Please dont move this to tech forum, i say its related to boost cause my car is. Anyway here you go.

Well like the subject says i am having a little engine trouble, actually big trouble to me. Well tonight i was on my way to Wurzburg which is about 60KM away from were i am live here in Germany. About halfway there i noticed the cars exhaust sound was differant, real muffled and gurguly, point it just didnt sound right and the car was slow to pick up speed then before. So i started to pull off the autobahn and go in the direction of the place i was going cause i didnt want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere. Once i made it there, the car started acting worse, engine sounded like it was back firing out the exhuast, and the way it was running sound like a misfire in one of the cyclinders. If i let out the gas all the way the car would dy, and was hard restarting, i had to open the throttle some and it would start. Well i got to a gas station on base. I open the hood, checked the ignition wires, checked all connections. I couldnt pull the plugs but i am going to later. I didnt get any kind of check engine light either. I had a misfire when the car was stock and i got a check engine light. Any i thinks might be a few things, either bad plugs, bad ignition wires, maybe bad cap and rotor, all these would cause a bad misfire. Or maybe a injector went bad, i know the fuel pump is good my gauge reads normal. Also thought maybe my catylitic coverter is clogged or maybe i have a ECU problem. My last things is that the motors bad, maybe a bad ringland and i am lossing compression. I didnt get any CEL and the higher the rpm above 4500 the backfire stopped and would accelerate and i cruised home at a slow 70-75mph. I am going to do a compression check tomorrow if i can and maybe borescope the cylinders through the spark plug and see if i see any damage. Would i beable to see if i had a bad ringland using the borescope. And if you dont know a borescope a small camera/telescope that has a light on the end to see were the eye cant. Doing this would save me from pulling the motor apart as a last resort. GUYS please help. tell me what you think.

But ok so far i have checked for spark and have spark, but it looks like #2 and #3 spark looks kind of weak, but 1 and 4 look alot better. I changed and used the original wires i had magnacore wires on the car. The cap and rotor look fine and plugs are brand new. I know i am getting fuel also. So i been thinking maybe either the coil is weak or the ignition control module in the distributor is weak too. Does anyone know how to test the module and were could i get one online cause i am here in germany. Also looking to use a external coil like MSD. I dont know if its even a ignition problem but the car runs like its just misfiring. Its starts but i have to open the throttle up also.

And if your wondering why i posted in boost forum is because it Vortech SC w/hondata s200b. I dont get any kind of CEL either if i didnt mention it before. Only other thing is that its serious and i have a engine failure and the rings or ringlands are bad causing compression to blow by.


Modified by ghostsi69 at 12:37 AM 12/18/2004

 

Also this is the #3 plug, i pulled it last night when i got home after the car cooled. All the others looked normal but had small spicks on it maybe from detonation possible from igntion.

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You're running super rich...
You fowled your spark plugs...
No spark that's why you felt a decease in power..

 

Replace the spark plugs, and gap them correctly.

 

Thats not it, either. The gap is correct .039 NGK BCPr73es plugs. I never had a problem before and hondata has been tune. Air fuel is about 3% from perfect saw it myself on a wideband while tuning the car. The thing is that is the only plug that looked like that, all the others looked fine. And the reason that one was darker is because yeah it was fouled but probably not getting any spark causing the fuel to foul out the plug. I didnt come on here to ask about fouled plugs, i am asking a serious engine problem here. And thinks its more then just a bad cap and rotor and wires. I need to find out how to diagnose the coil and ignition module for one and that would take care of my ignition check, then i move on to fuel, i know am getting fuel so maybe an injector, I have precsion 440 injectors, so how can i test those to see if they are firing correctly, they have a timing sequence to right? If thats all good, last thing is compression test, maybe i have a bad piston ring or ring land. I am not getting any smoke from the tail pipe or out the breather thats why it makes me think a ignition problem or maybe ECU. Just please guys give me some info, i know were to start but think i might forget or overlook something.

 

.039... jesus! most people run .030-.032 on N/A setups and as small as .025 for higher boost apps. Close your gap on some new plugs also check your #3 injector and see if it's stuck open, i happens some times

 

if its still runnin your coil and igntior are ok...do a compression test and replace the plugs...its prolly not as complicated as u think...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by onePOINTsix &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">.039... jesus! most people run .030-.032 on N/A setups and as small as .025 for higher boost apps. Close your gap on some new plugs also check your #3 injector and see if it's stuck open, i happens some times</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well even factory gap of a NGK plug from honda or lets say the original plug that a 00 si came with has a larger gap then .039 i think its some where around .045. Well i got the gap spec on clubsi in their boost tech sticky and most agreed this is good. But i am open to all sollutions. Also i dont think 8-9 psi is high boost and .025 wouldnt that be to small. I have been running this size gap with no problems until now, i can say i notice a bit of bad gas mileage, maybe from a rich condition cause by the fuel not burning completly from a smaller gap.

