Well, this should be interesting for all of you out there with minimal issues. My car has been out of commission for a good while now because I just got tired of it. It lost 3rd and 4th gear headaches. Well, I put in a new tranny and all was great for my 5 minute test run. Then, I ran into the issues....


Misfiring: The car started misfiring after one good rev into vtec. Its a very random misfire as its not consistently in one cylinder, but its very consistent. To remedy the issue I changed out plugs, cap, rotor, distributor, and eventually ignitions. I ended up putting my msd ignition back in and am still getting a misfire. Its been somewhat limited to cylinders 2 and 3. Plugs show gas and all the usual misfire signs. Ive been using a timing light to monitor it all.

Replaced:
Fuel filter
Ignition
Distributor
cap
rotor
plugs

Fire: Well, today I was trying to crank the car and some very unusual stuff started happening. The starter quit functioning. The solenoid would click furiously and this has me wondering. So, I jumped the battery hoping it was just low as I havent driven it much since november and the battery is old. So, I tried to start it up again and I got the same clicking. This time accompanied by the speedo shooting up to 100mph while the tach sat still. Then, some smoke. I checked everything after pulling all power to it. I couldnt locate the smoke. So, I replicated the problem. EH... Kinda had too.. I then found the FIRE. The foam surround just above my acceleraor(gas) pedal in the firewall area was on fire. Theres a white plastic protective cover for wires I am about to take off to see if it was a wire in there that caused it, but preliminary observations are a no. I am just trying to figure out how this thing is catching on fire and whats causing it.


If its not a small problem, its about 5 large ones. Thats life right? Anyone have any ideas, input, suggestions?

 

something is wrong in your electrical system that is causing all your problems. I dont know where to start. My guess would be that a hot wire is grounding out somewhere and pulling more amperage than the wires can handle. This will drain power from other parts of your car (ignition), and explains the fire. If i were you, I would take the dash off and look for damaged wires. It's not necessarily a damaged wire causing it, but that's the best place to start.

 

I am going to have to agree something is wrong in my electrical system. I am unsure if the two issues are related, but wouldnt venture to say its unlikely.. After checking the wiring to the best of my ability visuallyI found nothing. Ive yet to check all 200+ wires with the multimeter. Ive actually narrowed it down to the starter though. Now, the solenoid is grounded out. I tried to crank it once more thinking i might see some arching after no luck visually finding it. I got no arching, my speedo problem went away and to make it worse my starter did not click, or attempt to turn over. To me it sounds like the starter relay is fried. To further test my observations, I hooked up a wire running from the starter power to the solenoid and it still wouldnt fire over. I checked to make sure the power wire had power, check! So, I think the solenoid wire must be grounded out good. Is that normal? I figured it wouldnt be grounded when not powered, but its possible. To make sure it wasnt my starter being gone, I actually pulled it and tested on the battery with jumper cables. It works fine. Then, I reinstalled the starter and connected the power, but left the solenoid wire disconnected and jumpered it. Sure enough, it fired right up. So, the solenoid wire is grounded out. Not sure if thats normal, but also no sure its wrong... lil help with that.

Heres what I am thinking. I think the starter relay overheated causing this whole fire and no longer functioning from holding it down for a prolonged period of time. It still doesnt make sense of what was going on with the speedo..... Much less the whole misfiring issues.

 

did you check your main relay? Personally I really think your problems are related, but either way, the wiring needs to be addressed first.

 

no wires got pinched or pulled on while you did the tranny swap did they?

 

I'm having the same problem with my car, but I'm having random misfire in all 4 cyclinders. Its wierd, but my car still runs, but runs ruff. It all started happening after I changed my fuel filter. Its been happening for about 2 months now. If anyone can figure this out, I would apprieciate it.

 

sounds like me and prelude1897 have the exact same issue... Its a very random misfire... Thanks for the suggestions guys...anymore help?


rjr... No, no wires were pinched... Ive thoroughly checked that already as i thought it might be the culprit...

 

does the car misfire from start or does it wait until the car is at temperature, or after say a rigorous drive?

 

Mine does it straight from the start. Sometimes when I'm driving and I let it out of gear and put it into netural, my car dies

 

I am 100% we share this problem. Did you use a timing light to find out that its very random and they all misfire just as I did?

The car makes a very odd noise when under load.... Its like you open the throttle, but it just isnt working as it should be. No power and cant rev above about 4500rpms. Well, you can but the car cuts so bad its not worth it.

Edit: After talking with Ludeykrus over the phone earlier I figured some things out I guess... The fire part possibly anyways... Although I meant to call him for other reasons, it went right to car talk.. Damn you Chase... Still have the misfiring and still think I might have other issues. Ill get back to work tomorrow afternoon I assume and hope. I have this weekend and am praying I get this thing running right... $2.30 a gallon and a truck that gets 12-15mpg just isnt cutting it...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JTCdudeman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Edit: After talking with Ludeykrus over the phone earlier I figured some things out I guess... The fire part possibly anyways... Although I meant to call him for other reasons, it went right to car talk.. Damn you Chase... Still have the misfiring and still think I might have other issues. Ill get back to work tomorrow afternoon I assume and hope. I have this weekend and am praying I get this thing running right... $2.30 a gallon and a truck that gets 12-15mpg just isnt cutting it... </TD></TR></TABLE>

Haha, of course. We both ALWAYS have a bunch of car problems to bitch about; it's just natural to bitch about it to the one person I know that actually understands what the hell i'm explaining!

