nonstophero0079

Alright, here's the deal. I've searched and what not and I'm still stumped, and I'm in a hurry. So check this: unless you have something constructive to say, don't say anything at all. I don't have time for people to be forum jerks. Anyways, I have this built GSR engine in my 1999 Civic hatch. It was running fine (it would misfire VERY seldom if gunned from first gear, but very rarely) but then all of a sudden I couldn't get it to start. I pulled the plugs and the plug in above cylinder 1 had oil AAAALLLL over it. #2 had some oil on its tip, and #3 and #4 were completely dry.

I swapped the valve cover gasket and all of the hardware associated with that. Then it started...yay.....but then the car misfired like mad. Like MAD. So then I thought maybe I had a bad plug or something; so I swapped plugs again. It ran perfect. I turn it off, and then turn it back on a couple hours later, and here we go with misfiring consistently again. I'm super pissed. I can't figure this out. I haven't checked the timing or anything because it's dark, AND the car was fine before it died on me. I figured the plugs got drowned in oil and that was why it died and that it would be fine after. But it isn't; please help.

98civdx

Compression test the engine, pay close attention to number 1.

Also, when is the last time she's seen a tune up? Cap/rotor/plugs/wires.

But, I think you need to figure out why your plug is covered in oil first.

Also, any CEL's?

Former User

Check whether the plugs still have oil on the tips inside the cylinder.

Any CEL codes?

nonstophero0079

Oh Christ yeah there's codes lol. I haven't tested them yet; I will sometime during the week; we have obd1 code readers where I went to school at, but I NEVER one time used one. I assume instead of reading blinks it'll display the codes, but I'm not sure.

Rotor, cap, wires, haven't been changed since I've owned the engine. I've had it....six weeks or so. The engine was pulled from my friend's old DC integra in October of last year and he had freshly changed everything at that time...according to him lol...I trust him but.....that's kinda sketchy ya know?

No oil on my plugs. I'm certain it was my valve cover gasket failing that caused the oil on the tips of the plugs; it had a leak after we swapped it and tested it, it was leaking oil so I changed the gasket. I didn't follow procedure (I do every other time, and the time I don't I get caught slippin') and I had to re-do it just the other day due to the oil being all over the plugs.

I just swapped in the new plugs....an hour or so before I made the initial post in rage. I drove the car for a bit, but NOT long enough to get up to full operating temperature. It was FINE, I thought it was golden. I then drove it again and it was missing like mad. It got up to temp after a third drive, and was FINE. I thought maybe it burned the carbon all over the plugs; the car needs another tune, it has to be rich looking at that carbon on the plugs after no time....I drove to a friends house and pulled them and they were all carbon covered. The assumption is the car is way rich lol. So I need to troubleshoot that also...

As a side bar, my idle has been way low since I got the engine. I thought perhaps it was due to bad grounds; the engine was grounded like crap. Anyways, that didn't help lol, I'll keep troubleshooting. Codes will help; I will get back to you guys as soon as I know something more.

98civdx

You don't need a code reader. Check the sticky at the top of the 1st page, it will tell you how to check it with a paper clip.


Wait, your driving on a built engine with NO tune?

Fix the grounds!

hannslebo

For sure get the codes checked.

Wouldn't hurt to go ahead and replace cap/rotor/plug wires. Cheap and easy...and your "buddy" prob didn't change them like he said.

But yeah...pull codes and post them up.

nonstophero0079

NO WAY man hahahaha. It has a tune, but I feel like it was tuned for the upper rpm band, while neglecting the lower end...idles crappy. The cams have to have some pretty serious overlap as well; it lopes like a friggin' 350 with a big cam in it lol.

98civdx

What cams?

Raising the idle should help smooth things out.

nonstophero0079

And I knew about the paper clip thing; is it easy to distinguish when the codes are moving on to the next code? I'm sure it has multiple codes, with the fact that I deleted the EVAP system and the AC isn't installed currently lol...I'll post em as soon as I get them up though.

98civdx

Yes, you just have to pay attention.

1 long blink= 10
short= 1

Ac doesn't mean squat.

nonstophero0079

The Cams are supposed to be skunkworks (OOOOLD skunk2) type R replicas. I can't wait to get another car so I can pull this engine out and rebuild it; I'll actually spec everything out and KNOW what I have.