I bought the NGK BCPR7ES-11 plugs recently cause they were pregapped to the spec i need, before i was using the BCPR7ES PLUGS when my problem started. I put the new plugs in today, checked my spark to see if i was getting any. Reinst everything and still the car runs the same.

 

Also since i am talking about injectors too and fuel. I have a walboro pump, my fuel preasure gauge reads 50psi static at idle. Tuner said its fine he rather tune with high fuel preasure as it makes the injectors duty cycle not work as hard. Only other thing is i have the B&M FPR which honestly doesnt do **** cause it not able to adjust my fuel preasure at all. I have a new oem regulator would it change anything if i put that one on in its place. I been wanting to get the aeromotive regulator but unsure if i really need it since hondata can be tuned to cut fuel correct. Please correct me if i am wrong.

 

you could have a leaking injector.. get an injector tester, prime the fuel rail, and see how much the total pressure drops when you spray each injector..

 

close the gap on your plugs. i had mine at .035. and i was detonating on a hot day. gapped it down to .028 and never had a problem with it ever again. if you had some blow by or your ring lands failed you would know. just gap those plugs down to atleast .032 and check your injectors to make sure their working properly. u could possibly be running to rich? do you have a WBo2 hooked up? if so whats your a/f ratio when this is happening? hope u can get this fixed

 

Well this morning i went to the auto hobby shop we have on base. First i started looking at my plugs again, #1,2,4 looked like they were rich but 3 didnt show anything looked new like not firing. Anyway i moved on to the distributor and a friend pointed out to me that one of the contacts was bent some so the gap there was way off, but i know i am getting spark. Then i started talking to one of the techs they have working there to help guys out, he was pretty knowlegdable. I explain what was going on, and asked me if i did a compression check and i said i was about to was my next thing. Well we started the check here are the results not good. #1 170-175 #2 170 #3 0 #4 175. Well i was thinking the piston rings are bad or the lands, but the thing is its not smoking so the piston should be good. What the tech told me was that i probably have bad valves in that cylinder and all compression that is being mad is just blow out the exhaust and back into the intake. This sounds like a better explanation, and yet still bad but could be worse. I know my injectors are good i am getting spark now its all comes down to that the #3 cylinder isnt making compression and if the rings were bad i still have something wouldnt I? So he said have the head redone and change the valves and valve seals and valve job done.

So now can someone give me a list of what i need to redo the head, i know all the gaskets but dont know about valve train wise? Also were can i get parts either stock valves and upgrade the valve springs to at least typr r springs.

Honestly i can blame this on being boosted, i drove the car pretty hard at times but always kept up with maintence. Just being boost it found the weakest link. So my plan now is to rebuild the head and get the car running again then save up build the bottom end. I dont plan on going over 12psi of boost, so new pistons, rings and rods and possible block guard. I am stationed in Germany so my options are kind of limited unless i can find machine shop that knows how to build honda engines. Anyone know a reputable company maybe i can ship my head to in the states to have it redo and maybe a port and polish? Dammit car only had 90000 miles on, compression seemed pretty good on the other cylinders besides 3 so the bottom end still seems pretty healthy. Get back to me please.

 

bump up, what you guys think

 

Well found the culprit to my problem, burt exhaust valve #3 cylinder.

 

Rough, but not to expensive.... Downtime is my worst enemy with only 1 car...... Hope it see it back on the street.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Greg-s &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Rough, but not to expensive.... Downtime is my worst enemy with only 1 car...... Hope it see it back on the street.</TD></TR></TABLE>
that is soooo true.... but thats why i saved my money and got 2 more

 

damn...#3 valve... how did that happen?

 

damn! thats sure alot worse then wrong gapped plugs be glad you didnt have a turbo when that thing burnt

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by onePOINTsix &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">damn! thats sure alot worse then wrong gapped plugs be glad you didnt have a turbo when that thing burnt </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah i knew it was, why do you say that about having a turbo, you think it would of damaged it? I dont think the pieces blew out, probably just burned away. I have a ITR head on the way in a few days, then have this one sent out and have redone once i can save up some more money. I think it was cause by to much back pressure and heated it so hot it just burned away or maybe the #3 injector was to lean but no other valve shows any other signs besides that one.