wchestnutt

Hi everyone.

After running an accord coupe for 6 months and loving it i thought it was time to upgrade to something pretty and finally the owner of a mk5 1997 2.2 vti. 88k on the clock.

Now, I only paid £750 for it with mot and tax so wasnt expecting miracles and obviously it has a couple of issues but generally drives beautifully! absolutely love it! I've learn a fair bit from repairing my accord but woudl love some help in identifying whether i should keep this or if it is going to end up killing my wallet in the long run!?

the first problem is that on a cold start and sometimes a warm start it will lose a lot of power below 3k revs, ie. wont accellerate and becomes really jerky/lumpy. this is only for a minute and then it goes away and drives perfectly. Idles perfectly, and choke seems to act normally.
I thought it was onyl when it was cold but today it did it on a reasonably warm engine (had been sitting for 45 mins, but engine wasnt stone cold). Any idea what this could be?? there seems to be a rattle form the cat at around 2k revs so im guessing that needs replacing, but seeing as it only does it for a minute i cant work it out. and some days it will be fine!

I have researched and someone said a similar prob might be some kind of port needing cleaning? I have lost the link though....

The second prob is that the gearbox has probably been slightly abused in the past - If you change into 5th while the revs are high or you are driving at high speed (either motor driving or just try and change quickly) it crunches - it doesnt crunch in the way that it refuses to go into gear, its more like its notchy like your pushing a stick into a bag of gravel. It never pops out of gear, and if you change into 5th slowly or at regular driving speeds it doesnt do it. at least not so it is noticable.
Any idea what this could be?? and if it will cause me problems in the future??

Id hate to one day be left without a gearbox or diff.

So, apart from that absolutely beautiful car and very drivable! would love to be able to keep it. main worry is the lumpy engine.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Pics to follow soon

Thanks for reading, Will.

pIERCE

The hesitation could just be the need for a tune up. It's the cheapest and easiest way to start.

The 5th gear grind is somewhat common on 5th gen preludes, especially when abused(of course). Honestly, change the gear oil and see if that helps. Some people use other oils compared to Honda, you can if you want.

But unfortunately most of the damage has been done to the synchro, so you're in a tough spot.

wchestnutt

Thanks for the reply! I have just bought some Honda MTF so will put that in and see if it helps at all. Just wondering if any any point its going to go pop??!! I'm trying to look after her and can 99% of the time shift into 5th without much grind at all.

As for the tune up, The previous owner was a mechanic who had bought it to repair and sell i believe off someone who had busted the 4ws etc. He did an oil and filter, and new spark plugs, dizzy cap, not sure about the rotor arm though - is it possible that could cause a hesitation.

The "hesitation" gets to the point some days that i have to push the pedal a good couple of inches before i get any response...

It's obviously not a major problem because it only does it the first few mins of driving, but still somethign i would liek to get to teh bottom of - any chance it could be blocked injectors/ports or somesuch??

Again thank you for your time for anyone that has read this.

pIERCE

Do you let the car warm up fully?

Have you changed the air filter? Is there a check engine light for anything?


As for the grinding in 5th gear, yes, if you push it too hard where it always grinds eventually it will simply grind away and never go into gear. By then you'll have bent the shift fork and will have many more problems than a bad synchro.

Car hesitation is a tough thing to pin-point sometimes since so many things can cause it to a certain extent.

Kronn 98SH

What's MK5?

__________________
1988 Prelude S - victim of an 80mph backflip
1991 Prelude Si - sold
1989 Accord DX - impounded
1998 Prelude SH - totaled on 3/29/12
2006 CRF150F - sold
2006 YZ250F - sold

wchestnutt

Well i always let it idle for a few minutes before I drive. No check engine lights luckily! - Will replacethe air filter asap as there is a terrible short ram cone on it which sits pretty much next to the engine.

I imagine the standard oem air filters are probably best suited?

wchestnutt

obviously when I say mk5 I meant 5th gen (been bought up on golfs so notup with the lingo yet

pIERCE

That's a preference thing really. But the oem intakes will work just fine.