I got a strange problem, and I'm trying to pinpoint the origin. When I drive, without putting full charge acceleration, just steadily, I run on two or three cylinders. It only happens when thes conditions are gathered:
1. It's between 2000 and 2600rpms.
2. It's only when I don't give it more throttle in order to acclerate.
3. Only when I'm in gear. Never on neutral.

My mechanic told me it could be either because my FPR was too rich or because I had too much retard.

I brought the FPR back down to factory specs (37psi) and the problem remains.
I didn't try setting the cam gear back to 0°. Right now I have 8 °crank retard, but I doubt it is in cause.

Do you guys have any clue as to what would be the problem? This is on an OBD1 F22B1.

Please also note that distributor and cap, as well as wiring and plugs are two weeks old.

Thanks for your help. I hate the shaking it gives on the road.

 

Alright, now I've brought the cam gear back to 0°, and the distributor back to the middle also.

It only makes the problem worst, and + , I have the cold idle shifting up and down from 1500 to 1700rpm, and when heated up, when I stop at a light, say, I get the same sort of shifting from 1000 to 1500rpm, with a bunch of backfires. Then after a minute or 2, it sort of stabilizes to around 1200, but still backfiring a lot, making the idle pretty rough. Then a few minutes later, it finally smoothes out a little down to a 1000rpm.

I'm beginning to think the cam retard as well as the higher fuel pressure was covering up another problem.

One thing that worries me, is that the misfiring at 2000 to 2600rpm is around the VTEC engagement point. My feeling is, if this was to be related, could it mean I'm having problems with my ECU?

 

Could the timing belt be off a bit?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Stew Pidasso &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Could the timing belt be off a bit?</TD></TR></TABLE>

thats what I was thinking

 

Try warming up the engine, disconecting the vacumn line to the EGR valve, and see if it still does it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Stew Pidasso &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Could the timing belt be off a bit?</TD></TR></TABLE>

don't flame me guys, but i think it could also be wrong order of spark plug wires on the Dist.
BTW 8 degrees at the crank is too low, my honda says 16 degrees +-2
check the spark plugs wires on the dist, reset computer and do what chiovnica(spel) told you to do.

Yeah, also check the timming belt tooth thingy

 

Okay, thanks folks for the answers. i would love to try what you suggested. Unfortunately it will not happen.

I was on a 500 mile drive today for work, and I got only 350 done, when driving down a mountain, throttle closed and compressing in 3rd gear, the engine locked and the rod #1 bent and banged a nice 1"x2" hole in the block. So long F22B1, I guess...

Although I should be pissed because it is not the right time for something like this to happen, somehow I'm not. I will, however get the whole thing investigated and see if it can be linked to the situation I stated above. And if it is due to a bad distributor or a bad ECU, I might be able to get the shop at which I do business with to assume at least part responsibility for the damages caused. Who knows? I should, and pretty soon too.

So the question for me now is becoming this one: F22B1 shortblock, or H22A longblock mated to my F-tranny?? Price will pretty much determine the outcome...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sauceman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I was on a 500 mile drive today for work, and I got only 350 done, when driving down a mountain, throttle closed and compressing in 3rd gear, the engine locked and the rod #1 bent and banged a nice 1"x2" hole in the block. </TD></TR></TABLE>
That sounds like an expensive way to get out of diagnosing a running problem. So what caused your engine to chunk?

 

that sucks

If you are going to put a hole in your block, you should at least do it with N2O or boost

 

Yeah, well you gotta earn your life, it's just that sometimes it costs more than what you make to go out for work. There are these days every once in a while.

Honestly I wish I knew the exact cause. We will open her up tomorrow and we should have a pretty good idea. I believe the fact the engine locked while compressing may show that the #1 cylinder was full of something, I guess it had to be gas, and since the throttle was closed, it wasn't going anywhere, so it may have done the same a hydrolock would. But then again, I'm not the most knowledgable in engine dynamics, so I could be totally off.

One thing is for sure, when I was driving, I hated the vibration, so I was trying to stay out of that "1-cylinder-less" range as much as possible. Never would I have expected the engine to clunk the way it did when not even touching the gas. I thought this sort of thing happenned only when at WOT.

 

LOL, I know, damn, I did it without even having my right foot pressed down hard, dang!