suken19

Hi guys! For these pass two weeks, my check engine light have turned on about 5 times. So yesterday I took it to a mechanic and he told me that their is a misfire on my spark plug or something. At that time, I was using Boche (sp) platinum 4 spark plugs and he told me it might be the spark plugs. So he had Honda oem spark plugs in stock and so I replaced all my spark plugs. Well, after one day, the light turn on again! What could it be? Should I change my spark plugs wire and the rotor cap? Are there any other thing that can cause the check engine light to come on? Someone please help me. BTW, I drive a 99 integra GS

Thanks

-Todd-

Have you not checked what cel its throwing? Try plug wires.

jared99

Find what cylinder the misfire is on, if it's not on all 4. Then you can swap plug wires with one next to it and see if the misfire moves to that cylinder, then you'll know if that's the issue. Run a compression test (diy, rent the tool from autozone or wherever) and keep narrowing it down. Have your mechanic tell you the code it's throwing.

suken19

So should I have the mechanic guy to check my car again and he should be able to tell me what cel it is throwing? Also, How do I do a compression test? where and how much? Also, what is the purpose of compress test? I know that their are four section of numbers but what are those # for?

Thanks

jared99

Or, when you go to autozone have them scan it for you and tell you the code. Instructions on how to run the compression test come with the tester..you can rent it at autozone as well. It will tell you if you have a bent valve or blown hg that is causing the misfire.

Jose-aka-Pedro

man, I so wish you lived down the street from me,

I could just run over and help ya,


How much is this mehcanic chargin you?

There are a # of things it could be.

your Cluster will flash depending on what teg your drivin.

Count them, you read like this,


flash, pause, thats a code 1 for for example,
solid, solid, flash, pause thats a code 21

Under stand what I'm saying?

inbetween codes it will be long pause like 2+ seconds

we need to know what coce your throwing,

Or take it to your mechanic and tell him you need to know what code is being thrown by your ECU.


It could be some very simple things,
spark plugs
spark plug wires,
cap, rotor ignitor


eh, wish My JDM B16 threw a cel when I have a miss fire

And, I have never heard of Honda spark plugs.
oil filter yes but plugs?

someone want to further informa me on this, true?

-Todd-

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by suken19 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So should I have the mechanic guy to check my car again and he should be able to tell me what cel it is throwing? Also, How do I do a compression test? where and how much? Also, what is the purpose of compress test? I know that their are four section of numbers but what are those # for?

Thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>


If you dont know how to check your cel's, theres no way you can do a compression test. Your best bet is to just do what you've been doing pay someone to fix it.

kpop

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by suken19 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hi guys! For these pass two weeks, my check engine light have turned on about 5 times. So yesterday I took it to a mechanic and he told me that their is a misfire on my spark plug or something. At that time, I was using Boche (sp) platinum 4 spark plugs and he told me it might be the spark plugs. So he had Honda oem spark plugs in stock and so I replaced all my spark plugs. Well, after one day, the light turn on again! What could it be? Should I change my spark plugs wire and the rotor cap? Are there any other thing that can cause the check engine light to come on? Someone please help me. BTW, I drive a 99 integra GS

Thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>

same thing happened to a friend
check all the GROUNDS if they are tight
also all the bolts

suken19

Thank you so much for all the help and info guys. I purchase my sparkplug wires, distributor cap and rotor cap from Acura today, so I will be changing those tomorrow and see if that eliminates the misfiring thing. If the light comes back on, I will have it check again, get the the cel info and will post it up here again.
Thanks again and please continuing to help me guys.

suken19

Damn, after changing my spark plugs, and wires, along with distributor cap and head rotor from Honda, my check engine light is still on. What the hell is wrong with my car? When it first turned on, the mechanic told me that I have a misfire on all four of my cyclinders. So he recommended me to change everythings back to stock which I did (and I only have MSD spark plugs wires and Boche Platinum 4 spark plugs that is after market parts),the light turned back on after two days. I haven't had my car check again yet, will do that on monday. What else could be wrong with my car?

Any help is really appreciatied!

thanks

jared99

compression test

suken19

Ok guys, this is what happened now. I just brought my car back to the same mechanic guy, and he told me to do a leak down test instead of a compression. He said that I might have a bent valve or something that causes my check engine light to keep coming on. The test is $45 dollars and he has to bring it to another shop to check what is the exact problem and I think that would cost more money. But the thing is I don't down shift or anything recently. So how could I have causes a bent valve? Anyways, should I take his words? Also, if after the leak down test and it turns our to be one of valve benting, then what is the total cost of fixing? Or if anyone think it might be something else, can you please give me your idea and an estimate how much it cost to fix.

