Acura CL 3.0 Misfire

[austin]

I have a 1999 Acura CL 3.0 that has the J30A1 engine in it. The car has 149,00 miles on it and is misfiring. The codes I am getting indicate a random misfire on all 6 cylinders. Things I have tried: change plugs, wires, and ignition control module. Gaps are correct and the distributor has a tiny bit of oil leakage but nothing major. I have been to 3 different places to have the car looked at. The first place (a Honda dealer) told me my #4 injector was clogged and needed to be replaced after looking at the car for 5 minutes (didn’t believe that), the second place told me that the distributor leak had fouled the ignition control module (why i replaced it with a junk yard one which did no good, neither my original nor the new one had any oil on them and no signs of corrosion), and lastly at another Honda dealer I was told that the car needed to have the valves adjusted because there was too much air as indicated by my MAP sensor. My question is, can Valves out of adjustment cause a misfire or is it something else. Valves aren’t clicking but I do not believe they have ever been adjusted. Another thing is that this problem started about a month ago and then went away for about 3 weeks and started up again over the weekend. Also the car runs smooth sometimes when I first start it up in the morning but once it gets warm it starts misfiring again.
Thank you for any help!
-austin

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[college man]

try doing a power balance test.do it both ways.fuel and spark.

[austin]

instead of unplugging the coil pack is it ok if i just loosen the coil pack from the plug? i can’t unplug it like he does in this video

[college man]

give it a try

[austin]

[video width=425 height=344 type=youtube]YW0CtNx2nck[/video]
Some made more of a difference than others but they all caused a change. I don’t know why its clicking like that

[austin]

*update* just pulled the egr valve off and while it was a little dirty it definitely wasn’t clogged, however i did notice that there was no gasket so im thinking possible vacuum leak. but then again, it would have been doing this all along if that was the case

[dreamer2355]

Keep us posted on what you find after the EGR gasket replacement.

[celticbhoy]

I think the clicking is just the sound of the plugs. The boots acts as a muffler of the clicking noise that travels up the bore…I think

[austin]

Update- compression test passed with flying colors and all injectors are clicking. However while removing plugs one showed to be very burned on the end as if to suggest cylinder 4 was running rich. Funny since I was told that that specific injector was clogged

[austin]

Update, fuel filter seemed to have never been replaced and was badly clogged. Changed filter but misfire problem persists

[austin]

Mechanic now saying he can hear the timing belt slapping the cover and that a loose belt can cause this

[austin]

replacing the fuel filter has made a big difference. codes aren’t coming back but it still has a pretty rough idle. im thinking that if i replace the timing belt and adjust the valves i will be good

[college man]

seeing the problem got better with a new fuel filter.
you may have dirty injectors.did you disconnect one injector
at a time to see if there was a change? I’m not feeling the
timing or valve adjustment just yet.you can check your mechanical
timing with a timing light.

[Phil Grimsey]

[quote=”astrudwick75″ post=36087]Mechanic now saying he can hear the timing belt slapping the cover and that a loose belt can cause this[/quote]

I’d expect the timing belt to have been on the floor if it’s loose enough to slap about and hit the cover. I wouldn’t entirely trust that diagnosis

[austin]

[quote=”college man” post=36108]seeing the problem got better with a new fuel filter.
you may have dirty injectors.did you disconnect one injector
at a time to see if there was a change? I’m not feeling the
timing or valve adjustment just yet.you can check your mechanical
timing with a timing light.[/quote]
well its not misfiring so im sure there would be a big change if i unplugged an injector

[EricTheCarGuy]

A common cause of misfires on that engine is a clogged EGR passage.

However if the timing belt is loose you need to address that ASAP. Another common problem is the timing belt auto tensioner loosing tension which can cause the timing belt to get loose and possibly loose time. If the belt jumps you could have real problems. If you think you can tackle that job yourself I have a video available on this site that covers the timing belt replacement on that engine step by step. Here’s a link.

http://www.ericthecarguy.com/vmanuals/22-vmanual-store/68-honda-j-series-timing-belt-replacement-vmanual

Here are the videos on the valve adjustment for that engine as well.

[Author]

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