My car is fine when it's cold but when it warms up, the CEL starts flashing indicating a misfire. I'm sure it's intermittent since turning off the car and restarting it will take it back to a solid CEL. Not only that, I can't feel the misfire at all. It seems to drive fine with lots of power and everything. I do have a slightly rough idle but it's barely noticeable. This is what I've done so far trying to eliminate the problem:
seafoam
pcv valve
distributor cap/rotor/wires and distributor
spark plugs
cleaned EGR valve and new gasket
cleaned IAC valve
cleaned EGR ports
I'm thinking about doing new o2 sensor and/or fuel injectors. I have a new fuel filter I'm going to be installing. If that doesn't do it, then valve adjustment. I did pull the plug wires with the car running and the car does bog down when I pull them out, in every cylinder so I'm sure it's not a bad cylinder. I'm just looking for ideas as the code p1399 isn't detailed as to what it can be.
Just giving my input. this was happening to me, I had replaced everything and was getting so mad, until one day we put a compression tester on it. I had very low compression in two cylinders
i had 8 bent valves. compression test??
Last edited by itsthatprelude; 02-14-2011 at 02:56 PM.
Just giving my input. this was happening to me, I had replaced everything and was getting so mad, until one day we put a compression tester on it. I had very low compression in two cylinders
i had 8 bent valves. compression test??
I'm going to do that tomorrow. I'm also going to be trying a new o2 sensor tomorrow. Any objections since the o2 sensor has it's own code?
i mean you can change it its up to you. Dont know what year your car is but it wont hurt to be changed, post your compression numbers when you get them
OK. Did my compression testing this morning with a cold motor. Here are the numbers from left to right(if you're standing in front of the car:
150-150-150-90
Where do I go from here? Bad valve or ring? Is 150 too low in the other cylinders? What is a decent price to pay to have the work done if any of you have had experience with this? Thanks.
honestly i dont know. ive been told as long as your numbers are the same all the way across your golden. but 90 is quite a drop from 150. i would think you have a bent valve but deffently get a leakdown test done just to be sure.
When i did all my head work my total came to $375 that was for 8 new valves, hot tanked, cleaned and shaved. then of course new head gasket and anything else yada yada yada. call your local machine shop, they should be able to give you an idea. they wont know the exact price till they find out just how many are bent (if any)
Can someone tell me how long I would be able to keep driving it like this? I know it's not a great idea but I need to make it at least 1 month before I could get the work done. What can potentially happen if I don't get it done soon?
The compression on the weak cylinder jumped a lot more than the others with oil. I thought that meant that it's the rings, since the oil helps it seal more significantly than the others.
If it is the rings that are weakened on that one cylinder I'm not sure how much damage you can do with prolonged use. You might be good to go until it loses all compression which is a variable. But it could be a week or months. For now just baby the engine since you can't do anything to just yet.
The compression on the weak cylinder jumped a lot more than the others with oil. I thought that meant that it's the rings, since the oil helps it seal more significantly than the others.
If it is the rings that are weakened on that one cylinder I'm not sure how much damage you can do with prolonged use. You might be good to go until it loses all compression which is a variable. But it could be a week or months. For now just baby the engine since you can't do anything to just yet.
I thought it was rings too if the compression goes up with oil in the cylinder. I guess I won't know till it comes apart. Everyone keep saying it's the valve for sure. For now, I got a buddy that owns a shop who's willing to take it all apart, replace bad valves, reinstall, do new timing and water pump and all seals associated with the timing job, for $600 labor. I gotta supply the parts and I work at Oreilly's so head gasket set (fel pro) and timing component kit (gates) will cost about $220 together or I could just get the head gasket and valve stem seals (since I just did my VC gasket) and the timing kit and come up less than $180. I just gotta source the valves somewhere else.
First off, do a leakdown test to confirm where the problem is before taking anything apart. I'd expect more of a jump in PSI with the oil in the cylinders if your rings are bad, but that method is kind of iffy anyways.
Second, I strongly recommend using an OEM timing belt. If the t-belt goes, your motor will be totally up sh!t creek. That is not somewhere you want to go cheap. Cut corners somewhere else, if you must.
You should also consider an engine swap, especially if the problem is in the bottom end. There are a bunch of failed rebuilds out there already that were the result of machine shops not knowing how to work with FRM.
I doubt that a valve adjustment will help in this case, but you could still try it. It's a good thing to know how to do anyway. Even if it doesn't help, it can't hurt.
I doubt that a valve adjustment will help in this case, but you could still try it. It's a good thing to know how to do anyway. Even if it doesn't help, it can't hurt.
Getting in depth with my motor kinda scares me. Sure, it's easy for someone who has done it to say it but if I end up getting the valves adjusted, it would be a shop thing. I just don't want to keep throwing money into this thing especially if it's not going to help it.
A valve adjustment only requires about $15 worth of tools and a couple hours to do if it's your first time. There are several writeups around with pictures that dumb it down to the point a monkey could almost do it. If you don't try to do things that you haven't done before, you will never learn anything. There are several things the I will not attempt under my hood out of fear that I will screw them up, but a valve adjustment isn't even close to being one of them. If you can operate a screwdriver and a ratchet, you can do a valve adjustment.
That said, your best bet is still to do a leakdown test to find the source of your compression leak. A valve adjustment would just be a shot in the dark, at best.
A valve adjustment only requires about $15 worth of tools and a couple hours to do if it's your first time. There are several writeups around with pictures that dumb it down to the point a monkey could almost do it. If you don't try to do things that you haven't done before, you will never learn anything. There are several things the I will not attempt under my hood out of fear that I will screw them up, but a valve adjustment isn't even close to being one of them. If you can operate a screwdriver and a ratchet, you can do a valve adjustment.
That said, your best bet is still to do a leakdown test to find the source of your compression leak. A valve adjustment would just be a shot in the dark, at best.
The worst thing about this is finding an SH motor if I was to go that route, which sounds like the cheapest route. I could always do an f20b or h23 but wait, I'd have to buy a tranny to since I have a stupid SH.
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