I have a 95 Accord with the 2.2 non vtec engine with 21x,xxx miles that is giving me problems and I am about out of ideas. It will start and run fine when cold, and as long as I don't touch the accelerator it usually does fine. Once I take the rpm's somewhere around 2000 rpm it will start misfiring from then on out until the engine is cold again. It is misfiring on #1 only as diagnosed by pulling the injector plugs off one at a time to see which one didn't make a difference. I have verified that the injector is receiving pulse from the ECU, I have checked the resistance of the injectors and it is the same as the others, and I have stuck a screwdriver and I can hear the injector clicking. I have verified that there is spark getting to #1. I have swapped #2 and #1 plug wire and it doesn't follow the plug wire, I also did the same with the plugs. I have checked compression and they are as follows:
1 165
2 175
3 175
4 170
These numbers are with a questionable battery. I have tried unplugging the vacuum line that goes to the EGR valve with no change. I also tried spraying ether into the vacuum lines on the end of the intake, no help, actually bogs the engine down. I don't really know what to check next. I thought maybe the valves on that cylinder could be tight but you would think that would be reflected in the compression check. Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

Cap, rotor, plugs new ? Have you cleaned the egr ports ?

 

The cap, rotor and plugs are not new. However I did test for spark with a spark tester and it tested good, so theoretically they are good. I also swapped plugs with a good cylinder with no change. I have not cleaned the egr ports. Since I plugged off the vacuum line going to the egr valve would clogged ports still affect it running?
Thanks

 

Plugging off the line going to the egr valve will make it worse. Clean the ports and see if that helps.

 

Could you explain to me how the EGR system works on this particular engine? I was under the understanding that the valve is actuated by a vacuum signal applied by an electric solenoid. So I figured when I blocked off the vacuum to the valve that I would take it out of the equation and it should act as if it had no EGR at all. Is that correct or am I way off?

 

I believe I may have stumbled on the problem. I think it is actually 2 problems. I started the car up today with the vacuum line plugged that goes to the egr valve and it ran fine. Let it idle for a couple of minutes, all was fine. Took it out for a little spin, no problems. Popped the hood and hooked the egr valve back up and got back in the car and revved it up around 2k and it almost instantly started misfiring. Here is what I think it happening:
The egr valve is malfunctioning, for whatever reason when it decides to open it is sticking open. On top of that most likely all the egr ports in the intake are clogged except #1 which would make sense since it is the farthest from the egr valve. So when it sticks open it is pulling a lot of exhaust gasses into the #1 intake runner; not enough oxygen=no fire. I will pull it all down and clean it, hopefully that is all it needs.

 

It's more than likely not the EGR valve that is malfunctioning, it is more than likely the EGR solenoid that is causing the valve to remain open at idle when it shouldn't be. It is mounted on the drivers side shock tower. If it is allowing vacuum to the EGR valve at idle, it's not working properly.

If the EGR ports were clogged in the intake manifold than it would be hard for there to be an excess of gasses in the combustion chamber causing the misfire at idle.

If you can find yourself a PDF of the Accord shop manual it would help you greatly with this issue. There are free downloads available for the 94 Accord that follow the same steps that will work for the 95-96.

 

Do this. Disconnect the connector for the egr valve. Warm the car up. Drive around until the check engine light comes on. This is actually what you want.

When the light comes on and the car drives fine then the issue is egr related.

At that point clean the egr ports, the egr valve and apply battery to the egr solenoid until it clicks and spray it out with some carb cleaner. It would be wise to get a new egr valve gasket.

 

He already stated that he had the vacuum line disconnected from the EGR valve and it ran fine. Then once he hooked it back up, it started to misfire again. In this case I would assume that the vacuum line from the EGR solenoid to the EGR lift valve is providing vacuum at idle, when it shouldn't be.

 

Its possible it could be a coincidence with another unrelated issue. I just want to be sure.

 

 

I figured it out. The owner said that the car had started doing it ever since he had someone change the brake master cylinder for him. I figured it was a coincidence since he also said it had set for over a month before that. Today I pulled the vacuum hoses off the egr solenoid and blew in them to see if there was some leakage in it. I then noticed that if I blew into the line that came from the egr valve that I couldn't blow into it. Then I blew into the intake side and there was no restriction. I thought that was a little strange, seemed backwards to me. I then noticed on the other side of the hard pipe that the numbers didn't match up with the lines I had took off. So what had happened was whoever changed the master cylinder unhooked those 2 lines to gain easier access. When they were finished they hooked up the 2 lines backwards, which in all fairness would be a pretty easy mistake to make since they are right next to each other. So what was happening was that when the solenoid was closed there was actually a vacuum leak since the intake side line was being vented to atmosphere. Whenever the computer called on the egr valve to open the solenoid would connect the 2 lines and the valve would open, just like it is supposed to do. However, when the solenoid closed it acted like a check valve for the egr valve and held a vacuum to the egr valve. Long story short I verified it by keeping it hooked up the wrong way until it started to misfire. I then unplugged the vacuum line from the intake and plugged it. Engine was still missing. I then took off the vacuum line right at the egr valve and right away it idled perfectly. Then I hooked everything up the correct way and took it for a 30 min. drive and it ran fine. I think I will still clean up the egr passageways since it would appear that at least one passageway is clogged. Thanks everyone for the help!

 

Just as an update I pulled the egr passage cover on the intake and it was just as I suspected. #2,3,4 cylinders were plumb clogged shut and #1 was 50% clogged. So I guess that is why I only had a misfire on #1. All is cleaned now and it is running great.