misfire

[dripper]

check engine light on .read code number 2 cyl misfiring change plug and wire. but light came back on.code p.o302 truck run great.

Topic

[JesseTech2000]

Could be a coil. Most likely is a coil. Also could be a faulty injector or a bent or sticking valve. What kind of car is it?

[John B Kobberstad]

[quote=”dripper” post=58609]check engine light on .read code number 2 cyl misfiring change plug and wire. but light came back on.code p.o302 truck run great.[/quote]

https://ericthecarguy.com/kunena/8-Service-and-Repair-Questions-Answered-Here/26489-a-primer-for-those-wanting-to-fix-their-car-with-internet-advice

[college man]

Try doing a power balance test.you may also try a compression test.
A little more info is needed.Make,model,year and engine.

[Mustafa Ornek]

Hi Eric and all the others in the forum,

I have been trying to identify a misfire issue that I’ve been experiencing since last Friday. I drive a 1999 Acura 2.3 CL (=Honda Accord). It has over 320,000 kms on it, but has been running very good. I filled up the tank on Thursday and had a short highway trip on Friday (less than 1hr). After 15 minutes of driving the check engine light came on. I am able to read the codes through a bluetooth adaptor and an app in my phone. Friday night it was saying Cylinder 4 has misfire issue. I removed the spark plugs, cleaned them but didn’t help. I looked at the videos on youtube and one person was saying that he had a similar issue with his Toyota Yaris after filling up the tank and finding out that there is water in the gas. I suspected this could be the culprit in my problem as well. I bought some dry gas additive and seafoam (desperation), put in the tank and filled up back again with 91 octane gas (about 15 liters at this point) in order to compensate for added Ethanol. Well, I haven’t driven around much yet. The car perhaps acts better than initially on Friday but I still have check engine light on.

This time it is consistently on Cylinder 2. I tried removing spark plug wires while the engine is running and there isn’t much difference in the idle when I pull out the second lead. I still went ahead and changed all the spark plugs (NGK G-power) and put dielectric grease in both ends to increase my chances of eliminating the problem. Nothing changed. The car runs, but while idling the gas consumption sky rockets (99 liters/100km according to the reading in the app). I suspected that it is the fuel injector, I took them out. Cleaned a bit and changed them around; hoping that the misfire will follow the cylinder that I am changing the “faulty” fuel injector with. It didn’t. I still have PO302 code haunting me.

I have read through the forum and it looks like I either have a coil or bent/sticking valve issue. At this moment would you recommend me to do compression check (I don’t have the equipment, need to buy or rent) or how else I can eliminate the possibilities?

Can it still be due to water in the tank (if there ever was). Should I just drive around and hope that those additive have chance to do their work?

[Mustafa Ornek]

I wanted to follow up with my earlier thread, if it ever helps anyone.

Let me take you through the steps until the solution first. I tried Eric’s advice to clean EGR passages. To my surprise those weren’t really that bad anyways. I still cleaned them as best as I could after opening it. Next, totally useless Seafoam application followed, but the issue wasn’t anything to do with cleaning anything. As my last bet of this shotgun approach I bought a compression tester and tested the cylinders. To my surprise/dismay/disappointment I found very low compression (about 50) in cylinder#2, vs the rest (close to 200 I remember). That summed it for me, the engine was gone. It was burning oil since I bought the car at 214K kms and almost exactly 100K kms later this was probably expected.

I looked into changing the engines. Replacement F23A1 engine was harder to find than the JDM F23A for some reason. And of course there is the case of the latter being in a better used condition. Although internet forums scared me about the complexity of issues related to the non-perfect compatibility of the two engines the place I bought the engine from (for $350) recommended me the shop that it is working with and the labour cost me another $450 to replace the engine. I spent $200 on new timing belt + water pump set (Rock Auto) and I followed the mechanic’s advice to spent an additional $250 to change the clutch (yes it is a standard). Afterwards, it felt like a totally different car.

The only issue afterwards, which happily manifested itself 5 months after the replacement was P0420 code – as I believe all that unburned gas damaged the catalytic converter when the old engine was still on. I drove approximately 2K kms with the misfire, so probably that’s the reason. The car passed emission test just before the CEL came on, so I am not thinking about bothering with changing it for the next 2 years.

[Author]

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