I need to figure out what's wrong with my car asap. I'm stranded in another town over 100 miles away and need to be back to work tomorrow at 5. So I'm going to be wrenching all day hopefully getting this thing figured out. My CRX yesterday started misfiring or something. The car has been driving pretty good since I got it. Motor pulls pretty strong, doesn't burn or leak any oil. Also hasn't lost a drop of anti-freeze since I bought it. Anyways while on the highway it would just stumble real bad and act like it was hitting a brick wall. I would often turn the car off in motion (CEL or not) and then after I started it back up I would downshift and it would pull just fine.

Now a mechanic looked at it and thinks it's my headgasket or rings. Now the oil/coolant are not mixing and I don't think it would be low compression because like I said the motor pulled just like it usually does once I shut it off and back on right away. However it will continue to do so again afterwards.

It's been acting up a little bit over the past week. Just kind of stumbling on throttle and a little jerky, however now it's to the point where the car is not even drivable. I'm certain the motor is healthy! I'm going to run a compression test, but I figure it's got to be something electrical or fuel related. Oh we are getting spark, however when you pull the spark plug completely out of one of the cylinders with the car running. it doesn't even start to die like it does if you pull the other three out. Yet it still arcs and seems to be getting great spark.

Sorry for not searching more but this is pretty urgent and I need to get it figured out quick. Could it also be a bad ECU? Car has 210k miles. Stock CRX SI d16a6. As far as I know, the only code I'm throwing is a code 1 and it only comes on when I drive on the highway at continous RPMs for a while.

 

Does it seem like its misfiring really bad?

Does the car have problems starting now?

When the problem started, did it only occur here and there, and gradually got worse?

Has the car ever just shut off since the problem started, especially when parked/idle?

I had all that happen to me on two different cars, and it was the coil both times.

On a third car I had somewhat similar symptoms after giving the motor a bath, turns out there was water in the spark plug tube which was causing the spark to ground in to the head...found this out by having my hand on the cylinder head as my brother was trying to start the car. :\

 

i would check out the distributor and see if you or getting spark, if not probally the coil or igniter

 

Code 1 is a bad ECU. Just for clarification, you are looking at the LED on the ECU for the code, correct?

 

I thought code 0 was dead ECU and code 1 was o2?

Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) System Indicated
0 Engine Control Module (ECM)
1 Heated Oxygen Sensor (HO2S)
3 Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP Sensor)
4 Crankshaft Position (CKP Sensor)
6 Engine Coolant Temperature (ECT Sensor)
7 Throttle Position (TP Sensor)
8 Top Dead Center Position (TDC Sensor)
9 No. 1 Cylinder Position (CYP Sensor)
10 Intake Air Temperature (IAT Sensor)
13 Barometric Pressure (BARO Sensor)
14 Idle Air Control (IAC Valve)
15 Ignition Output Signal
16 Fuel Injector
17 Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS)
20 Electrical Load Detector (ELD)
21 Variable Valve Timing & Valve Lift Electronic Control Solenoid Valve (VTEC Solenoid Valve)
22 Variable Valve Timing & Valve Lift Electronic Control Pressure Switch (VTEC Pressure Switch)
23 Knock Sensor (KS)
30 A/T FI Signal A
31 A/T FI Signal B
41 Heated Oxygen Sensor (HO2S) Heater
43 Fuel Supply System

ECU just blinks the same pattern. Even with the check engine light not on, it still blinks repeatedly. Not sure about that. I've only messed with OBD1-2 before.

Also, we replaced the cap, o2 sensor, plugs, wires and fuel filter. It is running better now, however it still stumbles on acceleration. The cylinder we would pull the wire from and it would keep running like it was no longer does that. Any more input would be great. Fortunately I think it's running decent enough where I can drive it back home.

 

The misfire seems to have gone away. The number 2 cylinder seems to be firing and kicking fine now. However like I said it still stumbles on acceleration. The car doesn't have starting issues nor has it shut off while parked or idling.

 

My bad, you are correct.

 

It's all good. Whatever ignition issue we had I believe is fixed. I drove it about 20 miles last night and it was running pretty good. It seems to drive more normally now however it STILL hiccups quite a bit. I'm leaning towards the coil in the dizzy or a fuel problem. The fuel filter literally was pouring out gas that looked like rust, so I know the fuel tank is probably disgusting. Might just try and find a set of obd0 injectors and order a new fuel pump off eBay for $30 shipped. Probably wouldn't hurt to put a new fuel pump in. It did seem to clear up a little bit more with some fuel cleaner. I'm going to keep doing this to see if it gets any better still.

 

Ok. I put a brand new distributor in and it was still acting up. However now, the car seems to run better. I put another bottle of fuel system cleaner through and it seems to be clearing up. It seems to run best when cold now, and once it warms up it starts to start sputtering a little bit under acceleration. This car is weird and it's really starting to annoy me. Could it be just really dirty fuel?

 

Does it sputter only under a limited RPM range or is it across the entire RPM band?

 

It's hard to tell. I finally put a muffler on it and it's about ten times quieter then open cat, therefore harder to diagnose the sputter. It seems to move all across the powerband, however it still seems a bit hesitant at times. It's gotta be dirty fuel. Which OBD1 injectors would flow the exact same as A6 injectors? If I replace them I might as well convert.