There's a bit of a storyline here and I'm not the most knowledgeable on cars, so bear with me please-

About a month ago I started noticing that when my 99 honda accord EX V6 (83,000 miles) shifted gears around 30 mph the whole vehicle would jerk. I took it in to be looked at down at my favorite place All Tune & Lube because they have ALWAYS been fair and exceptional at fixing every problem. They couldn't figure it out, and sent me home.

Few weeks later my car starts having a bit of trouble starting up. It would shudder and stall right when I would turn the key, and even if I applied the gas it didn't help. About 3 or 4 times I called for someone to come help, but of course as soon as they touched my car it would work. I took it in and they checked my battery level, the wiring connections, and other general things and nothing was wrong.

About 2 weeks ago I'm sitting in a drive through in idle and notice the RPM dropping and the car shuddering for a few seconds every couple of minutes. I immediately took it in the next day.
They took a look and discovered that the distributor box was severely cracked and oil was very slowly leaking in. This was replaced, and while they were at it I had them replace my timing belt since it was about that time anyway. I noticed the jerking at 30mph was not happening as often, and the jerk was not nearly as violent as before (still happens occasionally though). Also, no more shuddering and dropping RPM while in idle.

Today I had problems starting my car again. Two separate times. The first time it was still running while shuddering so I quickly pulled out of the parking spot before it stalled completely, which worked and it was fine after that.
About an hour later I went to start it and it took dozens of tries while applying gas before it finally worked. I popped the hood to look at it, and the whole engine was shaking kind of violently. I don't think it's a spark plug problem, because the car WAS starting, it would just shake and stall right after.

I'm worried if I take it in again, they won't find a problem once more. I feel like this is all related somehow, and you all here seem very knowledgeable-- any ideas?

 

have you had your sensors checked? O2 sensor, MAP sensor, etc? all those adjust air/fuel mixture and can cause issues starting, running, etc. and it may be random depending on the sensor.

 

Sounds like more than one simple problem..I think you need to get it on a scope and see where the real problem is instead of just guessing at it...

WheelBrokerAng

 

Good point Ang. I just re-read the post. I think you have exhausted the skill level of a "Tune&Lube"

Time to take the car car to a Honda Dealership.

I wouldn't expect any oil change shop to diagnose my VTEC V6, if those guys were that good, they'd be working for a dealership, making a lot more money.

Hell, only my dealership changes my oil/fluids (plus they wash it, check it, and give me rides to/from work).

 

Well, there are no lights on, on the dash. Can they still hook up to the computer if the lights aren't on? Will it still give information?

 

They will be able to connect it to a scanner and look at your sensors to see if the values make sense and the they are doing what they should.

 

sounds to me like a fuel pump... you can semi-verify this by cycling the key on-off-on a few times then try to start it. If it fires right up, then the problem is likely the pump. cycling the key gives the weak pump time to build initial pressure. Just had a 2000 accord in my shop last week doing the same thing with no CEL, and it ended up being the fuel pump. the only way to find out for sure is to have your fuel pressure checked at startup and while driving...

PS. I work at a service center, i dont own a 2000 accord, just wanted to make that a lil clearer, lol...