Sup guys,

I have a 93 Del sol S 150kish miles, ran pretty good up untill few days ago, the first glance of the problem was a few weeks ago, heading down the interstate with A/C on and my car just seemed like it lost power(not that the 1.5 has any to start with), I had it floored and would slowly loosing speed, kicked off the A/c and she begin to pick up speed again, I turned on the A/C again and seemed to be fine for a week or so after that.

Well few days ago It did it again, except this time it hasn't stopped, its almost like its running on 3 cylinders. Okay, So what I have down so far:
I checked each plug to see if their are firing(check),
Changed plug wires, plugs, coil, cap and rotor and still the problem exists,
once again its like it has no power,very very slow throttle response and almost dies when you come to a stop or rev up and let off. About a month ago I changed the fuel pump after it went out and didn't have a problem till now, recently I did have a main relay issue and I changed that as well.
The fact that the issue came up and went away tends to lead me away from any internal problem Ie compression or timing(I checked with light as well).
I read on another forum concerning a fuel pump grounding out and causing load issues but highly doubt that's whats going on here.
Next I guess I am going to change dizzy and igniter,
I am at a loss....

PS I have always had massive oil usage/leakage

Anyone else have or had a similar problem? or have any suggestions? Sorry for long post

 

When you changed the spark plugs, was there oil on the plugs? If so that can cause improper ignition, or too much blow by, hence the loss of power. Either way check compression, each cylinder pressure sure not vary more than a certain % of each other.

 

UPDATE:

Well I checked compression today, each cylinder is 90-100 psi, which seems pretty low, I was thinking 150-170 would be the compression but guess i was wrong, BUT! the Number 2 cylinder is reading 0, yes 0. I rechecked it three times and will not build pressure, I added oil and still no compression, correct me if I am wrong but doesn't this indicate a stuck valve? or actually its not seating right

 

damn 0 compression?ur lucky the car still runs lol, hopefully its something simple as stuck valve.

 

Was 90-100psi max pressure or just one bump? probable cause on #2 cyl. head gasket, head warp, bent valves, rings, or worst case senario: bent valve and a hole in your piston.

 

Sadly that compression was 4 or 5 seconds or revolutions of engine, and 100 was max, really dont think its a had gasket, I know head gaskets can blow in many many ways and sometimes it can be so small its hardly noticeable but other then lots of oil usage/consumption there has never been a water/oil issue. Stuck valve or improper seating seems more plausible because it presented as a problem then stop presenting, if it was head gasket or rings blown it would have been a constant problem, imo.

So I am thinking its a bad seating valve and wana main line some sea foam, any suggestions on best way to mainlineing it? Thinking about spraying it thru intake but not sure if there is a better way.

 

Let's just say there's carbon build up keeping your valve to stay open, I've rebuild many many cars and I can tell you it takes quite a bit of time to polish those valve to remove carbon build up. Sea Foam isn't going to remove them. If it was a stuck valve, then it's probably bent anyways; pull you head off. don't waist your time with sea foam, fix it right. 30-45 minutes to pull the head. I don't want to dis heart you in hoping for a quick fix, by all means try it. I would just rather invest that money toward parts that is a guarantee fix.

 

Totally understand your point, and yea caked on carbon is and can be a pain to remove even with power tools but sea foam works great for minor build up and if that doesn't work than of course will try that. As have I rebuilt many motors and as you and everyone probably knows any time anyone trys and do a 1/2 rebuild, IE just rebuild head or just replace main/rods rings, then the other half will soon go. Rebuilding bottom ends and not top or vise versus will ultimately lead to other end failing thus why I am trying to avoid rebuilding entire engine.

 

UPdate::

Well I pulled off the top timing belt cover to check some timing marks and it the belt was pretty loose, spun it around and checked marks. Sure enough the marks were a little off, about 1 tooth I would say, at no point did it feel as it was binding or hitting but cant say for sure if it ever hit. Correct me if I am wrong but timing belt being off 1 tooth wouldn't not prevent 1 cylinder from pressurizing would it? I have changed belts before on other honda's and put them on 1 tooth off and I know it runs like sh#$ when that happens but that would be because of incorrect timing not compression would it not?
Anyways, So i tried to use the short cut method and slip the belt off the cam and move it and put it back but couldn't get it to go on without moving the crank, so I decided to remove the belt and replace it since I was already half way there anyway. I dont have a air compressor and i know removing the crank shaft bolt is a pain in the arss without one but I have made due before, as I have done countless times before I stuck a tool in the cam shaft pulley(the Holes that are on the outside of it) and attempted to loosen the bolt well without very little pressure administered the belt snapped. :0 Glad it snapped now and not while I was doing 70, that would surely mean a rebuilt head and bottom end.

So tomorrow I will replace the belt and possible the water pump and put it back together enough to check compression, I hope a valve didnt get bent, if so I guess I will be pulling the head as well....

Will Keep you guys updated.

 

You are correct, 1 tooth off would not cause the #2 cyl. pressure to become 0.

 

So my question is, was the timing belt off 1 tooth and the burnt/stuck valve a coincidence? Has the tooth been off by 1 since I picked up the car? I had a 90 crx si before the del sol and the power difference was crazy, Was that lack of power from the 1.5 from the incorrect belt installation, although I just thought it was the 1.5 being weak?
Hmm makes me think.

Now that i think of it, the same cylinder that is reading 0 pressure is the one that constantly fouls out plugs and always has oil on the plug. These two symptoms have to be related!

 

Sounds like the motor has been run low on oil too many times causing some siezing of that valve... check out those lobes on the cam, if they are all grooved up then this motor has seen some lack of oil/oil pressure dry conditions. If youve got 0 psi in that cylinder and you have oil on the plug, shes done.Time for an upgrade.

 

Well the Lobes on the cam don't look damaged at all, but today I changed the timing belt and went ahead and did the water pump as well but absolutely no change at all, so 99.9 percent sure its a burnt valve. So I am kinda at a loss at what to do, I really don't want to rebuilt a 1.5 non vtech....and I don't wana yank the head off and just do the valves when I know for sure in a month or so the rings will crumble into many many pieces.....Hmmm

Does the d16z6 bolt to the 1.5 tranny? and or would i have to get a vtech controller or just a whole z6 ecu if i went z6 ?

Any suggestions no b16, b18s though I cant afford all that.... :0

 

UPDATE:!!!

Well I got around to pulling the head off today and was not really surprised by what I saw...Check the pictures out, almost 100 percent sure that gigantic hole should'nt be in that valve and besides the hole, there is SOOOO much build up, wow like 1/4 inch thick on other valves lol.

 

I forsee.....a mini me build

 

Wow that was on a running car lol^^

 

Valve out of the car.....

 

Update:

Well,. I redid the valves,(changed broke one, removed,cleaned and laped them all) changed guide seals, head gasket, water pump and timing belt. Runs a lot better then it did even before the valve mishap but now unfortunately when the car sets over night it smokes like a steam engine when first started up. Obviously this is a valve guide seal problem but not sure what I could have done wrong. After it runs for 10 mins or so it doesn't smoke at all. Other then that its doing pretty well.

Ps took me at least 10 hours to remove and polish 16 valves......