bshaw

Hey all, trying to track down a problem with my wife's 99 accord. It's a 4cyl vtec.
Long story short. Ran the engine low on oil for a short time (15mins), light came on to warn her. Engine shut itself down, not sure if it was the low oil or the present problem.
Found out that the oil filter had two gaskets on it and was allowing oil to leak out like a stuck pig. Fixed that problem, but now we keep getting a blinking cel "Misfire on cyl 4".
I have replaced the spark plugs (gaps checked twice), the plug wires (they are in the correct locations), rotor button, distributor cap, and the ignition coil. Afterwards I cleared the code, but it's coming back and the car is still running rough. I checked the gaps again and saw that cyl 4 plug was soaked in gas, but no burn/ignite marks on it at all.

I do know that I pulled a code before all this saying that the cat was shot, no sure if it would cause a misfire code though. Any advice on what to check out next I'd highly appreciate it! Thanks.

lazlong

Sounds like it's not getting spark. Switch the wire on #4 with another and see if the misfire goes to the other cylinder.

Running low on oil, even once, can have severe effects on the internals. Run compression and leakdown tests.

bshaw

Okay, checked the compression.
First round: I did it when the car was cold and had not run. All four cyl's where at or very close to 170psi. I tested each one 3 times, and the average was at 170psi.
Second round: Let the car warm up and checked them again, same thing, no change.
On the fourth cyl. however I checked quit a few more times, lowest I saw was 165'ish and even upwards to 175'ish.
As I was doing the tests I let let the car turn over for a 3 count (thousand one, two, three) and turned it off.
I'm going to check again for good spark on 4 and see if there are any red flags there. Could it be a bad igniter? Or maybe something with emission's?

bshaw

Went and checked for spark again, and it's getting good spark. Checked to make sure it was getting fuel as well.... looks like the spark plug has gas on it and I can smell gas in the cyl if I leave the plug out and bump the engine. I'm really clueless now on what else could be going on.

240rbpwrd

Try spraying a little starting fluid into the throttle body and turning it over see if it can get that plug to fire. Could also be a foul plug? Just saying you never know. Also check the plug wire at the distributor.

Hope this helps
Alex R.

Su1c1dek1ng

So it started only after running the car with no oil?? How long have you had the car?

bshaw

Car has been in the family since new. The car was starting to run rough before the low oil mis-hap.
Tried spraying carb cleaner around air intake, no difference. Listened for any air leaks, none. Node light is showing power to fuel injectors. Replaced fuel injector on 4 and now getting random misfire codes. Distributor is going to be swapped out to see what happens. I'm thinking more ECM or ignitor, something electrical, we'll see though.
On side notes, car smells like it's burning really rich and the spark plugs are start to look like **** already, black chute on them.
Any suggestions?

bshaw

Brand new distributor did not make a difference. Swapped brand new spark plugs in just to see if that would make a change and that did not do anything either. Going to try a few more things, couple more tests, and then after that it's going to a dealership to see what the hell is going on. Getting fed up at this point. Wish more people out forums would post their freaking solutions to this problem!

lazlong

There's usually 2 things that cause the comp not to communicate:

1. bad comp

2. bad wire/connection

bshaw

Found what the problem was......
Finally took it in to the dealership, they found the culprit to be....... valves needing adjusted!
Hopefully everything will be good from here on out. I'll post back in a couple of days for another update. Thanks to all for the suggestions and help!

mavvrik

*cough* cylinder 4 injector *cough*

Chrisvickers

How much did that cost you I’m having the exact problem I’ve done done everything you’ve said you’ve done and steel same issue having a bad cat is check light coming up and I got cylinder misfire three changed all plugs wires distributor cap rotor button air filter I am clueless so I hope your problem wasn’t too expensive because it sounds very expensive