beardlude

Been looking over everywhere and can't find ONE set of solution to fix it and running dry on finances.

Car had difficulty starting up, took a bit longer to crank over. Let it warm up, drove normally (< 4.5RPM) on the highway for less than 4 minutes. Stopped at a red light and at idle car started stuttering and was barely staying alive. CEL started blinking at IDLE and remained a constant when driving. Pulled over, checked oil, oil was low, filled it up. CEL was still there.

Pulled code, and received P0301, P0302, and P0303. Replaced distributor/rotors/spark plugs/wires. Code 301 still there.

Did compression test, close to 150 on the cylinders. Considered faulty injector, replaced fuel injector for cylinder 1.

Problem still remains. Running dry on finances so what other alternatives exist and which would be the most likely & cheapest to go with? EGR Valve? Valve Adjustment? Intake Manifold Gasket?

Wing8806

What year is your Prelude?

If it is a 97-01 with over or around 120k, than it's a possibility you need your EGR ports cleaned out. This can cause a cylinder 1 misfire - and will usually will start to throw a misfire for another cylinder not too long after.

Pretty simple to do/have done. If you do it yourself, just take your time and don't let anything fall into the IM (unless you go the route of removing the IM to do the job) - if you remove it, what a better time to upgrade and install a Rosko IM gasket just

Clean your IACV and EGR valve while you're at it.


Again, this is all in assumption you have a 97-01. I'm not sure if this would be the same for a 96 or not.

beardlude

Oops, forgot to mention its a 01 prelude. I'll check that out, any DIY on the IACV? I remember seeing regarding the EGR valve.

Wing8806

It's been awhile since mine was cleaned - i can't remember if you can just remove it and spray with a little carb cleaner or not. Not sure if there's a writeup on it or not.

It's not necessary since you don't have any idle issues, just something in the same area you'll be working in. Focus on the ports first

preludeNApower

BEARD MAN you VTACK hard with it?

beardlude

Mechanic says he's got no idea and suggested I take it to Honda for diagnostics. Before I do that I was thinking if maybe it could be a vacuum leak around the intake manifold.

What else should I try tomorrow before I take it to Honda??

preludeNApower

doubt its a vacuum leak

jdm_rb20

Are you sure you are clearing the codes right?

your spark plug wires long enough to switch out cyl 1 with another cyl's wire? if so, switch it out, CLEAR the code, and see if the misfire moved to another cylinder. Just another way to verify it's not the plug wire. and yes, i know you already have new plug wires. You can also try moving your sparkplug and that new injector to another cylinder to run the same kind of troubleshooting.

and yeah, you should definitely try checking for vacuum leaks around the intake manifold.

If it doesn't seem to have any noticable effect on drive-ability, then I would drive it as-is until you see a consistent pattern. More symptoms make it easier to diagnose.

beardlude

Keep driving it with a blinking CEL when its at idle? Isn't that just asking for trouble?

I'm probably gonna reset the code again tomorrow, re-do compression test, and check for any leaks & hopefully be able to do my EGR ports/valve cleaning.

thanks for the help so far guys

beardlude

Redid compression test, all cylinders are around 150PSI.

Reset the CEL, CEL came back. Blinking at idle & constant when running.

Checked for leaks, couldn't find any. EGR valve\ports are clean. Valves are functioning properly (closing/opening etc).

Any other ideas except to light it on fire?

beardlude

I think I fixed it.

Dealership said its a fault EGR valve.

On my way to a mechanic, I stopped and filled up the tank and it wouldn't take in gas, normally takes 50L but it kept stopping at like 5L or 10L etc. I fill it up all the way up, and I drive to the mechanic. He reset the code while he the scanner was hooked up to it to make sure that we were getting the same codes.

After that, the car started running fine.

Could it have been that air was in my fuel tank which was causing lack of fuel to go to cylinder 1 since it's the furthest from the fuel pump?

I'm totally baffled.

Wing8806

The egr recycles the gasses from the exhaust tank so they are burned off vs leaving the gasses build up within the tank.


Blocked EGR ports or a faulty EGR valve can cause an issue with these gasses building up as well as misfire codes.


again, if you're around or over 120k - you should have the ports cleaned out anyway since it's bound to throw CEL's for misfires etc again.

preludeNApower

you could just try blocking off the EGR port and see if it goes away