BlueWhale

Hi, my little 2000 CR-V has been in the shop 5 times in the last 8 days, and the shop has thrown in the towel. I'm hoping someone here has some ideas....

Little background:
- 113,000 miles
- I'm like the 6th owner, I've had it for 25k miles
- Valves adjusted 15-20k ago
- Timing belt changed 25k ago

She's been running just fine, and then last week when I started her up it lugged and the check engine light came on (no flash). I can't remember now if it was right at start, or just after I put it in gear. After the initial lug she idled and ran just fine.

Shop plugged her in and got a P0300 & P0301 (Random misfire + misfire cylinder 1)

Compression checked out fine, so they suggested a valve adjustment. So we did a valve adjustment and tune up. Took it home, everything ran fine. Next morning started her up, everything ran fine. A little later check engine light came on again.

This time a P0300 & P0304. They put in new spark plugs & wires. Started it up and the CEL came on again. They didn't have time to work on it, so I took it home and drove it around. Shortly after starting it (When I first started to pull out of the lot) it lugged and the CEL flashed and turned on. Later that day, the CEL turned off, and it stayed off for the next 4 days (I drove it every day, and it was subjected to both 40F and 83F weather. When the tank was down to 4 gallons left, I refilled the tank and added sea foam. (This was after the CEL had already turned off on its own)

Then it came on again. Took it back to the shop. They had a different person double check the valve adjustment to make sure it was done properly, then put in a new rotor. Still getting occasional misfires. They tried a new distributor, still the occasional misfire in the shop. They've checked the fuel injectors and say they're fine. They've check the air intake, and done a bunch of other stuff I can't remember at the moment. No sign of coolant getting in the engine (no white smoke, no white in the oil cap, no gas in the radiator).

She idles and drives just fine. No surging or inconsistent throttle. At the moment we are now getting P0300, P0302 & P0304.

TL:DR Version
- Compression tested fine (Sorry, don't remember the values, but all 4 were basically the same)
- Valves adjusted
- New spark plugs and wires
- New rotor
- Tried a new distributor
- No gas in the coolant
- Fuel injectors look fine
- Idles fine
- Misfires seem to happen more often in the shop than when I'm out driving

The shop's conclusion:
- Could be bad gas/dirty injection system. Told me to drive it for the next month and to be sure to use gas with detergent in it (Chevron)
- Could be head gasket issue, but too minor at this point to be leaking enough coolant to cause smoke/gas
- Could be valve related, but again too minor of damage to fail the compression test, but enough to occasionally cause a misfire

Any other ideas?

PhilStubbs

Are you mechanically inclined enough to pull spark plugs? I'd like to see a picture of them. With a good high res pic, a lot of info on how the engine is running can be seen.

Fuel injectors can't be visually inspected. They need to be flow tested if they are in doubt.

A cooling system pressure test needs to be done to confirm the head gasket.

I'm curious to know the base ignition timing and see a pic of the distributor and it's location of adjustment. So many people that do timing belts on these don't time the cams properly.

BlueWhale

Sorry for the delay in responding. Just an update, CEL went off on Saturday and hasn't come back.

I didn't ask to keep my old plugs, the new ones have been in for only a week. If you think there is something to see from the new ones I can try to pull and photograph for you.

They told me they checked them and they were fine, didn't ask how they checked.

They did this. My comments about smoke and white in the oil were just from my observations.

Do you really think it could be timing? If it was a timing issue wouldn't the problem have cropped up shortly after doing the timing belt replacement? Wouldn't the misfires be more frequent/consistent, and take place when the engine was warm, and not just shortly after starting the car?

Robs_B18c

iTrader: (1)

A friend of mine had pretty much the same problems. Turned out to be bad gas. Added a feel bottles of heet. After a while the miss went away.

UK-Kev

Hello BlueWhale,

Just a couple of questions :- What make and heat range of spark plugs are currently fitted. Also has the fuel filter ever been changed.

Rgs,

Kev

blk1stgen

saw this happen on a newer CR-V, turned out it had bad gas.

IIRC there was more than 60 % water in the fuel mixture.

after several tanks of 93 octane and some Heet, it went away

SirFerret

iTrader: (1)

What kind of plugs were installed? Honda engines are very picky about their spark plugs. I always recommend NGK Iridium spark plugs. Engine runs beautifully with them, assuming everything else is ok.