possibly dirty fuel injectors?
 

well, here is the scoop:

i have a 2000 honda civic (5 speed). it has about 51K miles on it. when i am accelerating, (and keeping consistent pressure on the accelerator) the car will start to go and then at approx. 3500 rpm , the car will suddenly get a little extra burst of energy - almost like it had been stuck. then, of course, vtech takes over at 5500 rpm.

now, i should also mention that the last time i had my oil changed, the tech brought out the air filter and showed me some spots on it saying that that pattern meant that i should get my fuel injectors cleaned (by him of course.) now i am not too trusting of these jiffy lube guys with my baby (no offense), and i didn't want to get ripped off or anything, so i declined.

i am wondering if there is any truth to what that cat was saying?? i don't want to put any additives in my gas tank or anything or shell out a bunch of cash for no good reason either.

do my symptoms sound like the fuel injectors could possible be the cause?

thanks for any help!

c_b

Think about the placement of the air filter, outside of the engine, and the injectors, with the business ends on the inside. I see no way that it would affect it. I realize that one of the mechanics on the board is probably going to come in and shoot down that opinion, but that's what I'm thinking.

Last time I had a car's (my mom's, she insisted) injectors cleaned at Expressway, it never ran right again.

The easiest way to check the fuel injectors to see if they operating properly is to get a get a stethoscope or a mechanincs one and listen at the injector for a solid "click" sound and for any misses. If you don't have a stethoscope get a long flat blade screwdriver with a solid hard plastic grip and set the blad on the injector and place your ear on the other end of the screwdriver and then listen for the "click".

Just a thought, but my friends have used the STP fuel injector cleaner and it helped quite a bit. It's only like $3 for a bottle, so I would try that before you go and do something else expensive for the fuel injectors.

thanks for the suggestions.

c_b