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UPDATE:
My recent Used Oil Analysis has confirmed coolant entry and it’s gotten worse, from about .3% to 2% of the fluid volume. The sodium ppm has gone up from 140s to over 1000(however, 400 of which is additive in Valvoline’s conventional fluid).
Therefore, ppm of coolant/contaminant entry PLUS the obvious increase in block wear and now the bearings showing wear leads me to the conclusion that head needs to come off.
It’s a shame, since the valve-train looked so good. What are the chances I’m catching this early guys? I’ve got several reports before since owning the car.
Image:
http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/5241/uoa5.png
Yeah, the Previous Owner left that stat that way. No idea how long. It could be causing some issues.
When checking for coolant leak, the pressurized cooling system(to like 17 pounds) didn’t lose any pressure and no leaks were found.
Also, I wish the Previous Owner/mechanic didn’t adjust the factory idle screw either. Can’t really help that now.
Yeah, the Previous Owner left that stat that way. No idea how long. It could be causing some issues.
When checking for coolant leak, the pressurized cooling system(to like 17 pounds) didn’t lose any pressure and no leaks were found.
Also, I wish the Previous Owner/mechanic didn’t adjust the factory idle screw either. Can’t really help that now.
Is that cylinder with the fouled plug nearest the PCV? Stuck rings in that cylinder?
You may could try piston soakings before each oil change. There are some products you can ‘safely’ run with a shorter oil change interval, and I can give some reliable advice in that area as I’ve read/researched it for 3 years now if you want some product/procedure recommendations if it’s an oil control ring issue.
Is that cylinder with the fouled plug nearest the PCV? Stuck rings in that cylinder?
You may could try piston soakings before each oil change. There are some products you can ‘safely’ run with a shorter oil change interval, and I can give some reliable advice in that area as I’ve read/researched it for 3 years now if you want some product/procedure recommendations if it’s an oil control ring issue.
The wire doesn’t have the metal prong inside to contact the spark plug. Therefore, the wire is in a useless state because it’s not transmitting the spark from the distributor through the wire to the plug itself.
Change the wires, fix your problem more than likely.
Get an OE set or NGK/Denso. I really like NGK. Sometimes RockAuto or Amazon have the better pricing after shipping on NGK.
So yeah, your current wires are broken to simplify.
The wire doesn’t have the metal prong inside to contact the spark plug. Therefore, the wire is in a useless state because it’s not transmitting the spark from the distributor through the wire to the plug itself.
Change the wires, fix your problem more than likely.
Get an OE set or NGK/Denso. I really like NGK. Sometimes RockAuto or Amazon have the better pricing after shipping on NGK.
So yeah, your current wires are broken to simplify.
Hi, Eric. I’ve posted issues on my vehicle before on the old forum. It was the same suspected IACV issue, I tried to do the method of finding vacuum leaks but so far no success. Could my tachometer for the RPMs be flaky, though?
I was curious as to why the RPMs would read low when in gear during warmup and then higher later? This was soon after I recently topped off and bled the cooling system. This is about my D15Z1 that has the suspected headgasket leak which I then showed pics of the valvetrain and reported back as having good compression and data suggesting it’s at least not into the combustion chamber.
I’ve since suspected it’s possibly at an oil drain back between the head gasket and the block, instead of coolant into the combustion chamber.
However, I’ve since added a UV dye to my coolant this last time I topped it off. It’s losing about 1 quart every 1,000 miles; when before it wasn’t losing any.
You may recall the RTV sealant the PO used when replacing the thermostat before? I have a new OE stat I may just install to get rid of the sealant since it may be affecting the cooling system’s ability to get all air out if the small hole is plugged in the housing by RTV.
I haven’t had this low RPM reading since this posting and since it went back to normal RPM range during operation the other day.
It’s really strange. Usual RPMs are about 40 MPH, 1,500 RPMs in 4th gear. It was down to near 1,000 that morning. Power was zapped. Then later on, the trip home from the morning drive, it’s all good.
PS: This car doesn’t have the fast idle valve. Only the IACV, the new one looks like a legit OE Denso. Slightly different but same p/n as the older one I removed from the car. No CELs. Also, after removing the patch job someone did on the idle screw(the factory set one), I had backed it out about 3/4ths of a turn in an attempt to get the tach to read higher while setting the base idle. Would this cause the IACV to choke the engine if it was backed out too far to simulate a vacuum leak? Where else besides hoses and gaskets along the Intake Manifold could I do the spray and listen for engine change in detecting a vacuum leak? Is it worth pulling the cover to the Constant Vacuum Control box off and spraying around that old plastic solenoid(the one different than the EGR)?
Lastly, would a sticky EGR cause idle issues or hesitation to the point of lower RPMs ‘in gear’ like I experienced?
I did the bleed before this occurrence exactly as outlined in the video. I’m stumped man. This is why I want to learn how to gather more data to rule out other things. I guess engine RPM will do whatever it wants regardless of gear it’s in? It could be I didn’t bleed all of the air out, especially if the RTV in the housing for thermostat is causing problems. I have a new one and may just replace it during next oil change when I inspect with a black light for external UV dye leaks that I added to the cooling system.
Will report back on leak and if thermostat change/subsequent bleeding of air corrects the current symptoms.
Also, I have an aftermarket fuel filter and PCV valve in place. Thinking of going OE on both and removing that breather chamber, inspecting the PCV hoses to make sure there isn’t blockage.
