I recently bought a 1987 accord with 284k.It runs good and so far I have put an additional 4k on it. Twice now it nearly left me stranded. Seems like when I'm going uphill and depress the gas pedal it loads up the sparkplugs and starts running rough like its running on 3 cylinders.It looses power and no matter what you do it wontpick up speed.After coming to a stop, turning off the engine waiting a minute and restarting it runs alright.I was going to replace the fuel filters but I put a bottle of heat in and topped off the gas with premium and never had a problem until the other night. It did the same thing as before. Traffic slowed for some reason and then began to resume speed (70 mph). It started spitting and sputtering again. This time I just went ahead and pulled over,shut down restarted and everything is now ok. Anyone have an idea as to whats going on?

 

I would at least look at the fuel filter,, at least the 1 by the tank if it is carburated ( plastic ) ...if injected you cannot see inside the filter cause it is metal ,, you need to remove it and pour the gas out to see how much junk comes out but once you are that far you might as well replace it ..

if you replace the filter at the tank ( carb) make sure you reinstall it with the flow going the proper way

 

Thanks! Was thinking I should do just that. Is there a fuel sensor that detects the amount of fuel required (during demand) and tries to compensate? I may have a sensor problem because the car runs really smoothly otherwise.

 

that depends on if it's a mechanical or electric fuel pump and a carb or fuel injected car... could be fuel filter, fuel tank pickup (shifting when going uphil and pluging or something...) if it's electric then the pump just maintains a certain amount of fuel pressure

 

Its a carbureted model for sure. I also had it up on a rack to balance the rear tires and noticed a bolt/plug in the left rear of the fuel tank. Is that possibly a drain? I would love to run it low on fuel say to a 1/4 and then drain it all out. I'm sure its full of water and other contaminates as well.

 

yes that is a drain ,,, 17 mm wrench needed to remove it