Hey Honda Tech! So I have a feeling my GSR is running rich but I would like to have others opinions and possible solutions. So I have a 00 GSR around 118k miles on it. Typical oil leaks for the b18c which I will be dealing with during spring break since I have no time really. So it has a weapon r intake (gonna get rid of), weapon r header (I will be swapping that out too), and a comptech full exhaust. First start up of the day results in plenty of whitish smoke coming out from back while idling. I believe there's no smoke when I get going but can't really tell since my rear windshield is pretty dirty . While driving local and if I don't power through the gears but instead decide to baby it up to 2.5k-3k rpm before shifting, I feel as if the car bogs/jolts a little (decelerating in a way but with no change to rpm or mph) and I have to gas it a little just to get back to a normal feeling. When I'm cruising downhill or a little incline which requires no pressing on gas pedal, I do what people usually do, ease off the pedal. When doing so I can hear build up within the exhaust resulting in a little back firing/fire ball noise (not sure what a better term would be to describe sound). I know this is a long read, at least it is on my phone. But any ideas what may be the issue and if it is running rich or not? I'll be taking it to my dad's shop to do some compression test on the motor, clean out the IM, check spark plugs, change oil over the weekend so if you guys can throw some ideas for what I should also check, that would be great!

Happy Monday Honda Tech! Sunday is right around the corner haha.

 

Hows your gas mileage? If it runs rich you will see a definite decrease in fuel economy cruising around.

any check engine lights?

White smoke can be from coolant in the ex. You might be getting coolant in the motor. I would check the intake manifold gasket/ seal and see if coolant is leaking in the intake ports.

Sounds like your misfiring in a cylinder. Simple check would be to pull each spark plug wire out while the motor is running and see if the motor dies or stays running, if it stays running when you pull the spark wire then your misfiring on that cylinder.

Check your spark plugs to see if its gapped right for one and if its covered in carbon ect. and replace if needed with a new set of ngk get them for your motor and dont gap them they should be pre gaped already.

Check your timing if you can and know how too to see if the timing is correct and not off.

I doubt those mods to the motor will cause a issue with the motor as long as the timing is correct and the motors compression is consistent.

Again it sounds like a miss fire in a cylinder. If it is check your distributor ignition and rotor. and fuel injectors. Inspect the harness plugs to the injectors to see if any wires are pinched and if the injector is not operating.

 

Ditto the above, mostly.

You can pull the spark plugs and inspect the ends, use a spark plug "color chart"...
http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=spark+...8&tx=122&ty=52 to determine if your running rich

As mentioned, hows the gas mileage?

Also if the car starts easy in the morning, [cold engine] but is hard to start when warm, it is a symptom of running rich, [all the time] possible bad ECT sensor.

What color is the "smoke" coming out of the exhaust?

Although pulling a spark plug lead to find a miss-firing cylinder will work, sometimes, but it can also lead to coil failure, so I do not recommend it, an HEI spark tester is the best way to go, it puts a proper load on the coil, it will also tell you how good the spark is. 94

 

Thanks wunfstgsr and fcm for your insight!

Just reached half full/empty tank and the mileage is around 150. (Did about 110-120 freeway miles so that might explain why it seems average)

There is one CEL I checked about 2 weeks ago regarding VSS if I recall correctly.

I'm strongly leaning towards the possibility of a misfiring cylinder, just got home, parked, turned off stereo, car's rpm was at maybe 1.1-1.2k while idling (strange since it should be well warmed up from my trip back home).

Before the car would start without a problem in the morning, but after warming up, it would also start but as if it barely wanted to turn over, rpm around low 100s and slowly climbs up to normal. (Haven't noticed that recently because I got a new battery since last one died on me. Might have been battery giving a hard time starting).

Smoke coming out from exhaust is pretty much a whitish gray.

Also my dad is a mechanic, so I will have him walk me through pulling spark plugs or through an HEI spark tester. Most likely will be replacing spark plugs, timing belt soon anyways. Will work on oil leaks during spring break since most likely going to have to remove the head and more.

Won't have time to deal with the current worries and issues until Friday or Saturday. Hopefully nothing severe will happen until then since I do drive at least 30 miles a day round trip just for school. I will keep updates coming when necessary since I always appreciate the input and knowledge given from the community.

 

Just checked my spark plugs today, all seemed to be good except the one from first cylinder which was leaning towards the toasted side lol but overall, not the issue according to my dad. I do have an active CEL p0122 which is low input from the TPS. Will be dealing with that over the weekend at another shop. But I've had that CEL for over 2 months which at some point it went off but reappeared. Filled up the tank today which came to 9.25 gallons of premium, mileage was only 245 I would say. (The first half of the tank always seem to get the best mileage in every car I've drove haha)

 

whitish grey smoke is from a bad MAP sensor most of the time. i have seen it from other things like a bad fuel injector keeping one cylinder rich and the rest running lean but most of the time it has been a bad MAP sensor.

 

Troubleshoot, and eliminate any ECU faults one at a time and all your problems will go away.

 

Crazed
I've been having the same issue on my rebuilt gsr. I have solid compression on all cylinders and the motor passed a leak down test. I'm not burning coolant. Timing is dead on.

everything is new except my map sensor. Ill change it out later this week and let you know results, if not that I'm going for injectors

 

This is the plan and hopefully all goes well!

Hopefully for me it's also just the map sensor which will be a cheap fix. Either way, going to have to troubleshoot my CEL first. Then I will do a complete tune up and rebuild my motor over spring break.

 

in your case i think a good portion of the fire ball and wierd bogging would be from the vehicle speed sensor. i used to have similar issues before i fixed mine

 

seems like a bad fuel filter to me

 

i have brand new fuel filter and still have the issue.

map sensor gets here tomorrow. ill let you know if it fixes the issue.

 

Spent the morning trying to figure out the issue. Turns out to be a bad TPS that I will be replacing soon

 

Thanks for the update. Always nice to hear the answer -- so many of these threads just end with no word from the OP!

 

Hah no problem! Just trying to give out a possible cause and solution to guys who experience similar symptoms as my car did. Although in some cases, the description I gave out clearly described many possible causes. I just simply helped add another possible cause to the list!