i have checked compression 120 all 4 . block tested for blown head gasket. result negative. vacuum gauge steady at idle. recent ignition tune up w/ cap rotor wires plugs. also t. belt and water pump/ valve adjustment just done cam lobes didnt look worn. after services performed checked ig. timing and set to fact. spec. also tried to remove injector wire plug-ins one at a time to compare rpm drop on each cylinder- all the same. can hear a missing droning noise out of both exhaust and intake. i also tried to inject propane around the intake manifold to head gasket to check for lean misfire engine did not smooth out. car seems to run decent but sounds like it isnt hittin equal on all 4 maybe bent or burnt valve? wouldnt that show on comp. test? please any suggestions welcome. car has 110k miles, 4into one header ,2.25 catback exhaust stnless mandrel bent system and short ram intake filter.

 

My friends ls/vtec setup sounded the same. We wanted to find out what it was the pistons that were loose. so idk if that was really the problem or not. just giving you some input

 

Do a leak down test on your engine. Put a plastic bag around your exhaust and throttle body, make sure they are tight. When you inject the air into the cylinder if you have bent intake valves the plastic bag around the throttle body will fill up with air. If you have bent exhaust valves the bag around the muffler will fill up with air. When you do this make sure that the throttle plate is in the open position. All of this will tell you if you have bent valves in the cylinder head or not. If you are showing 0-5% leakage I would not assume bent valves. Also use a rubberband to get those plastic bags tight around the throttle body and exhaust. Hope this helps.

 

well did a leak down test this weekend cyl 1-6%, 2-2%, 3-2%, 4-5%. the only leakage seemed to be coming out of the valve cover breather pipe. rings? Valve guides? and it 6% enough to make an odd sounding engine

 

i have a similar problem, i belive mine is due to poor timing on the motor. if not then the valves are prolly bent

 

also to add, it will only bog in the 2k-5k range for me and it hits vtec fine, but it makes daily driving a bitch because it has no power. its like snapping into vtec really fast.

 

120 is really low. stock brand new is like 220-225. i have a 99 with 100k miles on it and it burns a quart of oil every 1500-2000miles and my compression test yielded 206 on all 4.

 

Sounds like a bad injector to me. Make sure all of them are firing.

 

It could be a misfire by the ignition system, fuel system, or like people said before, a bent valve. And it sounds like that engine is in need of a rebuild badly.

 

I had a similar problem, where the engine sounded like its a subaru... and it turned out to be exhaust leaks.

 

I had a similar problem with one of th injectors

 

is this is a gsr engine,your compression test results were at 120 lbs wich is low.the type r and gsr are high compression engines.i have a 98 gsr with 235 compression all 4(note) my engine has 202,000.as far as your noise it is very hard to give any advice without actually hearing it.my friend had a similar problem but it had to do with valves.

 

also to be noted, it only sputter/ sounds like a subaru at running temp, while the engine is cold there are no problems what so ever for me at least

 

when i did the comp. test it was only on the first comp. stroke on each cyl. im gonna redo it this weekend. also the throttle was closed

 

I had the same thing on my gsr, same sound. just got a new exhaust and it stopped it, It was my exhaust leaking where the header connected to my STOCK exhaust Probably not your problem but maybe..