[bunny]

I just very thoroughly read about three pages here on this site of the bucking and hesitating problem (which I also have on my new used 2004 Element EXS) I'm feeling pretty confident that I have resolved the problem( in my mind anyway) We also got gas right after purchasing in a run down kind of shady town in the boondocks. So now after reading about this here, I went and bought some Lucas upper cylinder lubricant and injector cleaner, put it in. Might also get some heet? to dry up any water in gas. I am definately going to only go to reputable gas stations now. Praying that this was it.Thank you EOC, I need some of those stickers or things, cards you can give to other E'rs. I love this site!:-D

 

[LunchBoxDriver]

... Thank you EOC, I need some of those stickers or things, cards you can give to other E'rs. I love this site!:-D

Using the search, here's what I found...

http://www.2dolphins.com/images/elem...ery%208371.pdf

If you buy those Avery business cards at Wally-World, you can crank out a whole bunch of these... Great way for you to get your "referrals" on your profile too...

Hope this helps...

LBD

 

[Generation "X" Dad]

We had a string of Civics and a couple Elements come in last year with misfire DTCs, poor drivability, hesitations and stalling, especially when turning or making quick start-and-stops.

Removing the gas tank revealed pools of water in the bottom of the gas tank. Turns out they all purchased gas from a small redneck gas station just on the outskirts of the city. It got to the point where if a vehicle was towed in or brought in with symptoms similar to the first one we had, right away we asked them where they got gas from if they did so recently. The one Element I worked on had purchased it from the same station as we suspected and had quite a bit of water in it.

The process to clean out all the water completely was fairly involved and I became very acclimated to the fine piquant of hydrocarbons :razz:. This is what I had to do to the Element I worked on:

1. Dropped the tank, drained all the old fuel out and soaked up the water with paper towels,
2. Fuel filter assembly was disassembled, the sock and plastic cup were cleaned with brake cleaner and then blown dry with air,
3. Removed the fuel rail and injectors (the water pools up in the fuel rail and clogs at the injectors) and had to basically flush out the fuel line and the fuel rail with brake cleaner then gently blow them dry with compressed air. 4. Once everything was fully cleaned of water, the fuel system was reassembled and the tank filled with fresh gasoline from the station down the street that our dealership has an account with.

Now, don't let me scare you into thinking you have to do all that because the cars we had at work had a lot more than a few drops of water in the gas. Believe it or not, we took a sample from one of the initial Civics and put it into a clean empty pop bottle. Of the 791mL we collected in the bottle, over ONE-THIRD OF IT WAS WATER :shock:. It also had this debris in it which we have no idea how it got all the way to the fuel rail where we took the sample. Sure explained why the car would idle okay but then barely run once you started moving though :twisted:.

I'm just giving you a heads-up that if the water problem is bad enough, it may not be as simple as putting in a gas additive and hoping the problem goes away, but hopefully your diagnosis and repair works for you. One a very positive note though, I did the entire process on the Element in less than a few hours (I think I was 2.5hrs clocked on the job) as the tank and all the connections are completely accessible from underneath the vehicle (as opposed to the manual which tells you to go through the floor inside the vehicle) so you can leave the interior intact.

 

[bunny]

Still doing it

:-(QUOTE=Generation "X" Dad;859519]We had a string of Civics and a couple Elements come in last year with misfire DTCs, poor drivability, hesitations and stalling, especially when turning or making quick start-and-stops.

Removing the gas tank revealed pools of water in the bottom of the gas tank. Turns out they all purchased gas from a small redneck gas station just on the outskirts of the city. It got to the point where if a vehicle was towed in or brought in with symptoms similar to the first one we had, right away we asked them where they got gas from if they did so recently. The one Element I worked on had purchased it from the same station as we suspected and had quite a bit of water in it.

The process to clean out all the water completely was fairly involved and I became very acclimated to the fine piquant of hydrocarbons :razz:. This is what I had to do to the Element I worked on:

1. Dropped the tank, drained all the old fuel out and soaked up the water with paper towels,
2. Fuel filter assembly was disassembled, the sock and plastic cup were cleaned with brake cleaner and then blown dry with air,
3. Removed the fuel rail and injectors (the water pools up in the fuel rail and clogs at the injectors) and had to basically flush out the fuel line and the fuel rail with brake cleaner then gently blow them dry with compressed air. 4. Once everything was fully cleaned of water, the fuel system was reassembled and the tank filled with fresh gasoline from the station down the street that our dealership has an account with.

