ok, heres the deal...my number 3 cylinder isnt firing and has about 35 psi of pressure. so far from 2 shops the rough idea without rippin it apart is the piston ring is bad. i am concerned that maybe a piston is bad....heres my question tho...if the entire piston is bad would it have been possible for me to drive 35 miles to the shop and not really have any problems except for my car soundin like a wrx? i mean, it kept up in traffic FINE, no problems...could i be lookin at a piston problem?

 

Probably not. If the piston itself was fucked up, it would probably be grinding the **** out of the inside of the sleave, in which case the car probably wouldn't run. If the piston is just not firing or making compression, then you could drive like that no problem. Not good for the engine, but easily possible.

 

yeah i didnt plan on takin it on cross country trips or anything, just wanted to get it to the shop and i was surprised how well it actually ran.

 

the cylindar not firing has nothing to do with the rings. if you were burnging a lot of oil and had low compression then it would be the rings.. are you sure your getting spark? and how come you brought it to two shops and neither one fo them took the head off yet? get that **** fixed.

 

THAT SUXS MAN. I think you could of blown your rings out. did you drain the oil and see what kinda metal?

 

Move the #3 piston to TDC and take a look at it. What makes you think the piston is jacked and not the rings?"

 

well the one shop thought originally we were dealing with a timing issue becuase it wouldnt even run...the timing was waaaay off becuase the tensioner broke. fininally got it to run again but the same problem with number 3 not firing. all the other cylinders were gettin compresion at around 210, and 3 was gettin roughly 35 and there was oil in the plug so we figured bad piston ring. but they said that they didnt know enough about honda motors that they would feel comfortable enough rippin it apart and puttin in new rings. so i drove it to a performance shop that said they could do it. after describing to him what the problem was he said maybe its a piston but he hasnt ripped anything apart yet. i was just wondering what you guys thought because i would find it hard to believe that i could drive my car that far without lockin it up or hearing some kind of grinding and whatnot if the piston was bad.

 

prolly the rings... but thast not your only problem if your not getting spark in that cyl.


do a leakdown test to find out for sure if you don't wanna tear the motor apart just yet.

 

Well whatever it is the motor needs to be pulled apart. 35 psi is a serious problem.

 

yaeh we tested for spark, we pulled the wires off and attached a plug to them while it was runnin, there is spark. after we tested for spark, we had the car idling and we pulled the wires off one by one to listen if the motor would die out. it died out and almost stalled for nubmers 1,2, and 4. when we pulled 3(the one with 35 psi) there was absolutely no change.

 

TAKE IT TO ACURA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Since they sell them Im pretty sure they know how to fix them.

 

nah i trust the shop that its at now

 

compression is def shot.. have you done a leakdown test n the #3 cyl yet?? do that before you rip the motor apart cuz it might not be your rings. hows your oil? any gas in it?

with a leakdown test if the piston is TDC if you hear air of the exhaust its your exhaust valves.. if you hear it in the intake it's your intake valves... if it's coming out of the spark plug hole its your plug. if you hear air coming out fo the PCV system its your rings