trm4life

So my 92 DA with manual trans seems to finally be giving up. I recently replaced my dizzy, and things seemed ok. However, when adjusting the timing, the new dizzy was at TDC, and I had to max it out to hit the first mark rather than middle mark. I also recently replaced the plug wires and ECU. I get misfires mostly in the low rpm range and it seems to have all its power if I'm WOT in first and second. I over heated it (before I replaced the plugs and ECU) and im afraid I may have warped the head gasket, or my piston rings are just finally done. Oddly it idles ok and misfires are intermittent. If I feather the throttle it runs well. Im also suspecting maybe the FPR is taking a dump

wunfstgsr

That's common with aftermarket distributors, maybe try and find a used OEM that's compatible you will be able to set timing correct. It sounds like your timing is off. Unless you run the engine for a certain amount of time over heated then the HG will go but if it over heated for a few secs or you don't drive it while its over heated your most likely not going to hurt anything. Try setting the ignition timing with a OEM distributor.

zeroptzero

My timing was off in the other direction, I had to advance it quite a bit to get it in the acceptable range. I always felt that was weird but it was what it was. I just did my timing belt replacement and all of a sudden my old distributor setting was too high. I assume the last timing belt installation may have been off by a tooth because it is all back to normal now. I would check your timing belt adjustment to make sure the cams and crank are all lined up correctly.

trm4life

I was having trouble originally with my rebuilt dizzy. Misfires at WOT. I then used that rebuilt and a cheap new one to make a good dizzy. Things were great for about a year. Drove it on a 500 mile road trip a few months ago. Then I recently had misfires above 3500 rpm in 4th and 5th gear. Eventually I was unable to go over 70mph ( not necessary anyway right? Lol) without misfires. Then I had trouble starting. Would only fire on 3 cylinders for about 5 to 10 seconds. Bought a new dizzy and the starting trouble went away. Then the day after over heating, had a loud popping misfire while idling. A couple days ago, I checked my valve lash, checked the timing belt (new 20k miles ago) replaced the plugs wires and ecu just to be sure. Fired up and idled great. Drove it home and seemed ok until the next day, bad misfires, ok while feathering the throttle, and seems to be fine at WOT in first and second. It's been about 6 years since I've done the head gasket and I'll admit it was a cheap one. Trust me I regret it. Other than that the piston rings could just be fried because I've been driving it like a race car for the last 100,000 miles and maybe I'm just getting too much oil in the combustion chamber. It's also on about 8k miles since it's last oil change and I've literally never gone over 5 or 6 and always use full synthetic.

wunfstgsr

Miss Fire will be from a bad Dizzy, injectors, timing, bad wiring, I don't think a bad head gasket will cause a miss fire im pretty sure of that.

K20.ek

Have you checked/replaced your spark plugs???

I would try swapping out the icm to see if that helps.

trm4life

Update
Yes I've replaced the plugs as well as wires and ecu. I'm starting to assume it's throttle position sensor or fuel pressure regulator. If not one of my injectors is failing and I intend to check those out asap, however they're fairly new rebuilt with 10 or 15 year warranty oem Honda injectors. The valve timing appears to be dead on, just had the cover off to double check my valve lash. I'm going to try another FPR, i have one or 2 spares and ohm out my injectors and TPS. Will update.
- parts replaced: plugs, wires, dizzy, ecu, pcv valve, map sensor, and solenoid valves. Vacuum hoses are new 2 years ago, all seem fine. Fuel pump and filter also only a couple years old. New gates racing timing belt and water pump with only 20k as well as clutch. No check engine light is on.

wunfstgsr

How's the fuel filter?

trm4life

Here ia a video of the misfire at operating temperature

- basically I rebuilt this car around 20,000 miles ago. Once I had left the ignition on over night and burned the wire from the fuel pump relay to the pump, it also caused the pump to fail (yes it's true, I also has almost no fuel in the tank). The fuel filter is somewhat new, replaced it when I replaced the pump. Honestly I haven't had any problems until recently when I over heated. Last night I replaced the FPR with one from my 91 integra and things got a little worse. From 91 to 92 the integra gained 10HP and went from obd0 to obd1 and used high impedance injectors instead of low impedance. So I'm assuming the 92 system may require 1 or 2 more pounds of fuel pressure. However, it makes me feel I'm on the right track. I'm wondering if my FPR is bad anyway, or if one of my injectors is just stuck. Im also suspicious that the may be a bad gasket on my EIC (ELECTRIC IDLE CONTROL) OR my iacv (yes 2 different things on the obd 0 and 1 model) I'll keep updating.

trm4life

Another update:
So brain storming with a friend of mine, we decided to pull each plug wire while it was running. For some unknown reason the engine temporarily ran damn near perfect. Even the loud tick (i now assume is fuel knock) went away. So... perhaps my wires are junk, I have 3 sets, all accel. Never had a problem before, so it's hard to blame the wires. Im still slightly suspicious of the FPR.

