skyliner34life

okay so I have a 1993 del sol si with the d16z6 engine and 3 weeks ago me and my brother have changed the timing belt and water pump. the car ran fine for a 1000 miles and just recently the car developed a misfire and lost power when trying to accelerate. to get up a hill I had to put it in 2nd gear and still struggle to make it up the hill. so we first checked spark and cylinder 1 was not working ( we unplugged the wire while running and no change) so we bought new plugs and the problem still occurred. so then we checked timing and my brother said the timing looked a tooth off so we retimed the car and tried to start it back up but still has a misfire?? we let it run for a little bit and tried a new distributor cap, rotor and wires ( we did not try a new distributor) so we started the car a few more times ( I checked to make sure after it was running and a few more starts the the timing was still correct and it is. so it has not jumped time) when I now try to unplug the wire in cylinder 1 the engine changes idle but cylinder 2 does not. I am out of options and confused. please help and thank you!!

fcm

I would look at replacing spark plug leads. 94

Sharpie14l

Read the plug, check for spark at the cylinder, check for fuel there as well. Compression test as well. Don't just guess at what the problem is.

Jimi Hondrix

Follow Sharpie's suggestion and if all checks out then proceed to mechanical timing inspection as the engine may have jumped a tooth or two.

JarvisW

Is it throwing a CEL?

You said you checked the Mechanical Timing, what marks are you using (just to be sure)?

And yes, like Sharpie said, read plugs as you pull, then do compression check with Wide Open Throttle (and w/o plugs)

and give us the results of both CC and CELs

Good luck

skyliner34life

I will give the compression and that a check. as for the timing marks, on the camshaft I'm using the pointer on the back of the timing belt cover to align that and for the crankshaft I'm using the arrow on the block and oil pump. I could get pictures if you would like later today of the timing

mk378

Cranking or running the engine with a spark wire disconnected is prone to damage the coil. Unplug the low voltage wires to the distributor to de-energize the coil before doing a compression test. To kill cylinders one at a time, unplug its fuel injector rather than the spark plug.

Yes you should do a compression test next. And if you get it working OK you should replace the timing belt again, since having the belt skip is likely to have partly damaged some of the teeth, that could lead to premature failure.

Jimi Hondrix

"on the camshaft I'm using the pointer on the back of the timing belt cover to align that"
I'm not familiar with pointer marks on the back of the timing belt cover. I use the cam marks aligned with the top of the cylinder head as shown in the diagram above

Do a dry and wet (2 teaspoons of oil) compression test.
When (or if) was the last valve adjustment done?
Getting even, proper spark with spark test (spark plugs removed)?

From what you're describing during the power balance test..cylinder 2 maybe losing compression via:
worn compression rings
cylinder wall crack
head gasket leaking compression between cylinders 1 & 2 or 2 & 3
leaking exhaust and or intake valve(s)

JarvisW

Hes got a Z6.

It does use a pointer, that's why I didn't follow up on it..

Tho, OP hasn't followed up lately either lol..

jdblock

Check for a loose distributor rotor.

My GSR engine had a bad misfire. The previous owner used a push to install rotor instead of the OEM design. Well, it was a bad mistake on his part.

Jimi Hondrix

[QUOTE=JarvisW;50952200]Hes got a Z6.
It does use a pointer, that's why I didn't follow up on it..
Tho, OP hasn't followed up lately either lol..[QUOTE]

Okay. Thanks.