tattooedskin

Hello,

I have 96 rl and cylinder 1,2 and 3 are misfiring. Check engine light is on with erratic idle Rpm. I have checked the plugs, coils and injectors. That leaves me to believe I have a fuel issue, and I'm assuming fuel pump or fuel pressure regulator. I'm going to check fuel pressure here shortly and any in sight would fantastic.

SpokaneSpeed

What exactly did you do to check the plugs, coils, and injectors?

tattooedskin

I replaced all plugs with ngk iridiums. For the coils and injectors i unplugged them one at time while the car was running. I never seen a coil go partially bad, and I find hard to believe that 3 injectors went bad at the same time. I'm by no means a pro so if I'm wrong please set me straight.

SpokaneSpeed

Have you tested fuel pressure? And which CEL codes does it have - cyl 1,2,3 misfire? Any other codes?

Can you explain the erratic idle in more detail please.

tattooedskin

I went to test the fuel pressure tonight, however, my pressure is gone! So I'll pick up a new tomorrow. I've gotten mixed info on fuel pressure, I've read that 35-50psi is normal but I've also read that my make and model should 51psi. I figure I'll find out what I'm working with and go from there.

I'm getting a p1300 - multiple misfire, p1301 - cylinder one misfire, p1302 - cylinder two misfire, and p1303 - cylinder three misfire.

tattooedskin

my gas milage has went downhill naturally, and the while the car is drive at a red light the rpms will will fluctuate from 400 - 800 rpm. also, while driving on a highway the check engine light will blink.

tattooedskin

Not that I know of, I haven't done a vacuum pressure check yet though.

SpokaneSpeed

Yeah its odd that you're only getting (or at least codes for) misfires on one bank of the engine. This could very well be caused by a vacuum leak but start with fuel pressure and let us kno what the results are...

tattooedskin

I finally got around to testing the fuel pressure. With the key turned until the fuel pump engages, the fuel pressure is 41psi. the psi with the car running was a little different. It's fluctuates between 35-37 psi rapidly, but it does it consistently (Let the car idle for 2 minutes) and held.

Also, while I was under the hood I found some old worn out vacuum lines and I went ahead a replacement them with new new a new T splitter. After everything I cleared the codes and the check engine light hasn't came back on since (only been 24 hours) but may take a few days.

SpokaneSpeed

How's it running?

tattooedskin

It runs as well as it used too. I won't really know until I get into the throttle a little bit.

SpokaneSpeed

Good deal. I had suspicions of a possible vacuum leak being as how you only had misfires on one bank/side of the engine..

tattooedskin

well that didn't last, the check engine light has came back on. I'm going to re-do the fuel pressure check. I didn't plug the vacuum line to the fuel pressure regulator and for an accurate reading that needs to be done.

tattooedskin

After doing another fuel pressure test this time with the fuel pressure regulator vacuum plugged the fuel pressure holds at 45psi while running and 42psi when the ignition is engaged. I could be wrong but this leads me to believe that my regulator is bad.

tattooedskin

Fuel pressure regulator has been checked and it is operating correctly. the fact that I have and entire bank misfiring makes this a little more difficult to diagnose. I still find hard to believe that 3 injectors, 3 plugs or 3 could went out at the same time. I'm going to do a compression test just to rule it out, but I honestly don't think that its where my problem is.

What are the chances of clogging 3 injectors from dirty fuel?

WanaBeFaster

you have a blown head gasket. extremely common with higher miles.

tattooedskin

Compression is great on all 3 cylinders and the car has 89,000 miles..

SpokaneSpeed

Get a block testing kit. It will allow you to test the coolant for the presence of combustion gases in the coolant...

Also take some starting fluid and spray it around the intake manifold to rule out any vacuum leaks. Do this while engine is running - if RPMs raise, then u have a vacuum leak.

tattooedskin

I haven't tested the block yet. I did spray starting around the intake manifold and over all vacuum lines to rule out a vacuum leak On Friday I believe. At this point I'm running out of things to test. I'm curious if maybe I have 3 dirty/clogged injectors?

WanaBeFaster

compression is somewhat irrelevant (acura tech line doesn't even accept compression numbers with diagnostic help, only leak down test results). do you know where the EGR ports on this car are? kind of a pain might want to clean them out.

tattooedskin

my apologies for not posting an update. The mis is resolved! I back flushed injectors for cylinder 1-3 and serviced the 3 injectors, and that has resolved the misfire and and engine codes are cleared.

tattooedskin

Imiss aware of the egr ports and tunes clogging, however, I ruled that out due to the engine codes that were coming up. I have a friend that has a 96 rl and he does need to clear his ports and tubes and his code not a misfire. I will clean the ports, intake manifold and egr tube when I replace the timing chain.