I've asked my friend at Honda to perform a compression test on the engine. He said is not necessary because he doesn't feel anything wrong with the engine. He also said that my misfiring problem is not always constant as it takes about 80-150 miles before the misfiring occur after every reset. He said if there was a problem with the cylinder that is causing the misfiring, it should come back on soon after he resets it. Can anyone back him up on his theory?
My friends lude had the same issue a misfire b/c his piston bearing is fried. But what you can do is just reset the ECU by unplugging the 7.5 clock fuse in the hood. GL.
My friends lude had the same issue a misfire b/c his piston bearing is fried. But what you can do is just reset the ECU by unplugging the 7.5 clock fuse in the hood. GL.
After you reset the ECU, the code will still come back eventually... that isn't really a fix?
I've asked my friend at Honda to perform a compression test on the engine. He said is not necessary because he doesn't feel anything wrong with the engine. He also said that my misfiring problem is not always constant as it takes about 80-150 miles before the misfiring occur after every reset. He said if there was a problem with the cylinder that is causing the misfiring, it should come back on soon after he resets it. Can anyone back him up on his theory?
That's not totally correct. I'm almost positive that for a random misfire code it is the kind of code that is only thrown after 2 runs of the vehicle that have a misfire. ( the engine has to completly warm up, misfire, be shut off, turned back on, warm up again, and misfire again for the code to come back) That's for a random misfire, which could be 1 out of every million revolutions is a miss. For an active misfire, the kind with a blinking CEL, and also the kind of miss that you will definately feel, what your buddy said is true. But for a random misfire, which most of the time you won't even feel, it has to be sensed on 2 runs of the vehicle for the code to be thrown.
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That's not totally correct. I'm almost positive that for a random misfire code it is the kind of code that is only thrown after 2 runs of the vehicle that have a misfire. ( the engine has to completly warm up, misfire, be shut off, turned back on, warm up again, and misfire again for the code to come back) That's for a random misfire, which could be 1 out of every million revolutions is a miss. For an active misfire, the kind with a blinking CEL, and also the kind of miss that you will definately feel, what your buddy said is true. But for a random misfire, which most of the time you won't even feel, it has to be sensed on 2 runs of the vehicle for the code to be thrown.
Okay, I will have him check the compression and piston rings
It kinda depends how bad it is. You may not have to do a full rebuild. Maybe just valve seals, or piston rings. But you will probably have to tear into the engine in some way. If it is BAD. And don't be so concerned with if the numbers are low. Some poeple will tell you that you are supposed to be at 220 for each cylinder. You may only be at 160. That is not as important of a problem as if you are 200-200-140-200, for instance. Then you'd have a problemo. You are looking for pretty much even across all 4 cylinders, not for the numbers to be correct. As far as I know, all compression testers read different, so the numbers aren't always as high as you'd expect.
Good Luck.
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I hear ya' man. You've got one of the most elusive misfires on the planet. I really hope that it doesn't come down to being something internal. Even though you've already done pretty much everything outside of the engine. Did you ever get a fuel pressure reading?
Unfortunately you don't live near me, because I'd gladly help with as much as I could. I'm not Super Mechanic, but I know enough to do basic maintenance and routine ****. I don't know if I'd want to "tear into" an engine without help though. Doing a valve adjustment is about as far as I go into an engine without help or the trusted advice of somebody with a little more experience than myself. The tolereances on these engines is too tight to work inside the engine and have anything even a little bit off.
Hey, if your buddy works at Honda, you should talk him into helping you with it, like not at the dealership, but on his own time. That way he doesn't have to charge you all the overhead that the dealership wants. Maybe he'd work for beer, or at least a discount.
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Thanks man, you've been a great help since the first page of this thread. I'd really appreaciate your inputs. As far as the engine work, I'll ask him to work on it. He normally stays after hours at Honda and work on my car. That way Honda doesn't charge me by the hours. Leak down, compression, fuel pressure reading. anything im missing?
Sh*t, I don't know. I'll try to look through the rest of this thread and see if anything jumps out at me that we may have missed. But, like I said, you've pretty much covered it all already.
Okay, from what it looks like, here is what you should try that you haven't already:
Do the nonfouler mod on the Secondary O2 sensor
Check for vacuum leaks and bad grounds again
Compression and leakdown test
Check fuel pressure to see if the fuel pump may be bad
Valve adjustment (if you never got it done)
Try these and see what you come up with. And once again, good luck.
