Cheers Brian, I'll have a look.

FYI Plugs were changed at 54k, 2 years ago. If I end up changing the plugs should I stick with the Honda OEM or can you recommend something better for a standard unmodified car.

 

FWIW my engine started like this, as Brian says carefully check the symptons and if like mine get to the stealer ASAP, don't want to start scaring people, but better for a check than a snapped valve righting your engine off !!

 

Rough is bad However, other easy things to check - crudded up injectors (poor atomisation of the fuel - poor combustion when cold)? Redex or some other injector cleaner.

Bad earth from engine - high impedence to sparks? Check main engine earth point, if it's is manky clean it and cover with a dod of grease after re-fit.

On another note - my '01 twice misfired on start up when really cold - but I got a check engine light.

HTH

 

See what they're like first. You can get a small improvement in low rev behaviour with the right temperature iridum plugs (about

 

Battery nearing the end of its life? If you hadn't driven the car for a week and it had drained a bit, that would explain why it was OK later.

I always look for the simplest things first

 

Interesting point Man's Best, because the alarm went off when I started the car. I unlocked it, drove it out the garage, put my other car back on the drive and when I went to start the S2k the alarm went off. Took a while to get it turned off too.

Could the battery make the car run badly?

 

I believe it could, yes. A depressed voltage from the battery coupled with the effort of starting the engine that would depress it even more, would result in a reduced spark and less efficient combustion unless anyone thinks differently. Can't see myself how the engine management can compensate but maybe it's that clever. One cell of my battery died and I couldn't even get the car started after it had done a couple of miles, so that indicates nothing works below around 10.5 volts.

How old is the battery?

 

I don't kow the age of the battery. The car is 5 yrs old and doesn't have Honda branded battery so I assume it's already been changed once.