[packrat427]

There are 3 different design caps for a Festiva .
Did you replace fuel filter ?
Check all of your connections at your fusible link box on the drivers side inner fender , look for corrosion ,or broken wire.

[Hodag'stiva]

It sounds weird, but have you checked your exhaust? When mine failed, I had these exact symptoms - except that I assumed I had two problems - not one.

Fixing the exhaust apparently restored the delicate air pressure balance and she ran as sooth as ever. A friend who is heavy into old motorcycles told me that this was a problem that a lot of old Hondas had.

B

[bigt]

I changed the fuel filter today. With the old cap and rotor on, the car idles pretty good, but not quite the way it was. When I put the new cap and rotor back on it would not start. I will look into the exhaust and and those fusable links. I am either going to buy a better cap and rotor or use my old one. At least the car would start and run without dying with the old one. Thanks guys.

[bigt]

I have worked on my stiva all afternoon with not much luck. A friend was going to try and check the timing for me and wanted to see my Haynes manual. The first thing I saw when we opened that book was the firing order of 1-3-4-2. The guy at the parts store yesterday looked it up on the computer for me and told me it was 1-4-3-2. I have been pulling my hair out over why this car would not start and run. I can't believe that it was this simple. I switched the plug wires and it fired right up and idled fine. I still have to take it out and drive it to see if my original problem of the hesitation is any better with the new fuel filter and cap and rotor. I will keep you all posted. Thanks for all of your help.

Mike Tatman

[bigt]

I drive the Stiva to work today and and it drove like new. No hesitation and it did not die once. Its like new again. Thanks to everyone for your help.