Ok here is the time line.

One I bought the car and a cel came on for the ECT( engine coolant temprture sensor) changed the it and still the cel came back on for the same thing.
changed the fuel filter just for maintence then last saturday i drove my car to walmart and it drove fine. When I got back in it started up funny like it was only running on three pistons. So I got it home and let it sit and looked at the spark plugs(they were all fouled up) then I pull the wires while the car was running and the piston second from the dizzy did not really bog down the engine?The next day I got it to the mech and it drove fine there but they still said that the cel light needed some work to get it working. So I went and pick the car up and it was driving funny again so I went to Auto zone and got some of those pre-gaped bosh spark plugs and changed them but it still felt like it running on three pistons. So today I changed the dizzy and the rotor cap there was a little improvement but not much.
Can running a car on priemium gas while the car is running rich burn a hole in the piston.?any ideas as to what this could be.

 

one, start by getting some ngk plugs / wires. never put bosh in a honda. two dont go to the zone, the people there all around the world have no clue what a [freak]ing car is. go to advance auto parts. there they will take care of you.

 

um I dont live anywere near one. And I know for a fact that statment is not true, I used to work for advance auto. My boss started crying at a meeting once.(sad to see a 40 year old man crying.)because people were making fun of him and he didnt know anything about cars. I only have AZ ad Napa and there a bunch of jerks over there. They treat me like a rich kid that dont deserve anything. I am not rich at all bought my car with a $2000 loan and $1500 I saved up so I will never go back there for anything!

 

He's got a valid point, so I wouldn't argue. Nationwide, Autozone employees are retarded. The only reason to shop there is if you need an exact part and you don't require assistance, ie light bulbs, filters, oil, antifreeze, washer fluid, etc. If you think this is false, walk in and ask for MTF like GM Syncromesh, Penzoil Syncromesh, or Honda MTF. They will try to sell you some Castrol GTX 5w-30, and say that's what all manual transmissions use. Or try this, ask for an alternator for a 1988 Prelude. They'll ask you Si or Se. Swallow your pride and avoid the headache, just go back to NAPA.

Anyway, it sounds like one of your cylinders isn't firing sometimes (you pulled a plug wire with no result means it wasn't firing to begin with). Replacing the wires as ^^he^^ suggested would be your best bet.

 

The bosch spark plugs are complete junk. At least for any of my hondas. Either buy them online or get them from the dealership. You want the NGK. My wife's car felt the exact same with the bosch platinums.

 

As others have recommended i would also recommend changing your sparkplugs to NGK s , i have always run them in both my Hondas with no problems. If that doesnt make a difference to how you prelude is running i would either get a new set of oem leads or a high quality brand. You get what you pay for with leads. Hope that sorts the problem out for you. Goodluck

 

go with ngk plugs. i used bosch +4 once and they all fouled out inside a month. especially on h-motors, oil burn tends to foul them very quick.

 

Running rich will cause the Catalytic to run really hot. The cat needs some fuel to work, so all engines run on the rich side of the perfect mix. If you run lean, the cat cools, but the engine (head) temperature goes up dramatically. The same thing happens if spark is advanced too far and you get knocking.

Were all plugs fouled... or just the one cylinder? If mostly just one cylinder, maybe a stuck injector - or maybe the ECU output is bad. If you have some ambition, I would consider swapping two of the injectors to see if the problem follows the injector. You already hit the distrib cap - which is where I would have started as it sounds like a misfire.

The coolant temp is pretty easy to check - it simply changes resistance as the temp changes. I am not certain of the Honda, but I have seen a typical 1500 ohms at 70 deg F and 350-450 ohms at operating temp. I should NOT jump around. I had one go bad on another car and it measure OK, but then would move around a bunch and then stabilize again. - that causes fits for the ECU. The temp sensor for the ECU is separate from the one for the dash. If ECU thinks the engine is cold, you always have the "choke" on as ECU feeds extra fuel. Mileage will suck and plugs foul.

Other possibilities that come to mind - bad coil causing weak spark. Magnetic pickup on distrib having problems.

Finally - my favorite answer - if the car has been running like this for some time, keep an eye on the cat getting plugged and also the O2 sensor will get too hot in addition to lead (even in unleaded fuel) accelerating its demize. The fuel system relies heavily on the O2 sensor for making fuel adjustments. This might be a problem if you have more than 100K miles, and much more likely after 150-200K miles.