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Last edited by Lude Acts : 04-29-2009 at 10:39 AM.
ok so i got a compression test and results are these 1-200 2-200 3-150 4-150 so compression is not all good but this still should not be the cause of a multiple missfire. What i was told was it could be my distributor going bad, Cylinder Position Sensor or Crankshaft Position / Top Dead Center Sensor
depending what is causing it bad rings, o bent valves. So i finally cleaned out the egr ports and egr valve again and still the Cel came on! I ran codes and still getting random miss fires but i also got a P1399 i was told either egr valve sticking open or distributor going bad.
Low compression can cause a misfire. Maybe you just REALLY need a valve adjustment, Speck. At least, if you are lucky, that's all it is. Low compression caused by bad valve seals, bad piston rings, etc. is gonna be costly to fix. I did a valve adjustment on my car today. I only adjusted the ones that needed it. I think 6 of the 16 valves were out of range. I adjust my valves every Spring, usually the day after I change my ATF. Now my car shifts like butter and runs smooth as silk also. Except I need a new rear wheel bearing, I think. It's humming like crazy from the right rear, and I checked it out, and there is a little play. *SIGH* It's always something. Good luck guys.
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itzroyal, did you replace your egr valve and your distributor? but if you compression is good then you do not need a leak down
Yes.. replaced EGR Valve and Distributor.. both OEM from HONDA! Not dealing with aftermarket parts no more. Gonna get fuel pressure and compression hopefully this week.
I have to say that i've been monitoring this thread for a while. I too have the same B.S. problem with my 98. Random missfire! Mine is primarily cyl #1 but from time to time (now I just jynxed myself) it will give me cyl #2 as well. My car for some reason (bless her) doesn't like low speeds. Thats where mine will occur. I know one of you was saying up hills, but mine could be in a parking lot going 10mph! But above 70-80mph she's smooth as hell! She'll even clear the code out from time to time on her own! One day she flashes, next its on then sometimes, gone. I have gotten the 1399 but hasn't come back for a while. I have pretty much done ALL the same things as you itzroyal. Lets see, new wires, new ngk laser plat plugs, EGR valve and gasket, new injector seals, injector treatment, new distributor cap AND rotor, new fuel filter, knock sensor, battery, BOTH O2 sensors, and compression test. All equal big $$$. Now have eighter of you tried isolating if you have a bad injector? Itzroyal, if I remember right, you had a cyl #2 prob. Try switching the #2 injector with #4. If #304 pops up on the scanner, your injector is the issue. But my question to both of you is what type of engine do you have, h22a4? Mine is an H22a1 conversion but I don't belive that should make a diff on the sollution. I feel yall's pain. The next thing I'm going to try is the ground. I've been told this can cause a miss. I hope this solves it cause this sh*t is getting old! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my car, but damn!
yeah.. thats' what i meant. I think that's has already been done way back when this first started happeneing. I will double check and ask my friend at Honda but im pretty sure it was tried.
i pretty much just stopped figuring this out, my mechanic said that he has seen hondas with less compression then mine and they were not misfiring. The only things i had left to replace was the egr valve, distributor and i was told a bad crank position sensor can cause a misfire. I really dont know what else to do.
any updates itzroyal? did you ever fix the problem?
I finally went to autozone and purchased a compression tester today. Did the compression test and the results are:
190-210-150-175
The readings are all over the places.. doesn't look too good... Also, when i pulled my plugs out, they are all black. These are fairly new plugs that was put in around Sept of last year. Since then, I have put around 3k in the car.
well.. the mechanic said my car is running rich. That is why my sparks are all black. He doesn't know why my engine is running so rich. Lude Act, are u still with us here? we need some of your expert advice!
so this morning i start up the lude and NO cel! which is strange, the temperature outside was a bit colder. The cel will come back on i know it will. But this tells me that maybe my problem is not related to my compression and it can be fixed! any ideas?
Do you guys know which cylinder is which? I know that the cylinders don't just go 1-2-3-4. it probably goes 1-3-4-2, or something like that. Which order?
Do you guys know which cylinder is which? I know that the cylinders don't just go 1-2-3-4. it probably goes 1-3-4-2, or something like that. Which order?
When I did the compression test, i started from passenger side to driver side. -_-
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The Block 51St........
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