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Eric, thanks for the videos… I find myself watching car videos that have nothing to do with any of the car issues that I’m having or have ever had. Makes night shift fun again!
I have a 1993 Honda Accord EX manual transmission 2.2L with 232,000 miles on board. A few months ago I had a tire blow out at freeway speed, and drove it around 20 miles on the doughnut with about 10PSI in it… Ended up replacing upper ball joints and control arms along with new strut assemblies (shocks and coil springs, etc). Very soon after that, as I’m basking in the warm glow of how nice my ride is, I feel a “soft” misfire under load. Got it home, popped the hood, and noticed the #3 plug wire was kicked up about 1/2″. Tried to push it back down, no dice. Tried to pull it out, and finally got it to suck out through all of the oil in the spark plug access hole. Had a mechanic replace the valve cover gasket and O rings. While he had the valve cover off, he decided to adjust the valves back to spec. Since then I’m getting a soft, low-end misfire while the car is under load. It seems to have gotten a little worse, and more evident at higher speeds such as when I go uphill on the highway (about 2200RPM). Fuel economy is down as well from 28-30 to around 24-25mpg. I have taken it back to my mechanic, and he is convinced that it is the distributor, but the distributor is fairly new(yes, a cheap reman., but there’s not a speck of oil in or around it.) He is very hesitant about pulling the valve cover again because in addition to the gasket set that I bought, he used some high temp silicone(??? it’s black, and it was gooey at some point) on the valve cover gasket. I got him to change the oil and oil filter when he did the gasket as well. He put new wires on it when he did the VC gasket, and I replaced the spark plugs with NGK’s (only NGK’s ever used in it)in an attempt to fix the misfire. The oil seems to smell of gasoline, and is VERY SLIGHTLY above the full mark after 4qts put in. Coolant is clear and green, and doesn’t bubble while running. No smoke from the tailpipe. No issues at idle. Starting is still easy, but slightly less so than before all this started. It used to fire when the third cylinder compressed, now it takes a few more turns. My mechanic mentioned that with the age of the vehicle, the injectors could be giving out. I bought a MANN FF, and was planning on swapping that over this weekend to see if better fuel supply might remedy the situation. We advanced the timing on the distributor a few degrees just to see if it would make a difference, but it did not seem to, so I retarded it back down to the previous setting. I have long ago eclipsed my mechanical knowledge/skillset, and as such I would very much appreciate any help or direction that anyone could offer me. My tools consist of a small socket set, and a couple sets of open-end wrenches, screwdrivers…just the very basics. Thanks in advance for any help.
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If the valve adjustment is off. your compression will be off.
have the mechanic do a compression test.you could also put a
vacuum gauge on it.Also the aftermarket dizzy is not recommended
on Honda vehicles.They can cause all kinds of electrical issues.I
would suggest you replace it with an OE unit.Thanks for your response. I was hoping to get some answers without buying any more tools, but such is life, at least it’s just a compression tester. I’ll replace the fuel filter and do a compression test tomorrow as I’m in school most of today. I’ll post my results here.
Compression test results are in! All cylinders hit right around 120psi on their first compression stroke. The following are Cylinder numbers followed by DRY/WET test results. #1 190/210, #2 190/210, #3 180/200, #4 195/200. Hayne’s says that standard compression is 178psi with a minimum of 135. My guess is that the only thing wrong is some carbon buildup in the cylinders and pistons. What’s your opinion? I guess that leaves the distributor as the most probable culprit for the misfire? I just wish these OE parts were cheaper… I’m looking at $545 for a new distributor from Honda!!! Thanks for your help. I ended up not replacing the fuel filter today as I was tired and running out of daylight. Guess I’ll have something to do tomorrow. :banana:
That is expensive. I would definetly check the salvage yards or ebay as college man suggested or consider having your rebuilt.
Looks like I will hit the junkyard. The distributor on my car is an aftermarket reman. Evidently I have finally eclipsed my father on vehicle maintenance– he is the one responsible for the reman distributor. (The reman distributor is his only strike, the car was and is in phenomenal shape without regard to its age) This car was purchased by my sister with around 68,000 on the clock, then sold to my father with around 160,000. I bought it with around 210,000 for $900. Even with the new parts that I’ve put in it, I feel like I’m FAR ahead from paying for a new vehicle. Between ETCG, Haynes, Chilton, and the FSM I’d really like to see this car make 500,000. It’s hard though with me in nursing school to find time to work on it, not to mention money for parts and in most cases expand my modest tool collection. How can I tell the difference between a junkyard OE piece and another reman? Also, I know there was a service bulletin issued on the distributor, is there any way to tell if the part I’m pulling has been serviced according to the bulletin?
before you replace the dizzy.just check the wiring.
make sure everything is plugged in and all wires are
intact.;)A few things stick out here. First misfires under load are almost always ignition related. Hondas don’t like aftermarket distributors also so that may be a factor. The type of wires used are also important, OE or NGK only. I would also recheck the spark plug holes because if it was that bad then perhaps the lower seals are also leaking and perhaps causing a problem with the new wires.
NEVER use that much RTV on a valve cover gasket as it makes a big mess to be cleaned up by someone that knows what they’re doing later.
Honda fuel injectors hardly ever have a problem so don’t replace them with aftermarket crap because someone ‘thinks’ it will solve the problem.
Lastly you might have burned up a valve or something if you let the misfire go on long enough. It might not be a bad idea to check the compression or better yet do a leak down test on the engine to make sure the combustion chamber is sealing properly.
Compression testing
Leak down testing
Thanks for your response, Eric. I have already done a compression test on the engine. Hayne’s says the recommended psi is 178. I got right at 190 dry on cylinders 1,2, & 4 with 180 on #3. Wet was slightly higher around 210 on each. I think I posted those #’s above, but I can’t check as I’m typing on my phone. I remember I got 120 for each cylinder on the FIRST compression stroke and built up to max within three cycles. I’m going to order some NGK wires purely on principle… Well, on principle, and the fact that I can get a refund for the wires on it now. It is a fairly new problem, so I’m hoping there isn’t any collateral damage from it yet. I have pulled the plugs and wires since I had the VC gasket done, and plugs and wires have looked good. I’m with you in thinking its ignition related. I’m in the market for an OE distributor, if you know anybody… 😉
Thanks again for your response,
Will
TEC is a brand of distributor that honda uses. I believe they use either hitachi or tec and it should be stamped on the housing of the distributor.
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