So my 92 Civic with a JDM type R swap is starting to drive me mental now b/c of a random misfire that seems to occur in warm/hot weather. It would seem that once the car is warmed up and the engine will misfire at idle but drive fine and have plenty of power at any RPM above idle.

Pretty much the car will drive fine when cold or when outside is cool. The moment that the car warms up or the underhood temps rise to a hot temperature then the car can't hold idle b/c the car is misfiring. The smell of the exhaust is atrociously rich and the car runs like crap until I start driving it. I guess you could say that it has a slight misfire while driving and a noticeable misfire at idle.

With that being said my wires are new, my plugs are new and gapped properly, my IAC valve is new, my main relay's solder connections were properly resoldered and my cap and rotor appear to be in great shape with pretty much no wear. Engine ground is a 4 gauge wire that goes to the thermostat housing directly to the negative terminal of the battery.

Compression is good, leakdown is good, fuel is good and the mileage on the engine is like less than 60, 000kms.

Can the coil or the ignitor go bad when it gets hot? What about the main relay?

I was told by a tech at honda that the igniter module usually doesn't intermittently fail b/c its solid state so when it dies.... it dies and doesn't work anymore.

So with that being said I have no clue as to why my car continues to misfire.... I could take it to honda for a diagnostic but they'll charge an arm and a leg for the work and they might not even find the problem...

I am starting to think that I should replace the coil pack and/or the igniter and even possibly the main relay are bad but since they're pretty pricey up here in Canada I would prefer to not have to purchase something that might not be the right fix.

I haven't pulled my dizzy apart for a while now but do you guys know if a coil pack and or igniter module from either a D16A6 or a 91 B18A1 will fit in my JDM R's dizzy? I have a few spare known working igniter modules from the early 90's integras and UDSM CRXs. If they DO fit then I can start swapping out parts and driving around down for a while. Can someone here confirm this for me?


I am seriously out of ideas and this whole driveability problem is starting to **** me off...

Thanks for the help.

 

Coils, ignitors, and the main relay are all known to be failure prone, but none of those are likely your problem as the mechanic told you. You can test them with a multimeter to be sure.

You have a 4 gauge ground to the thermostat housing but what about to the chassis? First thing you should do is run a ground wire at least 8 gauge from the thermostat housing back to the original location on the passenger strut tower.

If your car has always had this problem since the swap then most likely it wasn't done properly. Your best bet is going to be to have it diagnosed. The dealership isn't your only option. But good luck because I bet they're just going to blame your swap.

I know that there are many interchangeable coils and ignitors. I know for sure they're all the same from 92-00. Just take off the distributor cap and look.

 

Yes it is very possible for it to be the igniter, they don't always just quit working. Also did you check to see if it was an O2 sensor? That may cause this problem as well, I have had both happen at the same time and it isn't pretty if you continue to drive with the vehicle acting like this. Hope I was a help. GL.

 

no the swap was done properly b/c this problem developed slowly over time.

yes the chassis is grounded good and so is the tranny and engine in 3 locations.

I'll start swapping coils and ignitor modules tonight if I can get off work in time.

Thanks

 

problem solved: Tight exhaust valves... I feel stupid for not catching that sooner.... ironically I did a 03 MDX that had the same problem but never thought my own valves would be tight... duh...

 

Hi,i'm facing the same problem,exactly,same symptoms.I want to ask you a question,when your engine idle weird,did it throw a code 3,map sensor?Because sometimes it throws a code 3 when the engine stalls.