Hi, Eric. I’ve posted issues on my vehicle before on the old forum. It was the same suspected IACV issue, I tried to do the method of finding vacuum leaks but so far no success. Could my tachometer for the RPMs be flaky, though?
I was curious as to why the RPMs would read low when in gear during warmup and then higher later? This was soon after I recently topped off and bled the cooling system. This is about my D15Z1 that has the suspected headgasket leak which I then showed pics of the valvetrain and reported back as having good compression and data suggesting it’s at least not into the combustion chamber.
I’ve since suspected it’s possibly at an oil drain back between the head gasket and the block, instead of coolant into the combustion chamber.
However, I’ve since added a UV dye to my coolant this last time I topped it off. It’s losing about 1 quart every 1,000 miles; when before it wasn’t losing any.
You may recall the RTV sealant the PO used when replacing the thermostat before? I have a new OE stat I may just install to get rid of the sealant since it may be affecting the cooling system’s ability to get all air out if the small hole is plugged in the housing by RTV.
I haven’t had this low RPM reading since this posting and since it went back to normal RPM range during operation the other day.
It’s really strange. Usual RPMs are about 40 MPH, 1,500 RPMs in 4th gear. It was down to near 1,000 that morning. Power was zapped. Then later on, the trip home from the morning drive, it’s all good.
PS: This car doesn’t have the fast idle valve. Only the IACV, the new one looks like a legit OE Denso. Slightly different but same p/n as the older one I removed from the car. No CELs. Also, after removing the patch job someone did on the idle screw(the factory set one), I had backed it out about 3/4ths of a turn in an attempt to get the tach to read higher while setting the base idle. Would this cause the IACV to choke the engine if it was backed out too far to simulate a vacuum leak? Where else besides hoses and gaskets along the Intake Manifold could I do the spray and listen for engine change in detecting a vacuum leak? Is it worth pulling the cover to the Constant Vacuum Control box off and spraying around that old plastic solenoid(the one different than the EGR)?
Lastly, would a sticky EGR cause idle issues or hesitation to the point of lower RPMs ‘in gear’ like I experienced?
I did the bleed before this occurrence exactly as outlined in the video. I’m stumped man. This is why I want to learn how to gather more data to rule out other things. I guess engine RPM will do whatever it wants regardless of gear it’s in? It could be I didn’t bleed all of the air out, especially if the RTV in the housing for thermostat is causing problems. I have a new one and may just replace it during next oil change when I inspect with a black light for external UV dye leaks that I added to the cooling system.
Will report back on leak and if thermostat change/subsequent bleeding of air corrects the current symptoms.
Also, I have an aftermarket fuel filter and PCV valve in place. Thinking of going OE on both and removing that breather chamber, inspecting the PCV hoses to make sure there isn’t blockage.
Ok, so I edited the first post to include vehicle information.
268k miles, last ‘tune-up’ was the distributor cap/rotor with new OE plugs/wires back in 2010. I have since replaced the plugs again last summer. Replaced fuel filter a year ago. Air filter is fine. I notice some black oil-like substance around the TB/main air intake pipe that joins it when I remove to clean the throttle body at times.
Idle air control valve was suspected before, I got a brand new Denso OE part installed earlier this summer.
Lastly, I’ve adjusted the idle screw since it was tampered with before in an attempt to adjust the low idle RPM. However, the tach has only recently started ready strangely. I didn’t truly confirm anything like this until yesterday.
So, maybe I unscrewed the base idle screw too much and the IACV is trying to choke the engine too much or I have a vacuum leak somewhere? I’ve tried the method of spraying all around the intake for leaks. Nothing.
This is the only Civic prior to 1996 to utilize an EGR system and it is the only one to have a Constant Vacuum Control assembly, also does not have a FITV.
EDIT: There is no CEL. I replaced the 02 sensor, a 5-wire wide-band, about 2 years ago now however. It had a CEL at the time for it. No codes since then.
Ok, so I edited the first post to include vehicle information.
268k miles, last ‘tune-up’ was the distributor cap/rotor with new OE plugs/wires back in 2010. I have since replaced the plugs again last summer. Replaced fuel filter a year ago. Air filter is fine. I notice some black oil-like substance around the TB/main air intake pipe that joins it when I remove to clean the throttle body at times.
Idle air control valve was suspected before, I got a brand new Denso OE part installed earlier this summer.
Lastly, I’ve adjusted the idle screw since it was tampered with before in an attempt to adjust the low idle RPM. However, the tach has only recently started ready strangely. I didn’t truly confirm anything like this until yesterday.
So, maybe I unscrewed the base idle screw too much and the IACV is trying to choke the engine too much or I have a vacuum leak somewhere? I’ve tried the method of spraying all around the intake for leaks. Nothing.
This is the only Civic prior to 1996 to utilize an EGR system and it is the only one to have a Constant Vacuum Control assembly, also does not have a FITV.
EDIT: There is no CEL. I replaced the 02 sensor, a 5-wire wide-band, about 2 years ago now however. It had a CEL at the time for it. No codes since then.
Thanks Eric. Let me correct my last post, it took almost a full ‘revolution’ counter-clockwise for the base idle to bump up some when I was adjusting the screw._x000D_
_x000D_
That relearn time hit me afterward as far as a potential delay in improved symptoms._x000D_
_x000D_
So,