Now, don't let me scare you into thinking you have to do all that because the cars we had at work had a lot more than a few drops of water in the gas. Believe it or not, we took a sample from one of the initial Civics and put it into a clean empty pop bottle. Of the 791mL we collected in the bottle, over ONE-THIRD OF IT WAS WATER :shock:. It also had this debris in it which we have no idea how it got all the way to the fuel rail where we took the sample. Sure explained why the car would idle okay but then barely run once you started moving though :twisted:.

I'm just giving you a heads-up that if the water problem is bad enough, it may not be as simple as putting in a gas additive and hoping the problem goes away, but hopefully your diagnosis and repair works for you. One a very positive note though, I did the entire process on the Element in less than a few hours (I think I was 2.5hrs clocked on the job) as the tank and all the connections are completely accessible from underneath the vehicle (as opposed to the manual which tells you to go through the floor inside the vehicle) so you can leave the interior intact.[/QUOTE]

SO SAD :-( we drove 400 miles with no buck and hesitate, thought it was cured. we are traveling to Florida, so got some more injector cleaner and heet, got gas three times right off interstate (busy/moving) maybey its not the gas. we will change an air filter now, do a PVC valve, a more intense throttle body fuel injector cleaning (done at a garage)the honda dealer garage also said to do a valve adjustment, I just want to get to the bottom of problem. thank you so much for the detailed info you sent along, we will use this too.

 

[Generation "X" Dad]

SO SAD :-( we drove 400 miles with no buck and hesitate, thought it was cured. we are traveling to Florida, so got some more injector cleaner and heet, got gas three times right off interstate (busy/moving) maybey its not the gas. we will change an air filter now, do a PVC valve, a more intense throttle body fuel injector cleaning (done at a garage)the honda dealer garage also said to do a valve adjustment, I just want to get to the bottom of problem. thank you so much for the detailed info you sent along, we will use this too.

The vehicles we had with the water in the gas would experience noticeable misfires to the point that a DTC would be set for multiple cylinder and random misfires which would illuminate the engine light.

If the symptoms persist or get worse, I would bring it in to have it looked at.

 

[Jlar2020]

We had a string of Civics and a couple Elements come in last year with misfire DTCs, poor drivability, hesitations and stalling, especially when turning or making quick start-and-stops.

Removing the gas tank revealed pools of water in the bottom of the gas tank. Turns out they all purchased gas from a small redneck gas station just on the outskirts of the city. It got to the point where if a vehicle was towed in or brought in with symptoms similar to the first one we had, right away we asked them where they got gas from if they did so recently. The one Element I worked on had purchased it from the same station as we suspected and had quite a bit of water in it.

The process to clean out all the water completely was fairly involved and I became very acclimated to the fine piquant of hydrocarbons :razz:. This is what I had to do to the Element I worked on:

1. Dropped the tank, drained all the old fuel out and soaked up the water with paper towels,
2. Fuel filter assembly was disassembled, the sock and plastic cup were cleaned with brake cleaner and then blown dry with air,
3. Removed the fuel rail and injectors (the water pools up in the fuel rail and clogs at the injectors) and had to basically flush out the fuel line and the fuel rail with brake cleaner then gently blow them dry with compressed air. 4. Once everything was fully cleaned of water, the fuel system was reassembled and the tank filled with fresh gasoline from the station down the street that our dealership has an account with.

Now, don't let me scare you into thinking you have to do all that because the cars we had at work had a lot more than a few drops of water in the gas. Believe it or not, we took a sample from one of the initial Civics and put it into a clean empty pop bottle. Of the 791mL we collected in the bottle, over ONE-THIRD OF IT WAS WATER :shock:. It also had this debris in it which we have no idea how it got all the way to the fuel rail where we took the sample. Sure explained why the car would idle okay but then barely run once you started moving though :twisted:.

I'm just giving you a heads-up that if the water problem is bad enough, it may not be as simple as putting in a gas additive and hoping the problem goes away, but hopefully your diagnosis and repair works for you. One a very positive note though, I did the entire process on the Element in less than a few hours (I think I was 2.5hrs clocked on the job) as the tank and all the connections are completely accessible from underneath the vehicle (as opposed to the manual which tells you to go through the floor inside the vehicle) so you can leave the interior intact.

Hi genxdad

I have varnished gas in 2003 that needs same tank drop and empty, as well as backflush to save injectors and engine. Thank you for the details and project time (roughly 2.5hrs) - how much did you charge for that.

Also can you drop from underneath on the 2003 also?

Thanks!