98slowvicEX

I was pulling away from a stop sign yesterday at about 3.5k rpms in first gear when i had a sudden loss of power. No CEL light, no smoke. And it was popping out the exhaust which i assume was backfiring every couple seconds. Today it's not backfiring near as much but it just seems like theres no horsepower. It has the same torque as before, as i can tell when crusing at speed. It just seems to have no powerband. I know it's slow to begin with, but now its just sick. I have done a full tune up, fuel filter, removed cat to see if it was blocked, check timing, and regapped spark plugs. I'm at my wits end here, looking for some more tips as to what could be the problem? Thanks in advance.

Adamvanxxx

Is the ignition timing within spec?

98slowvicEX

when i use a timing light the white line on the crank pulley lines up between the two arrows. It is a pretty big loss of power. Wondering if maybe i lost compression in the cylinder that had oil on the spark plug electrode.

98slowvicEX

The car is really a turd now. I can rev to the redline, but there's no increase in power from 2k-7k rpms. I cleaned the vtec solenoid screen, it was completely caked with nastyness. But no change in performance

Kapoi83

have u tried to replace the distro cap and rotor could have a cracked cap

Adamvanxxx

He said full tune up. That usually includes that. Are you getting spark on all cylinders? Any miss fires?

98slowvicEX

Thanks for the replies. Yes, i did a completely new distributor assembly. It came with everything from the dist. cap inward.

I don't hear any obvious ignition missing. The only way i can check for spark is pulling the plugs and putting them against the block and getting a friend to fire the motor and looking for spark. I also checked for spark with my timing light and its steady and consistant on all cylinders.

There was a loose wire on the distributor, i noticed when i moved the wires around that the car shut off. I was hoping this was the problem, but it didn't fix my severe lack of power

Could it be a failing fuel pump causing a lack of fuel pressure? or does the fuel pump in these cars simply not work at all when they fail?

Any other ideas? c'mon guys lets get our thinkin caps on!

98slowvicEX

UPDATE: I got bad news and more bad news. Did a compression test and the cylinder are as follows: #1: 12lbs and 2-4 are all at 170lbs. Now i don't have smoke pouring out or anything either. If cylinder 1 is at 12lbs what could be causing such a sudden drop in compression? Also, the compression was slowly leaking out from cylinder 1. It maxes at 12lbs then leaks out. I took off the valve cover nothing looks out of the ordinary, valve lash is within specs. What could it be?

jimmy o.

Burnt valve most likely time to rip the head off and check it out

Did u do a wet test as we as dry?

98slowvicEX

Not sure what a wet or dry test is. I did a search but can't find a guide. Could you give me a quick run down?

jimmy o.

Check it with a lil oil in the cylinders

98slowvicEX

how much oil should i put in the cylinder and what does this test figure out? thanks.

93egSLEEPER

Do a leakdown test as a preliminary step to diagnosing your problem. It will save you alot of hassle when tearing the motor apart completely if that needs to be done.

Are you getting any blowby?

93egSLEEPER

i assume hes talking about putting ATF on top of the cylinder to see if the rings are stuck and need to be popped loose.
A couple drops of ATF on the top of the cylinder and start it to see if the ATF+compression on the cylinder/rings will help them release

jimmy o.

Oil in the cylinders will bump up compression significantly (helps to seal the rings) if problem is in the bottom end of the motor if not it's a top end (cylinder head/valve train) issue

98slowvicEX

It does smoke slightly when warming up. and it will occasionally smoke when redlined. But not smoking anymore now then it did before the loss of compression. i will post back with results in a few.

also, there was no noise when the loss of power happened. and it still idles and starts the same with no noise. If the rings were sticking wouldn't it barely run or make some noise?

93egSLEEPER

Stuck rings wont make noise...it will just create a loss of compression, smoking and excessive blow-by. My last boost motor had stuck rings and ran fine...just was a bit retarted til i got the rings to let lose.

98slowvicEX

so how much oil should i put in the cylinder? and then should i just crank it over for a little? my friend took his compression tester home. thanks in advance.

93egSLEEPER

A cap full will do.

98slowvicEX

Well the problem ended up being burnt exhaust valves in the #1 cylinder. I got a rebuilt head and head gasket set and just put it all back together. It was idling fine then i heard a soft pop sound and the idle dropped. There appears to be oil in the radiator, but no coolant in the oil. ALso have 170lbs of compression on all 4 cylinders... any ideas? im leaning toward blown intake manifold gasket or cracked intake manifold? any other suggestions would be awesome.