Hey guys I am working on a 98 civic ex 500
a little background, last week my buddy was leaving work and the check engine started to flash and and run rough. He drove it about 30 miles like that where we met. I pulled the plug wire and the car didn't change the way it was running, when I went to return the plug wire it sparked out the side and killed the motor. So we did a tune up (spark plugs, wires, cap and rotor) car didn't start checked for spark and there was none. So we replaced the dizzy too and she fired right up and drove. Fast forward 5 days later he goes to a friends house after work, hangs out for a bit comes out to start the car and he says she attempted to start but then went into crank mode. So we got the car to my house I compression test the motor and ice cold it read from #1-4 30,70,120,120 i thought of maybe the walls were glazed from running with a bad miss fire, I added a few drops of oil cranked with the plugs out and the compression restored. I went to try and start and she showed more signs of life and wouldn't start. I checked timing it's good, too good, fuel pressure (40psi on on position) the only way I have been able to start the car was yesterday I completely retarded the dizzy she fired up ran rough until I put the dizzy on the mark and she idles smooth and perfect, when I give it light throttle it revs good. Unfortunately under load it bogs and dies out even in neutral if I floor it or jump from 0-50% throttle. This morning I was only able to start it with the dizzy fully advanced but same issue can't drive under load just bogs and dies. But today it seemed to back fire out the intake and some smoke came out as I was trying to blip the throttle to keep her alive. I then thought maybe the tdc sensor in the dizzy was bad so we swapped it for another re manufactured one and still same frigging issue. The car won't start cold unless I retard or advance dizzy but if I let it warm up I can start it but again with severe bogging while trying to accelerate. Wires are all in correct order.

Please I am stumped. Someone please tell me they've had this issue and found a solution. Thanks.

 

Warped or burnt vales 30 and 70 is way too low replacing valves is cheap and easy 60$ for all 16V and 20$ for the tool to remove/install the keepers. takes maybe a 40 mins(usually less) to do them all, the keepers can be a pita to get seated properly sometimes..

as of now you're basically running on 2 cylinders my civic (when I owned one) did this.


edit:heck even 120 is under the service limit good thing you get all 16v in a box

 

Triple check the mechanical timing and compression test the cylinders again.

 

Already checked everything. I'm gonna do a leak down test today and see from there

 

lol ignore my advice

 

I'm not gonna tear into the head without leak down testing first to see if it's leaking anywhere

 

Good call, even if the valves are suspect the leak down is a non intrusive way to verify the assumption.

 

well lets see...let's say the cylinder wall was cracked to the point where he has 30/70psi in the cyl's I can bet you anything, the thing wouldn't even be able to move. even with a blown HG you don't get 30/70 psi in 2 cyl's then 120 120 in the others see where I'm coming from ?

 

The motor was cold and I believe the car missing so bad for a 40 mile drive glazed the walls. There needs to be oil lubricating the walls to create a better seal. When I put some oil in and cranked it the compression shot through the roof. It hasn't dropped off since. Hence why I am really not suspecting the valves.

The car will start when cold only when I either ffull advance or retard timing and then once it's ran a few minutes I can start it every time. It runs perfect and idle aand when slowly accelerating. But when you blip the throttle or stab the throttle it'll bog if you hold it it'll bog until it dies.

 

So there's the possibility you've cooked your piston rings then, that's not fun to replace not hard but I'm no sure what your mechanical level is. just easier to get a replacement if that's the case. glaze won't drop compression that fast neither will excessive gas causing "wash" of the walls which is permanent unless you hone them. the fact remains that 2 cyls have next to no compression and your other 2 are below the service limit if by chance you did wash the walls to the point of 3070 from the misfire i'll be amazed.

 

Compression is back up it is not that low anymore.

 

If the compression was that bad why would it still be at 180 3 days after the initial test?

 

no clue unless was oil used on the last 2 tests tho if so doesn't count as oil would create the seal needed to get a higher reading, that's why you never want a wet test to give high numbers maybe only 10 psi higher then a dry test.

 

No oil hasn't been used in the last 3 tests. Only one time

 

This sounds like a vacume issue to me. My buddies ek was doin the same thing. would idle ok, die when under load, flashing CEL, changing the timing helped a bit. but ultimatly the problem was a vacume leak on the FPR.

 

A vacuum leak on the fuel pressure regulator?

 

yes, the vacume line had a small split in it, cost .99 cents car has run perfectly since.