Thanks in advance!!!!

integra206

i dont know... something sounds fishy about the mechanic after the first mistake. He doesn't have a tool to read the code the ecu is throwing out? Seems like he's just making guesses to me. Engine light can be a lot of things even just a simple sensor not being plugged. Like one of the previous member said, take it to autozone and have them get the code for you or rent the obd2 code reader.

jared99

He has to bring it to another shop because he doesn't know the exact problem? Take this thing elsewhere. A compression test is fine for showing whether or not you have a bent valve. I'd find a friend who can do it for you for free, rent the tool at autozone. And get it scanned for free at autozone to see if you're even barking up the right tree.

cm zak

Anyone else think this mechanic is more of a con artist?

Ldc4S

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cm zak &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Anyone else think this mechanic is more of a con artist?</TD></TR></TABLE>
yup

suken19

Thanks for the responses guys! Anyways, i really want to fix my car and do it the right way even if it cost a lot (hopefully it will not cost too much) because I will be moving to a city after finishing school this semester. Therefore, I don't want my car to break down on me. My point is, I would bring it to the dealer if I have to and not waste any money for no reason. So do you guys think I should bring to the dealer and let them fix it? The thing is I called them today, and they told me it will cost me $129 just to diagnose my car. So right off the bat, it already cost me over $100 to fix my car and so I'm predicting that it will cost me between $600-1000 just to fix this damn problem. They told me that it might require more than one diagnose and each time they will charge me. Can someone give me some more advices besides the autozone thing because I'm not very familiar doing those stuff and I do not have the time to fix or playing around with it.

Thanks

jared99

Look, not to flame, but you're gonna have to learn to do some things yourself otherwise get used to shelling out big $$$ when it comes to getting the car fixed.

Here's some basic options for you.

1) Go to autozone, tell them you're check engine light is on. The guy will go out to your car, plug up the OBD scanner, and then they print out a little report that has the code, what it means, and typical fixes for it. Let us know what the code is, and we can give you suggestions about what it normally is. Some codes can have multiple solutions. At least get it scanned, it's free, and you can know if it's something you can do or not. If you have a code that means your gas cap isn't on tight, you don't need to spend $129 to get it checked out.

2) Find an independent reputable shop that deals with import cars if you're not gonna go to the dealer. I don't mean the shops that are usually found in the chop-shop section of town either that are run by mexicans. Not that mexican guys don't know how to work on cars or anything, but the shops around here like that don't really seem to use certified labor or anything, it's just a bunch of random people that opened a shop to make a buck. I don't trust their diagnostic skills although it might be super cheap.

3) The $129 diagnostic fee sounds really high. I would say it should be around $60-80. It costs extra to fix, not to keep re-diagnosing. They should have a computer they can hook it up to and see all the inputs from the ecu and determine the issue.

Lastly, there's pretty much nothing any of us on here can do since you don't know and haven't told us what the problem is. Without the code, we can't do anything. That's like going to the doctor and telling them that somethings wrong with you, but you don't know what it is, when it's happening, what the symptoms are, or anything helpful. So with all the info here, the grand total is that no one knows ANYTHING so far, except that there's a problem.

So...you can either find out what's wrong for free, find out what's wrong for $129, or just ignore the issue as long as you can. Without bringing new information to the table though, we can't really do anything for you.

suken19

Thanks! I will go to autozone tomorrow and see if I can have my car check. I will keep you guys updated.

suken19

Hi guys! I brought my car to the dealer this morning (paid them $129 for diagnosing) and this are the codes that they've found. P0301, P0303 and P1399 (mis-fire codes for cylinders #1 and #3. System scan showed check engine light set at cold idle. So this is basically what it says on the paper. So they told me that mostly likely that my valve need to be adjust. So I agree to have it fixed, which cost $250, and leaves me the total of $389.90. After the car have been fixed, they told me that my valve was too tighten on cylinders 1 and 3. So they adjusted it and now I'm home with the car.

I know that the dealer charge a little bit too much but I just want it to be done right. So my main question is, do you guys think the dealer fix the right thing? I notice that my car idles more smooth, does this have to do anything with the valve adjustment?

Thanks

jared99

$400? what the crap...

docctorwho

dealers can hire crap mechanics like anyone else...if i were you i would go get a book on your car from autozone!!! i have found mine absolutely invalueable.

hsujohn

so did your check engine light ever come back on? I have the same check engine light codes today and hate it, so please help!!!!! thank you so much

1998b18c1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jared99 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Or, when you go to autozone have them scan it for you and tell you the code. Instructions on how to run the compression test come with the tester..you can rent it at autozone as well. It will tell you if you have a bent valve or blown hg that is causing the misfire.</TD></TR></TABLE>
A leak down test will tell u if u have a bent valve, and comp test will tell u if u have bad rings. the leakdown test will tell u which side either int or exh or both. u do this by installing it just like the comp tester, but u use shop air to apply psi in the cyl then u take the reading, if its leaking then remove the intake tube and listen for air seeping past the int vavle, then listen at the exhaust pipe to determine which one it is leaking down at. comp testing will just confirm u have a leak or not.