rhaj519

Thank you in advance for your opinions on this.

I have a 2000 Honda Civic LX. The check engine light is on solid, and when I stop and idle, it bucks and the check engine flashes. When I go again, the engine light goes back to solid. However, every time I stop and idle, it starts flashing again. The cars seems a little off when driving, but not bad. However, when I stop, the car runs badly and bucks.

I just had all of the plugs and wires replaced when I had a full tune-up done a few weeks ago. I brought my car into Autozone to have the check engine light codes read, and got the following codes:

P0430- Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold Bank 2
P0302- Cylinder 2 misfire detected
P0303- Cylinder 3 misfire detected
P0304- Cylinder 4 misfire detected
P0430- Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold Bank 1
P1399- Misfire detected
P300- Random multiple misfire detected

If any of you could offer me any insight into this, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Former User

Did you also replace the distributor cap and rotor? If not, don't drive the car until you replace them.

rhaj519

We had the tune-up professionally done, and both the cap and rotor were replaced as well.

Former User

Replace the fuel filter and test the coil and ICM.

rhaj519

I'm going to test these tomorrow. Could a bad icm or coild lead to the flashing engine light? Or is that just one problem and my car has more than one problem?

Former User

Yes

Axatax

You could also have a cracked exhaust manifold or bad primary O2 sensor.

rhaj519

I have some more information, and have no idea what to make of it.

I tested the ICM and the coil. They both tested out fine. We checked for a vacuum leak, and there wasn't one.

They guy I was working with did a few other things. He pulled the plugs when it was running to see if pulling them altered the performance. When he pulled the plugs in cylinder 2,3, and 4, there was a big change in the way the engine was idling. When he pulled the plug from cylinder 1, there was absolutely no change in the way the engine was running. We swapped plugs and wires to make sure it wasn't a bad plug or wire, but the results were the same. The cap was just replaced 3 weeks ago, so I don't think that is the problem.

My friend thinks I may have no compression in that valve, and that I should do a compression check.

Do any of you have any idea what any of this means?

Thanks!

jbpnoman

It means that your piston, cylinder wall, head gasket, or valves might be damaged in that cylinder. Buy/rent/borrow a compression testing tool, and use it. There are how-to's and DIY's all over the place, including our FAQ's sticky.

Former User

You can blow the coil by pulling plug wires with the engine running. Avoid that test.

Have you checked whether injector #1 sprays fuel and whether plug #1 has spark? Start there.

rhaj519

OK, I have new news, but I'm not sure it's good. The injectors all spray fuel. All of the plugs have spark.

My friend did a compression test. He said there was 200 in valve 2, 3, and 4. Valve 1 had only 40. He then put a little oil in valve 1 and test compression again. There was no change in compression.

Any ideas?

HondaPartsHero

New engine or rebuild

jbpnoman

This. You either have a damaged head gasket, a cracked sleeve, or a damaged valvetrain.

rhaj519

While I wish you all had better news for me, I really appreciate all the help everyone here has offered me. Now I just need to decide whether to put an engine in or junk the car and buy another.

rhaj519

Do any of you know about how much a repair like this would cost? I tried to call and ask the shop, but they won't give me any info over the phone. I would have to bring the car in to be looked at first. I'd rather avoid the cost of doing that if it's too expensive of a job to be worth fixing anyway.

kyden

I would do a leakdown test. at least you can get a better guess at what it is. it could be something 'simple' as a burnt valve.

MikesEJ1

you can get a used d16y7 for around 500-600 bucks,wouldn't pay more than 700 IMO,labor and the install thats a different story,a shop can't really charge you more than 6 hrs labor because its a easy engine to replace

rhaj519

If I can get this done for under $1500, I may consider doing it. I don't think I could get a better used car to replace it for that price.

rhaj519

We found a guy that works independently out of his garage. He said he can get me a used engine with around 100k miles on it for around $500. He said the labor he could do for around $1000. He said I should also do the timing belt and water pump. I guess that would put the total around $1600. The labor sounds a bit high to me, but I could be completely wrong. What do you guys think?

Former User

Get more information and verifiable paperwork on the engine before you let him do anything. And I think the $1K installation is way high. Maybe half that.

rhaj519

He said I would buy the engine. He gave me a part store his friend used, and said he spent around $500. I would have to seek out the engine, though. I don't think that $1000 in labor costs would be a savings from bringing it in to the actual shop though.

tony_2018

Hah, If I was back home with all my tools this job would be done within a week and way less.

rhaj519

I found a friend of mine that said we could just replace the cylinder head. He said to buy a used cylinder head, a head gasket set, and a timing belt and water pump. He said I could get all of it for around 300 and it's an easy job to do.

Would just replacing the cylinder head solve this problem, or do I need a whole engine?

jbpnoman

You won't know until you take the head off. It's very possible you damaged a piston, or a piston ring, or a sleeve. You could do a leakdown test to verify, but you seem pretty gung-ho to jump into ripping your motor apart.

rhaj519

This friend said he'd take the head off with me and look at it. He said we should be able to see what the problem is by doing that and know whether to replace the head or not.

My other friend said he did a leak down test, and it indicated that the problem is in the upper part of the motor. This friend said we could verify that for sure when we take off the head. Does this seem accurate to you? Honestly, I just don't know much about cars and am pretty dependent on what others are telling me.

Thanks!