I have a 99 tl I/H/E.................heres my situation. My car runs pretty sluggish at most times, not that responsive, and just not really like it should. When I pull out the CLOCK/BACKUP fuse it resets your ECU. When I do that its like my car comes alive, it is ALOT more responsive from a dead stop and just quicker all around.........but that only lasts about 2 days at tops, then it starts all over again SLUGGISH. WHY!!! I have no CEL, to a person who doesnt know much about cars wouldnt notice it, but I do. When it runs sluggish from a stop I can barely chirp the tires, but when I reset the ECU I can peel them out all the way to 4000 rpms. Its just a lot more responsive. Please help. Thanks.

 

Is your vtec kicking in? How's your air filter?

 

Yeah, my vtec is always working and my K&N air filter is fine, but the sluggishness is from a dead stop takeoff. The issue is the throttle response when I hit the gas is sluggish and when I reset yhe ECU the throttle response is very sudden, as soon as I touch the throttle there is torque right away which makes my tires spin.

 

How dirty is your thorttle body? Is the cable set up properly?

What did you do JUST before you started having this problem?

 

Oh, nothing really, I dont remember its been like this for a long time. The only thing thats in the back of my mind is that I do have my cat completely gutted out but I do have that screw on spacer that screws on the cat then you screw on your O2 sensor so it doesnt throw a CEL. Also I have a test pipe in place of the resonator and a test pipe in place of the pre-muffler but I did keep my stock mufflers on for back pressure. And believe it or not my exaust is still not that loud, you cant even hear it over the intake. But you would think if there is an issue anywhere to make the car respond slower a CEL would come on, but I dont have any CELights. But my car will run sluggish off the line, but as soon as I remove that CLOCK/BACKUP fuse and put it back in again my car reacts like it should, very responsive and quicker. A noticably pretty big difference. I dont know, all I know is that now I have to get used to just popping that fuse in and out every other day.

 

do u drive like a grandma? at time the ecu will learn your driving patter and u wont have as much power when u want. so by u resetting the ecu it doesnt know what kind of driving was done before.

 

NO, I drive with a HEAVY foot, but at times I do try to save gas and drive like grandma.

 

turn off TCS

 

Where's the ecu located?

 

passenger side, right where their left foot would be, towards the fire wall

 

problem fixed?

 

No, my TCS is ALWAYS off. But still about every two days I have to reset the ECU to make my car come alive.

 

After reseting your ECU ,did you do a Idle Learn Procedure ??? It's very important to do it 'cause your car will learn to idle well with load ( light , ac , defrog ..ect ) or no load .....
Most likely your car feels less response after a few days 'cause your idle is more or less stable ...If it idle a bit low = less response or if it idle a bit high = more response ...
Here's the link how to do a Idle Learn according to Acura http://www.in.honda.com/Rjanisis/pubs/SN/B030100.PDF

 

http://www.in.honda.com/Rjanisis/pubs/SN/B030100.PDF

Here's the link again !