Dave wrote:
> I have a 1990 Honda Accord that I purchased new. It has 120K. Last
> summer it started to miss under load (going up a hill for example). It
> only occured occassionally - it was not consistent. About 2 months
> ago, I was driving home from a friend's home about 45 minutes away by
> the freeway. It ran fine on the way down, but it started to miss so
> bad on the way home that I thought it might fall apart. I limped it
> home and wondered. Driving around town it is fine. It starts and idles
> fine too.
>
> The funny thing about this situation is that a couple of months back I
> noticed one of the plugs wires was not completely covering the hole of
> the spark plug. The side was curled under somewhat. Not a huge amount,
> but it did not seal it. I fixed it and pressed it back down correctly
> - I don't know why I had not noticed this before. This was the spark
> plug furthest to the driver's side. The car has not had a tuneup since
> 1997 when it had just under 73K. At that time I had the timing belt
> replaced as well.
>
> This last weekend, I replaced all the plugs (Bosch+4), plug wires, cap
> and rotor. The car runs somewhat better, but still misses under load -
> just not so bad. When I removed the spark plug cap from the plug
> furthest to the driver's side, I noticed that the walls inside were
> extremely dirty - like a fine dust. The plug was tight. But before I
> removed it, I used an air compressor to blow out the dust. It came out
> in clouds. I don't understand why it was so dirty. All 3 remaining
> plug cylinders (correct word?) were clean as new!
>
> I am thinking now that maybe it should have the timing checked, but
> I'm not sure what else could be going on. Does anyone have any
> thoughts on what I could look at next? I am thinking that I should
> also have the timing belt replaced too as it's been 10 years - even
> though the mileage is only about 37K since it was last changed.
>
> I appreciate any comments or thoughts!
>
> Thanks,
> Dave
>
---------------------------------

Jim's right. Plugs were loose and you've put in the wrong ones, you need
some injector cleaner.

You also need to back-flush or replace your fuel filter. (injector
cleaner may solve the filter too) Do you drive a lot of dirt roads or
park in a damp parkade?

'Curly'