Recently replaced the headgasket on my d16y8, heat finally works again and no longer overheats. Not 3 days after the replacement it started struggling (Check Engine Light flashing, Rough running, hesitation, jerking when accelerating), hooked my laptop to obd2 and it gave me "P0302 Cylinder 2 missfire".

The weird thing is theres not really a pattern to it. some days it does it struggles, others it doesnt. It also never has a problem once it gets over 3k rpm. Almost always struggles when going uphill though.

Timing is dead on, and it just passed inspected at the honda dealership after i put in the headgasket. Any ideas what to do?

 

whens the last time the plugs, wire, dizzy cap and rotor button were changed?

my car did that a while back.. almost acted like there was a dead spot in it for a while... pilled the cap off and it was burnt to a crisp.

 

Have you checked into the fuel system? When was you last full tune up?

 

havent checked the fuel system, i dont have too much experience with cars so im not sure what that would entail. The headgasket was my first real diy car work, i just used a chilton manual. and the previous owner said he got a tune up before he sold it to me, which would be about 40k miles ago. Although he may have just said that to make it more appealing.

 

to my knowledge they have never been changed.

 

Could of very well lied. Should check to see if you have a leaking or sticky injector in cylinder 2.

 

Would you recommend injector cleaner? Some people on other forums say it helped with a similar problem

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...vron_7080109-p

 

Most likely it has older aftermarket tune up parts. You need OEM Plugs, wires, cap, rotor. Aftermarket plug wires cause a lot of problems.

 

check engine light flashing means catalyst damage is occurring, 99.9% of the time its an ignition problem. there's entirely too much fuel getting to the cat try an ignition tune up will most likely solve your problem. especially under load, under load if you could have a "leaky" plug wire or cracked porcelain on the plugs, spark is jumping to ground causing no burn in that cyl

 

Pull the plug in cyl 2 and post a pic of what it looks like. Why was the hg replaced? Did you have the head checked for warpage?

 

HG was replaced because it was overheating (not quite into the red just to the top of normal), eating coolant, and the coolant smelled like oil. after hg was replaced all those problems were fixed. Heres the best pic i could get of the plug out of cylinder 2

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/2...0212212123.jpg
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/6...0212212111.jpg

 

he means pull the plug out and take a pic of the electrode end.

 

Sorry I meant take it out and post a pic of the electrode end.

 

ok ill go do that, but today i also noticed that the plug almost pops back out when i put it in, not all the way though. just when i pushed it down it pushes itself back up a little bit

 

Heres the electrode end, ill post a video of the plug pushing itself up when it finishes uploading.

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/2...0213121315.jpg
http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/8...0213121230.jpg

 

lol

Not the wire, the actual spark plug itself.

 

LOL, excuse my noobiness, ill go get it out.

 

I think i found the problem, all the plug wires except cylinder 2 almost "click" in when they catch on the spark plug. #2 plug wire is free moving, the wire just slides in and out with no resistance and isnt catching on anything. I did a temporary fix by taking a pair of needlenose pliers and clamping the metal in the plug wire a little tighter. Its running smoothly now, but im going to replace the the plugs/wires. after 145k miles i think its about time...haha

thanks for all the ideas from everyone

 

Makes sense ^ hopefully its just that.