My 2000 prelude is driving me crazy and I need help, at first it was only high octane that caused the problem but last night it did it on 87 and I want to nip it in the butt once and for all!!!

I have had the car for 4 months, a week after I got it and filled the tank with 87, a friend told me it should run on premium.. Sooo I put an oreilly's brand octane booster in the tank. I used 3/4 of a tank of gas no problem, but at a quarter tank things got weird.. I drove the car to the mall, it was not doing anything out of the ordinary the whole ride, I parked it and went inside. When I came back out it cranked but would not fire. I cranked on it until the tow truck arrived and the battery was nearly dead! I could smell raw fuel so I figured spark, but when I got the car home I found the car had spark on all four cylinders, it was in time, had pressure to the fuel rail, and 150-175psi compression on all cylinders... Took a fuel sample to check for water and did not find any but noticed the fuel smelled weak, so I took a chance and drained the tank and blead the lines, and filled it back up with fresh 87 and it started.

Three weeks ago the problem reoccurred, I had decided to use 93 when I filled up the last time and once again the car shut off at a quarter tank, so without checking anything I immediately drained the tank and lines and put fresh 87 in the tank and behold it ran!... For about two weeks, but last night it did it again.. And at a quarter tank. Only issue is I was running 87 so I no longer have any idea how to fix the problem. I know it sounds like I have a broken fuel gauge but i put 4 gallons in it this final time to prove to the people around me the car was not out of gas and i was right. also, those were the only three times it died indicating a quarter tank, all other times it runs all the way down and the fuel light kicks on.

Anyone who took the time to read my post and has an answer or questions I would be very grateful too

1) don't let it get to a quarter tank.
2) always use high test.
3) check the fuel pipe inside the tank for perforations near the bottom which would break the prime.
4) change the fuel filter.
5) until you figure it out, refer to rule 1.

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First of all....it's nip it in the "bud". Haha but anyway on with your car..assuming that you aren't getting an improper reading on your fuel gauge you could be looking at a weak fuel pump...i know you said you had pressure..but do you know how much pressure? As your fuel tank becomes more empty..there is less pressure being forced onto the fuel pump...meaning the fuel pump has to work harder to pump fuel when the tank is getting low..The fuel in the tank is also what keeps your fuel pump cool...when there is less fuel in the tank the pump gets hotter and over time this takes a toll on how well it performs

I always fill my tank completely, I never drive low on fuel for long periods of time, only putting 5 bucks in at a time, I am not nearly as guilty of running on empty as some people. As for a fuel pressure reading, no I do not have a fuel pressure gauge to measure this with, I know that I am getting fuel to the rail because I removed the fuel line supplying the fuel rail and run the pump by tuning the key repeatedly, using a bottle to catch the fuel, the flow seemed to be very strong, no air pockets or bubbles. the car runs noticeably better on regular than premium, besides the fact that the car is 2-for-2 for failing to start when I decide to use the premium unleaded the manufacturer recommends.

Is the fuel pipe part of the fuel pump assembly?

I gotta be honest luke, I'm unfamiliar with the prelude tank. We started down that road in a car once and discovered it was actually the distributor causing our issue.
But in my brothers nissan pickup it was the rubber line between the bottom of the tank and the pump had a ton of little holes that kept breaking prime.

Like 9998 said there's less pressure with less fuel. Head pressure. Figure gas weighs 8lbs/gallon. 8 gallons stacked on top of each other weighs twice on the lower gallon than say 4 gallons.

Go to the diy section and download a service manual. That'll give you the specifics.

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The H22 in your prelude is a higher compression engine...that's why the manufacturer calls for a higher octane fuel...the higher the compression the higher octane fuel it needs...higher the octane the quicker the rate at which the fuel burns...Are you sure that the ignition timing is set correctly? If it is set to far back (retarded) or too far forward (advanced) it causes poor performance as you are not getting the most out what combustion is occurring in your combustion chambers. Too far in advance could cause pre-ignition..meaning the ignition actually occurs too soon..before the piston on the compression stroke reaches TDC and the piston is actually fighting to get to TDC...this can be detrimental to your engine and can fry the pistons/valves..Pre-Ignition can also be caused by a piece of carbon that is superheated by the combustion occurring in the chamber and lights the fuel prematurely..But back to timing.. On the flip side..too much retardation in your ignition ignites the fuel mixture too late after the piston (now on the power stroke) is already on it's way down and the flamefront doesn't give the full push down force against the top of the piston. This usually leads to poor fuel economy as the mixture is not getting burnt as well as it should...you pretty much never have perfect combustion..if you did you wouldn't have a catalytic converter...but do check your ignition timing again. Good luck man...by the way...what kinda altitude are you at?

9998 I know why Honda recommended premium. I know it has a high compression motor and lower octane has a lower ignition temp and will ignite too soon. I understand I should run the car on 93, but it just seemed to be the issue so I stopped doing it, And when I said the car runs better on 87 I meant to say it starts better. On 93 it miss fires badly on start up. It also miss fires on 87 but not as bad. The car does not miss on a cold start. On most warm starts it tale a few seconds for all cylinders to fire. and in some cases I have to put my foot to the floor to keep two cylinders running fast enough to keep the motor running until the other two catch up, or else it will just sputter and stall. it has this problem whether i use regular or premium, it just seems worse when using premium but I could be imagining things. As for timing I will check it again thanks for the detailed explanation.

You could have a leaking injector that is causing a rich condition bad enough to make it misfire.. would explain why you smelled raw fuel and would also explain why it doesn't miss on cold start ups..what do your plugs look like?..are they black or sooty or are they looking kinda dry and white like they've been hot?

The car started last night, it sat since Sunday and last night I got in it and turned the key and it started. It popped a little at first then stalled, so I put my foot down to keep it running and it finaly quit missing and smoothed out. I didn't do anything to it since it stopped running Sunday, its just been sitting

Just picked the car up from the local shop and payed $60 for them to give me the worst possible news.. HEAD GASKET.. they pulled all the plugs and found cylinder two had deposits, then they pressurized the radiator and watched the gauge jump when they revved the engine. Sooo the car was missing when it was worm because the radiator pressure was pushing coolant into the cylinder when I shut the car off then burned it off when I started it back up.

Where do I go from here???

And I guess the quarter tank was always just a coincidence

Well it sounds like you should replace the head gasket ...there's not much else to be said or done about that if that's what is wrong. Make sure that if you or whoever does the work has the head checked for any warping that may have occurred as well. Any reputable shop will send a head to have it decked regardless when a head gasket or any headwork is being done. If you do have it fixed go ahead and take care of whatever other maintenance you can while the head is off...new timing belt kit/water pump...seals and any gaskets that you can have changed out while the head is off. Sorry for the bad news but good luck man.

If you don't mind Luke, check back in after you get it fixed. If it still won't run below a quarter tank we'll keep stabbing at that issue.

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