I just thought I'd also mention that you may wanna try checking the TPS voltage on the readout on your VAFC, if you still have it in there.

 

You didn't accident forget to reconnect any of the vacuum lines?

It's also possible that your problem is a bad EGR or ACIV...

Clean the EGR valve completely with a wire brush and carb cleaner.

It's possible that the issue just coinsides with your tranny work.

Gerhard

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JTCdudeman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am 100% we share this problem. Did you use a timing light to find out that its very random and they all misfire just as I did?

The car makes a very odd noise when under load.... Its like you open the throttle, but it just isnt working as it should be. No power and cant rev above about 4500rpms. Well, you can but the car cuts so bad its not worth it.

Edit: After talking with Ludeykrus over the phone earlier I figured some things out I guess... The fire part possibly anyways... Although I meant to call him for other reasons, it went right to car talk.. Damn you Chase... Still have the misfiring and still think I might have other issues. Ill get back to work tomorrow afternoon I assume and hope. I have this weekend and am praying I get this thing running right... $2.30 a gallon and a truck that gets 12-15mpg just isnt cutting it... </TD></TR></TABLE>

I took my car to AutoZone and they checked the code for me for free, and I also did the check myself by jumping the code from inside the car. Same thing both times.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gerhard &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You didn't accident forget to reconnect any of the vacuum lines?

It's also possible that your problem is a bad EGR or ACIV...

Clean the EGR valve completely with a wire brush and carb cleaner.

It's possible that the issue just coinsides with your tranny work.

Gerhard</TD></TR></TABLE>

Whats the ACIV and where is it located?

 

Iacv-Idle air control valve, its across from the fuel rail, infront of the intake manifold

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PrettyLude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Iacv-Idle air control valve, its across from the fuel rail, infront of the intake manifold</TD></TR></TABLE>

I thought thats what he meant was IACV not ACIV I cleaned out my EGR valve and changed my plugs, and still having the same problem. I guess I'll see if cleaning the IACV will do anything


Modified by prelude1897 at 4:48 AM 3/26/2005

 

I figured I would take a minute to update. Still no CEL codes.

The Fire: Caused by my valve cover ground strap breaking in two. Thus, the only ground up top to be found was actually the accelerator wire. Thus, the engine grounded itself inside the cabin. Sound wacky? Well, now my gas pedal sticks, the cable drags and it looks as if I am going to have to replace it. It now feels like a Ford cable. Stiff....


Misfiring: Still unable to solve the problem. Misfiring is very prominent. EGR has been blocked off for over a year. Doubt cleaning it would make a bit of a difference. IACV wouldnt explain it, but I cleaned it at 7am just to rule it out because someone suggested it. 3rd distributor off of my sisters prelude yielded same results as I hoped somehow it might have been a sensor slightly off. 1 by 1 I cross off my list and hope today is the end of this junk. Last effort resort is me going to the gas station once I drain the tank dry and pray... Then, back to cursing the wiring. Anymore suggestions? Anything reasonable will be considered.

 

for the misfiring,

remove the ignition and replace the coil. if you can go back to stock ignition and coil.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Shakes &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">for the misfiring,

remove the ignition and replace the coil. if you can go back to stock ignition and coil.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wheres the ignition at? I don't have a helms or anything like that to tell me where everything is. I lost my Helms cd a little while ago

 

if you are using an aftermarket ignition you will know where its at. stock ignition is just in your computers program.

 

OK.... More updates because this will get fixed...

Drained 4 gallons of gas... Replaced with all new 93 octane gas.. Then, drove it up to the gas station... Car will not go above 4500 rpms... Its just bogs out bad... It bogs and misfires throughout the entire rpm band, including idle. There is very little power. Its like driving a geo metro running on 2 cylinders. It does fire in all 4 cylinders, but it also misses in all 4 cylinders.

Pulled the plugs after my 6 mile round trip. They look like an exhaust manifold after 10 years of carbon buildup. Running EXTREMELY rich. Carbon is so new it does just wipe off though, but the entire plug including the tip is solid black.

Misfiring at idle is very random. At 2k rpms misfiring is much more prominent in cylinders 1 and 2. Notably, cylinder 1 skips 3 out of 5 fires or so at 3k rpms. Cylinder 2 misses 2 in 5.. and the other 2 cylinders miss occasionally.

Stock ignition was put back in the car, yielded same results as described. Then, switched back to MSD ignition and coil. No change.

 

change ECU's?

 

I'm tellin ya dude, check on the O2 sensor and TPS. Sounds a lot like what happened when my TPS plug broke, and when I was throwin a code on the O2.

 

I'm pretty much having the same issue as far as choaking at low rpms and no power. But mine only does it when you first put a load on it. Like if you just take it a little above 1500 RPM is starts to sound as if it's going to die. But when you gas it .. it does fine. It'll hit Rev. Limiter with no problems. But when drove.. there's no HP at all. Like stated earlier.. It's a Metro. I replaced my MSD with stock iginition, changed MAP sensor and hooked up my snap-on to read the codes... Got Rear O2 and MAP (before I changed it), rear O2 due to the fact that there's no Muffler. So my next change will be TPS.

 

I think I figured out what mine was. I forgot that when I put a new fuel filter in, I didn't put a bottom washer, I only put a top washer, so now I have a top and bottom washer, and it doesn't seem to misfire anymore. Thats why I was having lack of fuel