rice is nice

I just bought a 99 crv, it has a rough low idle and 2 check engine lights, one for random misfire and one for low catalytic efficiency. (I thought I bought a great ride, but it started running like crap 80 miles into my trip).

If you put it in neutral the engine will usually free rev very nicely; however, once you put it in gear it misfires and sputters and accelerates very poorly. (So like under load is when it misfires the most) The exhaust is super hot and the engine almost overheated while driving the car home. (temp got close to the H mark on the coolant temp gauge)

I drove it 350 miles home from chicago today and it got 23mpg, so i'm thinking that it is an ignition issue not a too much fuel issue. The guy said he changed the plugs, but i'm wondering if its just plug wires, cap and rotor? Also, I never saw the check engine light blink before on an odb2 honda, but when I was accelerating up an on-ramp and it was misfiring like mad the check engine light blinked over and over for like a minute.

Any help would be great.

Rdriver

Is the catalytic converter clogged up? That is my first thought. That would cause the missing and poor performance.

rice is nice

Well I'm not sure, I just got home at 9pm and decided to post on here. Perhaps tomorrow night I can take the cat off. But would a clogged cat cause missfiring?

rice is nice

Errors were p0420 and p1399. And for p1399 it said probable causes were blocked egr or valve clearance out of range. I know how to adjust valve clearance, but how do you clean the egr passage, and on a 99 crv, where is that?

Scott_Tucker

P0420 is a catalytic converter efficiency code.
P1399 is a pending random misfire code.

The most likely cause of this code is a problem with the secondary ignition. This would mean the spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor, and the spark plug wires. It is very common for spark plug wires on these cars to 'leak' especially where the boot goes into the head and connects onto the spark plug. My suggestion to would be to replace the spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor, and spark plug wires and see how it runs. It would be money well spent even if it doesn't fix it because these are parts that do wear out and need to be changed periodically and if you just bought it you probably don't know when they were last replaced.

Fix the misfire problem first and then attack the catalytic converter code. A misfire like this will damage the cat if it is driven like this for extended periods of time so don't drive it until its fixed. It is possible that the misfire is falsely setting the catalytic converter efficiency code also and that is why you should fix the misfire first.

rice is nice

Awesome response! I was going to go this route as well for $70 bucks or so to fix cap rotor, plugs and wires, its got 194,000, original owner, all serviced from Honda dealership, and car looks clean inside and out, and in engine bay, so figured i'd change that and go from there. Only reason I kept driving it was cuz I didn't wanna be stranded in Chicago and need a tow from a friend or a towing company back to my home town that was 300 or whatever miles away.

I'm also going to change the tstat and radiator cap just in case the overheating issue was a secondary issue.

Anybody else got some advice?

robfrmny21

your check engine light flashing means you have more then 50% misfireor more in one or more clys and it is also letting you know it can lead to cat damage.

rice is nice

Ohh, well good to know what the flashing meant.

Update to my problem is that the car doesn't misfire when its been sitting overnight. So seems to act up when the car is warmed up. Would this still be secondary ignition or does this sound like a coil messing up when it gets hot?

Scott_Tucker

It's likely still a secondary ignition problem. Does this car have coil on plug ignition?

ohsnapzafingcu

iTrader: (2)

it'll most likely be caused by the ignition, which in turn clogged up the cat from misfiring so long..

revving freely in neutral, but the engine sputters and hiccups in drive (or under load) are the signs of an engine misfire and clogged cat

rice is nice

It does not have coil on plug, still just coil in distributor. I bought new cap rotor plugs and wires as well as tstat and radiator cap. Will change all tonight and clear ecu codes and see what happens. I'd really like to not put a new distributor on here. But I fear that the coil or that little board inside the dist. Is the culprit. Taking the cat off is a pain, so ill replace this first then if its still acting up, ill change that.

Scott_Tucker

A bad cat is not likely to cause a single cylinder to misfire so I would take care of the misfire first before replacing it. It may however still need to be replaced if it sets another cat efficiency code after you clear them.

rice is nice

Well its probably not just one cylinder missing, I think its randomly missing on any cylinder. Guess ill just replace this stuff and go from there.

What do u guys think is the liklihood that its a coil or ignition module inside the distributor problem?

Scott_Tucker

A coil or ignition module are not likely to cause a misfire like you are describing. Just because its a random misfire code does not mean that it is actually misfiring on multiple cylinders. My recommendation is to replace those secondary ignition parts and not worry about it troubleshooting it further until that has been done. You've got to eliminate the basics.

bryse68

keep in mind that crv's have a common problem of exhaust valves burning causing a misfire code...recommend performing compression test or cylinder leak down test.

rice is nice

Ill do a compression test tonight as well; however I doubt its burnt valves cuz then the problem would always occur, and when the engine is cold, like this morning, the problem didn't happen. Right?

rice is nice

Well no luck. Changed cap, rotor, wires and new plugs, car fired up much better then it ever has. However 3 mins of idling and the blinking check engine light came on again and we scanned it, code p1399 again.

Where is the egr on this thing? Think I should try cleaning that next?

rice is nice

Read a lot on the net that people adjusted their valves and it fixed their problems. ???

Scott_Tucker

So the engine still misfires? Did you clear the codes after you did the ignition parts? A clogged EGR will not cause a misfire ever. Misadjusted valves are highly unlikely and would have to be quite out of adjustment for it to happen (too tight). I think I did hear something about these engines burning exhaust valves. Actually I just looked it up on Identifix.com and they do have a long history of burning exhaust valves. I would suggest a compression test as the next step.

rice is nice

Yep I cleared the codes, put ignition stuff on and It came back. I'm gunna do a compression test this morning then re-adjust the valves before work.

rice is nice

Okay so I did a compression test from distributor to timing belt was 190, 188, 175, 195.

I started the car up after clearing codes and 2 min later, p1399 again. Let the car run for 20 min cleared the codes and started the car again, code has not come back in 30 min of car sitting there.

Read on other forum that a guy had same issue. Car would throw p1399 when cold but then when it warmed up it would go away. Honda dealer told him that the exhaust valves need to be adjusted on the crv engine often cuz they get out of spec. He said that when the engine would warm up the valves would expand causing the light to not come on again.

So after work ill adjust the valves and then see if problem comes back.

Any thoughts?

P.S. The cap and rotor looked bad before I changed them, I bet they were the culprit for much of my problems, but ithInk this valve adjustment Is also in the mix.

rice is nice

Well good news, after adjusting the valves, the engine runs smooth, no rough idle, no check engine lights, and it has more power.

Looks like it was the valves and secondary ignition. Thanks guys!

Scott_Tucker

Good, I'm glad it is fixed and hope I was of some help.

rice is nice

Well bad news, low cat efficiency light has come back. It only comes on after driving for like 20 mins. If I clear the code it'll take another 20 mins to come back even if the car is still warm.

Does that sound like a cat or O2 problem?

Scott_Tucker

Its likely the cat. The secondary O2 sensor monitors how much O2 is getting past the cat. If the cat is working properly most of the O2 will be used up in the cat. You test cat efficiency with an infrared pyrometer. You hold the rpm up to about 2500 rpm for 3 minutes to get the cat hot then you check the inlet temp versus the outlet temp. The outlet should be about 100 degrees F hotter than the inlet. This indicates that any fuel that didn't get burned is getting burned in the cat. If the outlet temp is lower than the inlet then you know you have a catalyst efficiency problem.