97 Lude VTec

Alright everyone, im not a noob to preludes or anything, just to this site.

Every year around this time, when it starts to get cold, my car likes to do some wierd things. This year is a new problem though. I'll go through all of them in the thread so im not making 5 threads for each different problem.

First off, i have a 97 auto (unfortunately), and i have 137,xxx miles on it.

1. (new problem) I know this has been discussed before, but i would like an answer to my problem, not someone else's who i have one symptom in common with. So here we go. Rough Idle only in "drive". I'll start my car, let it warm up in park, and when i put it in drive, the rpm's drop from 750-800 to 450-500ish and causes, from what it sounds like in my exhaust, like hiccups, or is this misfiring? It does not throw any codes or anything, and it drives fine, but when i come to a stop, the idle is at about 500 rpm's and starts to do the same thing and i get vibration and i can feel and hear that the car wants to die, like its fighting to keep at idle. Also when first starting the car, while in park, the exhaust seems to make pops or as described above as hiccups. It has been doing this for the past week or so now and two days ago i changed my spark plugs, wires, distributor cap/rotor and it is still doing it. Please, this is my main concern, any help would be greatly appreciated.

the rest are minor issues, i mainly want the above problem fixed asap.

2. Now that it is cold outside, if i go over a bump in the road, my suspension (dont know part of it, but im assuming the shocks or something around there) makes a strange noise. Not like a squeek or anything but sounds like old hinges on a door creaking. I have been told its dried out bushings? or something. Any clues?

3. Climate control. Every winter the same thing, every now and then if i want to change from, for instance, my feet, to my face... ill push the button and nothing happens. It lights up that it is going throught the top vents, but is still coming out to my feet. This is very annoying.

if i forgot anything, ill just edit this one.

thanks for your time and sorry for the long post.

And thanks in advance for your help.

-Zakk

97 Lude VTec

please?

Glaucus

Well, I offer no solutions, but I seem to experience problems #1 & #2. Mine's a '97 5speed with 59,600 Km on it (yes, very low Kms for the year). I wonder if this is just a flaw in cars of that year?

For me, when I idle the car in the cold (once the engine has warmed up fully), it seems to idle lower then it did in the summer. I feel a lot of vibrating in the steering wheel, but I don't really hear anything strange coming from my muffler. One theory I have is that in winter you typically have the fan going, the rear defrost going, the seat warmers going and the side mirror heaters going. The increased load on the alternator might increase the load on the engine and lower the RPMs, but I would expect the ECU to compensate for that. My other theory is that some sensor is adversly affected by the cold temperatures and doesn't report back to the ECU properly.

You're probably right about #2.

- Mike

ryuryu

could #2 be shock knock?

http://preludeonline.com/showthread....ght=cold+sound

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97 Lude VTec

its not shock knock... because its not a clunking noise.. i know what that sounds like and it is absolutely disgusting to hear, haha. its more of a creaking sound.

Stereodoc

Suspension noise - Front, rear or both?

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Bob W.
Go fast, take chances
2000 Honda Prelude, Black

97 Lude VTec

rarely do i hear it from the rear, if at all... mainly from the front suspension.

davwtram

Problem #1
My brothers car did the same thing. (95 Accord ex) He went to a mechanic and they changed his spark plug wires and new spark plugs and it went away. He was currently using 9mm spark plug wires with NGK iradiums and they told him that those stuff was "too much" for the motor. Then, they changed it to 7mm ngk wires with oem ngk spark plugs. It didnt sound too pleasant when it did make those hiccup and misfiring noises everytime he took off.

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97 Lude VTec

i thought it would be the same problem... i changed the plugs and the wires... and the distributor cap... but couldnt unscrew the rotor.. ha, is there a secret to getting that thing off? the screw was soo tight, i gave up so i would eff it up.

enycepunjabi

problem #1: When I had my old 98 ss I also noticed this. The noise was VERY loud and it was a pure "metal" noise. It went away and never came back. Havent noticed it in my new lude.

But having good spark plugs and good spark plug wires will really do alot. Change them. I have a feeling you will be fine. The cold weather does some really unexplainable things.

lude4lifeh22

ya, cold weather is almost like synthetic oil in an old engine. Usually oints out all the little weird **** wrong with the car, or just agrivated with the cold. I have a similar noise with the suspension, my old grand prix made similar noises. Its not shock knock.

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