B18A Sounds like WRX. Rough Idle. Power loss. Sputtering. *FIXED*
#1
B18A Sounds like WRX. Rough Idle. Power loss. Sputtering. *FIXED*
I'm making this post for people to search in the event they have the same or similar issue.
My car ran extremely well up until today sometime. I was cruising and then all of sudden I noticed it took a little more gas to get the car moving and noticed a strange smell, the sound of a sputtering exhaust pipe, and loss of power.
I got home and checked for
1. Spark from all wires - passed
2. Spark plugs looked dry, a little white
3. Antifreeze is good, no overheating
4. Checked for spark arching on the spark wires (exposed parts when installed) - pass
5. Found ARCHING on 3rd spark plug tube when pulling the wire while engine was running.
So the culprit was spark plug wire #3. They were Bosch branded and looked to be somewhat new. I bought the car used. I replaced with NGK and now all is good!
My car ran extremely well up until today sometime. I was cruising and then all of sudden I noticed it took a little more gas to get the car moving and noticed a strange smell, the sound of a sputtering exhaust pipe, and loss of power.
I got home and checked for
1. Spark from all wires - passed
2. Spark plugs looked dry, a little white
3. Antifreeze is good, no overheating
4. Checked for spark arching on the spark wires (exposed parts when installed) - pass
5. Found ARCHING on 3rd spark plug tube when pulling the wire while engine was running.
So the culprit was spark plug wire #3. They were Bosch branded and looked to be somewhat new. I bought the car used. I replaced with NGK and now all is good!
#2
Honda-Tech Member
Re: B18A Sounds like WRX. Rough Idle. Power loss. Sputtering. *FIXED*
glad you fixed it btw pulling the wire while the car is running puts a lot of stress on the coil and can wear it out FAST.
#3
Re: B18A Sounds like WRX. Rough Idle. Power loss. Sputtering. *FIXED*
The arch occurred at from the spark plug boot, plug end. Normal operation is no arching what-so-ever until the electrical current gets to the spark plug itself. None of the other spark wires and their boots did this in any of the other 3 cylinders. You should change out your spark plug wires and so a general tune up if your car can't stay running. I'd imagine at the current moment your car drives and sounds horrible.
I pulled the plug wires one at a time for about a second each. Probably 1 of the very few times it will ever get that kind of work done, I don't think I caused any damage to the coil but thanks for the info!
I pulled the plug wires one at a time for about a second each. Probably 1 of the very few times it will ever get that kind of work done, I don't think I caused any damage to the coil but thanks for the info!
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