Texas4door

I wonder...you say it ran fine...then you turned it off and let it sit
Then you turned it one again and it was missing like crazy and running hella rich
I wonder if the injectors are either
A) too big for the car/tune
B) leaking fuel into the chamber while it's off due to bad pintels (sp) or a bad FPR
C) both

nonstophero0079

I thought maybe I had some open loop shenanigans going on when it died initially. I turned it on for literally 5 or so seconds so I could move it forward for my younger brother to have more room to move his car out. It started right up like a champ like usual....then i go to turn it on for work and it won't start. That's when I pulled the plugs and saw two of them covered in oil.

Anyways, I drove to a friend's house to change the gasket because my garage door won't work. It was misfiring (on fresh NGK v powers) about 4/10 on a 1-10 scale. After the grounding kit install, some body work, and the valve cover gasket and whatnot installed, it was misfiring around 3/10. I bought some NGK G powers....swapped them in and the car was PERFECT. I drive to my cousin's house and hang out for a few hours (car cooled down) and we left; car was missing around.....6/10. I was annoyed and wondered if since the plugs were covered in carbon, if a higher rpm would help compensate for a possibly rich mixture....after the car got up to full operating temp it was just about perfect; it may have missed a time or two, I don't remember, but it was WORLDS better.

This morning on the way to work, missing 7/10. On the way home, it was like 8/10. Didn't really want to start, bucking and surging and acting like a head case on the way back; I was hoping I wouldn't have to stop because it likes to die at stops sometimes and I wasn't sure that it would turn back on...but as it got warmer (didn't have enough time to fully warm up; it's freakin' cold lol, I live in Indiana) it seemed to get better....dropping around 6/10. But still BAD, right?

The idle is bad after it switches over to closed loop; it surges when you come to a stop like it has a vacuum leak...I sprayed tons of carb cleaner at it; nothing. It has a skunkworks intake mani, eliminating the IAB crap. I'm going to start in on the throttle body and the associated crap with that; it idles way to low, like around 4-500 ish. And it lopes like crazy, so I'm sure it REALLY hates having to idle so low.

HERE'S THE ULTIMATE HEAD SCRATCHER. Unless I failed in reading the code....the ONLY code it flashed was freakin' code 19. WTF does that have to do with anything....that's some automatic transmission crap...and as far as I know, all usdm GSR's had manual trannys.......WTF.

The car makes 190whp, and the injectors are OBD1 prelude 330's; well suited for the power output. The injectors were set up properly with a resistor box grafted into the EM1 harness and everything; like I said it ran pretty well until very recently.

I think the car has always ran rich. Any plugs I've pulled out of it are covered in carbon.

98civdx

Check it again. Have a buddy or someone put the paper in the connector, while you count.

civicjunkie17

iTrader: (1)

Hmm, I seem to be in a very similar situation as you. It recently started happening to me as soon as it snowed here in new jersey. Good luck on finding your solution. If I figure my problem out I will be sure to post back here.

nonstophero0079

Cool man, I think that's around when my car started acting ridiculous too. Winter's been REALLY mild here, and it took forever to really snow. If I get mine figured out I'll let you know man.

nonstophero0079

Man, I let that thing cycle about 9 times and counted. As soon as the light came on it was one long blink followed by 9 short ones. I thought it was 8 blinks the first time, but it was DEFINITELY 9 the last six times I watched it. I assumed I had more codes than that ya know, considering the car is missing out like crazy. I gotta get this sucker cracked. I'm gonna probably pull my dizzy cap and look at my Rotor and all that stuff. MAYBE it's just some general maintenance stuff. My volt meter my dad gave me is done for or I would ohm out my spark plug wires; he works for the railroad; I want to him to give me a fluke but that's another matter for another day haha.

nonstophero0079

YO, not sure 100% if this is going to stop the missing, BUT I pulled the cap and it and everything underneath it were covered in some junk. I cleaned them off (there were even metal shavings in the cap...I assume they were from the rotor) and I cleaned off the rotor....and I tightened it too...it was RIDICULOUSLY loose. So during all of this (outside in 30 degree weather, and DARK) I drop the darn spring. I found it! Then I stuck it back in the dizzy; I think it's called a distributor contact spring. Anyways, I stuck it back in..I was trying to get it to seat to where it would sit without me holding it....and this time it SHOT away from the dizzy. SO, it's in the yard somewhere...I looked for about a half hour. It was pretty sweet, I couldn't find it... -____- So the question is, if I buy a cap, will it come with the spring??? I have no idea, most...no, almost ALLL of the stuff I work on has coil packs, not a dizzy.....

