Hi over a year ago my wife was driving our prelude and the check engine light started flashing. The engine had a really bad misfire but still ran. Just so everyone knows I'm no expert on cars but love to learn and figure things out. Anyways after a little checking it seems to me like cylinder #3 is dead. When its running I've pulled the plug and nothing changes. Also did a compression test and that cylinder had 0 compression. After getting to that point I just parked it and we got a different car. We don't need the prelude because we both have vehicles. I bought the car when I was 19, am 32 now, it had 79k on it when I got it now has 280k. I'm in no rush but I'm looking for a project. Any tips on where to start.

 

Pull the engine, tear it down and find out what is dead on cylinder 3. Probably a piston with broken ringlands. Depending on the year and model, probably easier to just buy a jdm engine and swap it, especially if you have the complete drivetrain in the car to match parts as needed.

 

You could leakdown test it and see if it's just a valve. Then you only have to pull the head and replace the valve.