Okay, I have a stock B18b and for about a month I've been having the following problems:

The car idles funny. My first instinct is that it is simply running too rich - the exhaust is heavy black\blueish and turns the snow black in 2 minutes. I've been getting about 15mpg on the highway going 70 in a hatchback. When the engine is cold, and I rev it in neutral the engine shakes a lot...

This is what I've done to try and fix the problem:

replaced plugs and wires - the old plugs were black
installed a fuel pressure gauge - it rests right at 39psi at idle and doesn't jump at all except when i open up the throttle and it hops to 40psi.

ALSO I'm not getting a CEL

What is the next thing I should look for to get my engine running right?

 

Has your car been maintained? I would do the distributor cap/rotor, fuel filter, air filter, and other necessary parts first to rule out any of those. What year/model is your car anyway?

The blue smoke does not sound good at all. Blue smoke = oil so it looks like you may have some bad piston rings or valve guides/seals. How many miles on the motor?

 

That sounds like a misfire, obviously not a dead plug or lead seeing as you have replaced both. check the distributor, cap and rotor arm. Good luck

 

about 80k... cap rotor hasn't been replaced in awhile... what does a cap and rotor do specifically?

but why would a fuel filter be a problem? wouldn't that restrict fuel if it was a problem? i mean my pressure is good...

And why would this car not run right with a old air filter? i mean... I've been testing it with the intake entirely off

 

I just went out to the car again to look at the color of the smoke - it's not really blue at all I don't know what I was talking about.

So what does a cap and rotor do - why would i replace those instead of just replacing the dist. entirely?



Modified by 95hatchfire at 12:07 AM 2/1/2005

 

OK, that's cool with the air filter/fuel filter. I just wasn't sure if you had a 200k engine and had a clogged air filter or something.

The distributor cap and rotor send the power for your spark. The rotor spins and as its spinning it sends power to each of 4 probes on the cap which hook up to the spark plug wires. If there is corrosion on each of these it can cause problems with your spark.

I had distributor problems last week on my teg and the rotor melted inside there. The car was misfiring like a bitch and black smoke was billowing out the back.

The cap and rotor is pretty cheap too, like $20, so it's worth doing.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 95hatchfire &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I just went out to the car again to look at the color of the smoke - it's not really blue at all I don't know what I was talking about.

So what does a cap and rotor do - why would i replace those instead of just replacing the dist. entirely?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Because the distributor is like $200 opposed to $20. The cap and rotor are normal maintenance items which should be regularly replaced, whereas the whole distributor should last awhile. I just did mine at 250,000 miles.

This might not even be it, but it's best to start with this easy, normal-maintenance stuff first.

 

Awesome info Honda Hick - I"ll go buy those right now and do them - any tips on replacing them? (what's the general idea) I can probally figure it out...

 

The cap and rotor are easy to replace, the only thing to watch out for is making sure you put the correct spark plug wire on each plug of the cap. Also, don't remove the whole distributor because this will change your timing. Change the cap and rotor while on the car.

 

So I took the cap off, and I see the rotor and another peice of plastic... do I just force the rotor off or is there a skrew that holds on the rotor? (on the new rotor i just bought, there is a skrew hole) If there is a skrew that holds the rotor in - I can't get to it (or turn the rotor to get to it). so - do I just pry the rotor off with a skrewdriver or something?




Modified by 95hatchfire at 10:28 PM 1/31/2005

 

Do not pry it off. Crank the engine real quick to turn the rotor. The screw or allen key is probably facing the bottom.

 

Okay, so i just finished the cap and rotor replacement - no dice.

Still idles the same and bucks hard when I rev it...

The smoke in the exhaust this time did seem a little blue...

Any ideas on where to go from here?

 

How much manifold pressure is the engine pulling?

 

You lost me on that one...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by IN VTEC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How much manifold pressure is the engine pulling?</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by IN VTEC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How much manifold pressure is the engine pulling?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't actually know what that means...?

 

anyone have any ideas?

 

The ECU uses manifold pressure to determine the amount of air flowing into the engine. If for some reason, the engine is not able to create the normal amount of vacuum in the manifold, then the ECU will meter fuel and output ignition advance incorrectly (eg: too rich for conditions and too little ignition advance, which only exaccerbates the overly rich fuel mixture problem).

It's also possible that the problem is MAP sensor associated or ECU related.

Also, the injectors (mechanically-speaking) might be suspect. Injectors that aren't able to atomize the fuel properly could have a problem with idling, poor power and gas mileage, etc.

 

So your recommendation would be - replace the MAP sensor and or the Injectors?

 

Not until after you've determined that those are the problems. Troubleshoot more...there's no need to shoot it with a shotgun diagnoses.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by IN VTEC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Not until after you've determined that those are the problems. Troubleshoot more...there's no need to shoot it with a shotgun diagnoses.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Okay cool,

How do I determine if the MAP sensor is not working correctly? my friend has a GSR (I have a B18b) can i use his MAP to see if that fixes the problem?

What about injectors? how do you troubleshoot those?

 

Could it be a clogged o2 sensor? Even though it's not throwing a code?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Gee3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Could it be a clogged o2 sensor? Even though it's not throwing a code?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have never heard of that, but I'll definitely consider the possibility - anyone ever hear of that happening?

 

I don't know if a bad o2 would cause that. I've had my o2 unplugged a few times and it wasn't running rich enough where black smoke was coming out. it also didn't shake or run terrible like you are experiencing. Then again this was a OBD-0 car, I don't know if that would be different.

 

i have a 91 teg and it did that when i brought it. the coil in the distributor was bad. I had some extra cash at the time so i switched over 2 MSD, kinda expensive but worth it.
Coils are a common problem with that car that wont trip a code untill it goes so far that it burns up the ignighter. Try a coil c what happens

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GTWITIT &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have a 91 teg and it did that when i brought it. the coil in the distributor was bad. I had some extra cash at the time so i switched over 2 MSD, kinda expensive but worth it.
Coils are a common problem with that car that wont trip a code untill it goes so far that it burns up the ignighter. Try a coil c what happens</TD></TR></TABLE>

Okay, I'll buy a coil and install it.