Hello, Honda Tech!

I just bought my first Honda, a 97 automatic V6 Accord LX with about 170,000 miles.
It ran great for about a week, and then, after starting the car after a movie, I began having issues. I had washed the car that day, including in the engine bay.

The CEL kicked on, and the car has begun to shake whenever I maintain speed. Cruise Control rocks at making my car shake. If I accelerate or brake, the shaking goes away, but the moment I start maintaining speed, the whole car feels as though it is shaking.

I took it to Autozone and got an OBD reading, and I was told that I had 3 misfiring cylinders. I began going down the checklist, replacing things.
I have now replaced the spark plugs, the plug wires, the distributor cap, the fuel filter, and the rotor. After replacing all of those things, I cleared the computer and took it back, and apparently only one plug is misfiring now, plug 5, but the shaking is worse than ever before.

I'm at my wit's end at this point, so I need a few more ideas. Anyone?

 

Can you check the injector signal on #5?

 

How would I do that? I've done all this work by myself and had a mechanic friend check it to make sure it's good, but I'm still kind of a beginner when it comes to working on them

 

With the car running at idle unplug each spark plug wire individually, one at a time. If you notice an RPM drop and the engine running even worse, that cylinder is most likely working properly.

If you unplug a wire and there is no change, RPMs are the same and the misfiring doesn't get worse, that is one of the cylinders with a problem. This will help you aim your diagnostic dart a little more closely to the bulls-eye.

 

Ahh... Well, I've done that more than once.
Seems like all 6 cylinders affect the way it runs, which leaves only fuel and air as my possible issues...

Which leaves me where I was.

What else is there to replace or test that could cause misfires?

 

The point of the test was to isolate the misfire to a specific cylinder. The test has little to do with determining if the problem is spark air fuel compression or timing.

Do you have access to a Honda scan tool, HDS?

 

No, I don't.

Did another ODB reading today, apparently cylinders 3 and 5 are both misfiring now. I have a feeling that it's only a matter of time till 2 shows up again.

Also changed the ignition coil today, no luck.

 

Obviously it's related to the spraying of water into the engine. I'd guess it's ignition related. Perhaps some water got inside the distributor? I'd start there. Try blowing the **** out of it. Or get a used one from the junkyard.

 

I had already replaced the distributor cap and rotor, and ignition coil.

So, no.

Ended up taking it to Scholfield Honda today, for 85 bucks they did a full diagnostic, found the problem, and took care of it. It was clogged EGR valves.

 

Hi, I have a 95 Accord with the same idle-msifire going on. When I first got the car (used with very low miles) the engine light came on and the code was for a misfire on cylinder 5. I was told by a Honda mechanic to clear the code and see if it came back; if it did, then it would likely be an expensive fix.

Now, 1.5 yrs later, it just began misfiring while idling (4 days ago) and the engine light came on yesterday. The code is again for a misfire on cylinder 5.

I am interested in what the resolution to this issue turned out to be because it might be one in the same. I could pull it in for a compression test, but I'd like to try some other, less expensive options first.

Thanks

 

Amazingly, it's possible for two different cars to have two different causes of their misfires. What's your service history? Tune-ups?

 

Or he could just actually read the guys last post.

 

(Foot & Holmes) - Thanks for both of your helpful comments. I did read the post all th way through, and yes, I get that it might actually be something different in my vehicle. I'm hoping it's not a loss of compression in the cylinder.

As far as service goes, I have only had the car for 1.5 yrs, I am the 3rd owner, and I've done the regualar maitenance like clockwork since I've had it.

I was just interested in the result after installing the part mentioned (did it fix the issue or not). I see now that it did, so Thanks

 

To all: my issue had a different fix, the plug was loose in cylynder 5 (the reported misfiring cylynder) and it burnt out the coil. I replaced the coil, the plug and check all of the others and I am fixed. Good thing it didn't do more damage in the time it had to wiggle loose.

I spoke to the dealership-shop and the guy there said he'd never seen one come loose like that with the low mileage that I have (61k); however, he said he had 2 more in the shop, an '09 and '08, both with the same issue.

So what did I learn? Out of all the posts related to this issue in several forums that I've read, the vast majority are not the more expensive "loss of compression" issue that would result in $2k or more $$ to fix; most are something else, and much cheaper to repair. The things I have seen to check/replace are: coil, plugs, & EGR valve. If all else fails, have a compression test done and see if there a 30% difference between any one cyclnder and the one with the best compression. If that is the case, you will spend more to repair the vehicle.

But even this issue that I had, the loose plug under the coil, if it had come all the way out the cylynder head would've needed replacing at the very least, so time counts. Address it as soon as you notice it.

Peace out-