Texas4door

Nope, unfortunately, you'll have to get a new coil pack to get the spring that comes with it
That sucks, dude
XP
As for the code...I wonder if somehow you have an automatic ECU that's been configured to run with that motor...it's looking for the trans but can't find it
Hell, I dunno
XP

nonstophero0079

FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.............. ................!!!!!!!!!! -rage face-

I have friends with tons of Honda parts, I bet I can find one. I actually used the spring from a pen to run it.....i cleaned the dizzy cap and all the stuff inside of it. It was all filthy. The Rotor was SUPER loose, so I tightened it down...and lost that little freakin' bastard of a spring in my YARD at like 10pm man...definitely pretty baller....no, not really... Anyways, After that stuff, the car runs WAY better, but is still missing....not as hard, but still missing nonetheless; probably the bull crap connection with a pen spring....I ordered a new cap and rotor and got oil...I'll pass on wires this check unless after the cap, spring, and rotor the car still misses out. I feel like It needs more powerful spark or something and having new stuff in there will certainly help. As for the code, supposedly the ECU is a USDM P72 computer...I'm weirded out too that that's the only code....what on Earth...

nonstophero0079

So the car started up when I was about to leave work and then I turned it RIGHT back off to run inside and grab something....then it wouldn't start, JUST like what had happened a couple weeks ago. So I swapped plugs (I changed my dizzy and rotor and stuck another pen spring in the coil because the one I got from my friend got LOST by my cousin...) and then it started up. I used dielectric grease to hold the spring in place (VERY good idea) so it was rolling again. Missed a few times, but not bad at all. I need to test my coil; still seems like there's insufficient spark; probably ohm out my wires too. I pulled my ECU and decided to pull my chip....my dad deals with projects and setting up railroad crossings for NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILROAD and does this stuff all day; he started talking to me about chip pullers and installers and what not and next thing I know, I broke a tooth off of the chip trying to re-install it; I wanted to see how easy they were to pull out lol. I have a new one on the way with a good base map; car shouldn't be so rich so maybe this will help the car out; i'll phone in the verdict once I get it and install it....with this magical chip installer.

Ghunt521

get new wires man....

nonstophero0079

For sure; that and an ignition coil upgrade are next; I need to also check out my timing. I hate my meter's gone. I could diagnose this stuff a bit better. I don't want to buy a cheap one, but we'll see what happens. I got my chip from phearable.net; car doesn't idle as well...which I didn't think it could possibly get worse; also while it is in closed loop mode it would idle high, but it would idle pretty normally; no spikes or dips or almost dying unlike when it's in open loop mode. Now it seems to kick over to open loop mode super fast, and then it idles like garbage lol. I need to actually get this thing tuned. I'd like to be able to drive it 20-30 miles away and not die at every light before getting to a possible dyno lol. I'm not even sure if the place in Anderson (20 miles away from Muncie) will try to tune a Honda. I live in Indiana and the H badge doesn't get a ton of love....the shop I KNOW has a dyno mainly deals with GM's...specifically Corvettes......

nonstophero0079

PROGRESS REPORT: I can only work on this thing so often; anyways I checked resistance on the primary coil, wires, and the injectors. ALL checked out. I couldn't check the secondary coil because the screw that goes into terminal "B" is rounded way the heck out alerting me to realize someone else was screwing with B at one time. With some easy outs I'll get that screw out.

Car is gas fouling plugs.....so things to check are a fouled oxygen sensor (very strong possibility since It's open header....) and a bad coolant temp sensor. If the car thinks it's...say...200 below zero, it'll dump tons of fuel and foul stuff out. I got 2 more sets of v powers as back ups; But they are definitely carbon fouling out due to to much gasoline....or LOTS of incomplete combustion. I still need to do a manifold vacuum test as well as a compression and leakdown tests. I'll keep everyone updated.

nonstophero0079

PROGRESS REPORT: So I finally put parts back on my car so that I could drive it up to my old Automotive school to test it out; I completely spaced the fact that I should have done a compression test just to see how my compression was, but that's besides the point. We tested fuel pressure. I have a Walbro 255 pump that I got from a "friend" because I thought my OEM one in my Civic CX was going out; I thought this because if I primed my car a few times it would start. Turns out my base timing was WAY the heck off lol. Anyways, I guess the car or the regulator doesn't like the pump to much because my fuel pressure is around like....7-10 pounds over spec. So that's why it's rich; I HOPED this was why it was misfiring....NO....tested spark right? Cylinder's one and two were legit....3 would miss intermittently and four was DEAD; so we put four on a known good spot on the cap and it sparked; I forgot to put a known good one on the bad spot to confirm those results :-/ I also tested continuity on the cap contacts; they were good, so........guys, is that my DIZZY going bad or what?? I'm pretty weirded out by this entire thing. The cap and rotor are NOT OEM, they are master pro brand from O'Reily auto by the way.