wunfstgsr

They get pulled from the boot where it plugs in the dist. cap sometimes you got to push them back in, id go with a set of NGK plugs and wires.

trm4life

I do run NGK copper plugs. Swear by them. Tried platinum once and for some reason they burned up prematurely. Thing is I can hardly assume it's the wires with the consistency of the misfire. Even with different wires it doesn't seem to change. Took a video of my timing yesterday and I got flashes at 180° from the timing marks ( i had marked the other side so I could tell if my harmonic balancer bushing was failing) so honestly I'm a bit confused

wunfstgsr

First make sure the crank pulley lines up with the oil pump mark on the timing cover, then confirm the cams are even at TDC, Verify the mechanical timing is correct.

What ECU did you replace it with? was it the exact same year and model for your car??

It just sounds ignition related, either timing or spark from the dizzy. If plugs and wires are known to be good it has to be your dizzy or ECU is the wrong model or timing is off. I don't think a bad head gasket is your problem.

So when you pulled a spark plug wire out from the cylinder you say the engine ran near perfect? how can this be? you should have a miss fire once it is pulled unless that cylinder isn't firing, that's how you know that cylinder is dead if no change to the engine is made when the plug wire is pulled out, same goes for the injectors.

trm4life

It seems since I pulled Plug wire the ignition made an adjustment, then moments later went back to misfire. Im thinking it's the electric idle control. It says it has wax inside it. Im assuming over heating it could cause melting or failure? It would explain a lot. Also the car runs better when the air temperature is closer to 70°F or higher. Possible air temp sensor and maybe even need a new thermostat. Radiator fan doesn't kick on at temp either so have to hook it up manual...

trm4life

Update:

So today I pulled an air temp sensor from one of my 2 spare intakes. Put it on my car and it's seems to be running better. HOWEVER it's warmer today so the car started better anyway. Well I went straight to the auto parts store and bought a can of intake cleaner. Now it doesn't seem to have any hesitation regardless of throttle position, but I'll be delivery driving tonight, so I'll let you all know how it runs.

wunfstgsr

Interesting,

trm4life

Well, strangely enough it's running better but not perfect. I really only have hesitation at the areas where I most often hold the throttle (25-35mph). I'm going to pull the cover off the IACV and see if the internal adjuster may have cracked (it's plastic). I might have another laying around. I do intend to triple check the timing belt. The misfire is consistent enough Im suspecting MAYBE it jumped a tooth but I have to see it happen myself.
Other than that I'm going to try to order a used electric air control valve because I'm still suspicious of the thermowax valve getting damaged during over heat.
I may also try a used fuse box because I have a couple electrical problems. Rear defrost turns off and on with wiper or blinker. Book mentions "timed items" are integrated into the fuse box. (Intermittent wiper or rear defroster are considered timed)

trm4life

Well I replaced my fuel filter, the old one had no visible dirt or discoloring when I poured out the fuel. It's running a little smoother but my misfire is still consistent. MUCH more noticeable cold than when warmed up.

I'm also wondering if it's a voltage issue. My alternator recently got pretty wet and isn't getting a break with all the rain we've had. When I fire it up it's like it's running literally on one cylinder, then eventually smoothes out and sounds ALMOST normal other than the "pop" of the misfire

https://youtu.be/Ug1o8XGMizQ

https://youtu.be/jMxndrq1mPc

trm4life

My timing marks still appear to be lined up, I made the marks across all pulleys so I could see if the bushing failed

trm4life

Top video misfire at cold start.
Bottom video ignition testors on all 4 cylinders

trm4life

Problem solved! ??

Well I took a road trip of about 500 miles. Part way, I decided to swap out my spark plug wires. Had 3 sets, all used and at least a few years old.

Turns out that was the problem, because though I still had a minor misfire, it changed how well it ran rather dramatically!

Also found that the metal clip to hold the wires, was UNDER the cap! Causing it to be crooked, and allowing a foreign metal object under the cap for more misfire potential! ( dizzy and cap came together new!)

I will let you all know how new plug wires affect it!

tamboo

you can measure spark wire resistance but apparently even that isn't foolproof.
i just replace every 50k using ngk or denso only, forget about anything else.

trm4life

Ok, so my wires were definitely bad. HOWEVER I decided to put my original "rebuilt" (made one dizzy out of a used one and a cheap new one) dizzy back on and holy ****! Throttle responds is back to 100%!
Apparantly the new dizzy I got needs an adjustment, or the rotor was crap. Either way, what happened originally was my wires took a dump. Even between 3 different sets, and attempting to mix and match, I wasn't getting good ignition, at least not with the new dizzy.
I had to adjust the hell out of it to hit the ignition marks so apparently now I have more spare parts if I want to build another.
With new wires and my original dizzy all is good again!