gearbox

iTrader: (95)

and that would cause cylinder misfire?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

Okay you're prolly right, hopefully. I was thinking, and do ignition coils just go bad? and if they do, is it all or nothing? or can they just fail sometimes and work fine other times. It is an intermittant problem for sure. Tonight (65F) it started right up and drove great as always, then started fine warm when I left the gas station. The car drives great, which is telling me a bad ignition coil or injector isn't really possible. Maybe the plugs got ruined too so I may pick up another set when I'm done fixing the problem. I still have some extended warranty, but I don't wanna wait a week just to get an opening and then have him say there is no problem or he doesn't know how to fix it. Well I have a used TB that looks really old but its worth a shot I guess. I'm gonna clean it up as best I can and swap it out monday with new gaskets as much as I hate doing that and having to bleed coolant again. But hey it might fix everything.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

I decided to clean the spare tb and iac ports with the carb cleaner. There was a ton of carbon in there and afterwards I was able to see metal! So hopefully nothing got ruined. From what I can tell, its all metal parts in there.

Blackpearl

Hmm. Cylinder 2 misfire. Certanly the cylinder 2 sparkplug or injector is the problem. In my opinion, change the sparkplugs back to Pt-Pt. If was misfiere couple of times you can get weath plugs. When you take them out, look for the color, deposition etc. It can tell what is happening. Look if the coil is clean ad drye. You can try to do a swap between the coils to see if the coil was bad or not, but you need to eliminate the posibility of having bad plugs. The coil get 200 V initiali and is making up to thousands. Check if the connections are tight. If all is ok then check out sensors.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

the problem is it did it with the stock double plat plugs too. the ngk vpower in there now are two days old and still doing it. if it were the plugs or the coils, i would be getting misfires at idle and while driving too instead of right after startup only. and if an injector was bad, the car would be running poorly. I still need to know if a coil can be damaged but still work properly. Or do they either work or not work, no inbetween? Also this is an intermittant problem. It has happened alot, but sometimes it doesn't happen at all. And the engine light once came on twice.

Blackpearl

Nice cleaning!
Thx for pictures.
Check the spark plugs too.

Blackpearl

The coil can get lower voltage if geting bad. Usualy a spark between its internal coils. In time due to heat melts and that is it. No spark at all.
Try to swap the coils and see if the misfire moves to the new cylinder or not. If is then the coil is bad.

Blackpearl

The diference between idle and high rpm can also produce difference on spark power due to the small voltage change given bay alternator in some cases.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

ya i will check next week when everything is taken off again... i need to pick up tb gaskets for the iac and tb/im from honda.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

ya i moved the coils around but the cel is not easy to come on even tho the problem still happens. so thats not gonna work.

Blackpearl

Did the misfire apear at cyl 2 after swap?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

the engine light hasn't come back since i swapped em and reset the ecu. like i said it doesn't come on everytime the problem happens.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

and by swap i mean i just switched positions. i don't have new coils lying around lol.

Blackpearl

Huuu. This case will be for FBI
So then the broblem is not with the coil.
Let see what happen when you put back all stuf.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

ya i'll put on the clean tb next week. i got lucky with that cause a member here just sent it last week. if it doesn't work, or the iac got messed up from spraying it, i'm gonna try and figure something else out and maybe get a new coil.

Blackpearl

Keep posting the news.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

this sucks. i just replaced the iac with the clean one and no effect. i noticed as i was doing the coolant bleed that there wasn't enough in the radiator! i had to add at least a cup of coolant before it stayed at the top. maybe thats it? i doubt it. well now i'm checking to make sure the coils are getting power and then checking coil resistance. time to use my new multimeter

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

coil resistance is 1.05 1.14 1.10 1.05 does this matter? also sometimes the rpm is dropping during acceleration so maybe it is a clogged injector somehow. i'm making a shop appointment tomorrow for next week. let them deal with it.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

man i hate this car. its driving terrible today has no power and the engine sounds weird all kinds of growling and strange noises. and the cel won't come back on. i'm really getting frustrated. the shop is gonna say theres nothing wrong.

Blackpearl

The tolerable difference is 0.1, so it is ok.
If you hear strange noises is not good. If some of the injectors is not working the misfire will be reported by ECU. I hope is not some metal or ceramic part from sparc plugs inside the cylinder, or some damaged valve.
Is the timing belt corect? Maybe you have a bad sincronizatin (or lose sensor) for monitoring the timing.
What is strange, is that the check engine light didn't come on. I have no idea.
Maybe you are right to ask for service.

Blackpearl

The coolant level si fine. One coup will not make a big difference, but you need to have the coolant level between the marks on the plastic cilinder, otherwise when heating up will expand an the pressure can damage a lot of stuf.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

and sometimes the car barely even starts at all. last night it cranked at least 10 times before finally spuddering and starting. so we've eliminated the ignition coils, plugs, and iac valve. i guess it could still be injectors not working right.

Jrfish007

iTrader: (3)

The coolant level won't hurt anything, but the question is, where did the coolant go? lets hope not into the engine via a leeky gasket.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

ya i'm wondering. its been starting fine since i added coolant. maybe there were some air pockets and sensors weren't working right. And it looks like i'll be adding more today too. when i started accelerating slowly through the parking lot, I heard loud water noises coming from the dash area. makes me think there's even more air. i don't understand, cause 2 days after they did the water pump I checked and no air bubbles came out. so i'll be doing it again today and post what happens.

and wouldn't i be able to see antifreeze white smoke from the exhaust?

Jrfish007

iTrader: (3)

When you check for air, was the heater on? I've done that before, bleed the system with the heater off, then you have air pockets in the heater core, and when you turn the heater on, the air pockets go into the engine and eveywhere. Maybe the shop forgot to put the heater on when filling the system.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

oh no i turned the heater full blast. this time i didn't have to add much coolant, but there were alot more bubbles. hopefully this is the last time and problem solved. i will be shocked if all my problems were from air in the coolant. my explanation is maybe those air pockets settled right where the iac coolant passage is and so the car thought it was colder than it really was. i'll keep driving and post back later. your last idea is certainly believeable and would explain why the temp needle says warm but the heater is still blowing cold. now thats not the case.

tinman

I see the saga continues.....

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

yup still does it. i talked to the mechanic and he said a very small head gasket leak could cause coolant to come in the cylinder and mess up the plug firing. but after 5-10 secs the coolant burns off and everything is fine again.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

okay so tonight i start it up, it shakes again, i go drive and park, then start to rev the engine 2-3k rpms. well everytime i rev, i hear water flowing noise through the dash. what could this be? i'm gonna check it again for air bubbles and level, but i just filled it this morning!

tinman

Well, I hate to say it..... but a small coolant leak into a cylinder, say no.2 in your case could be the actual root of your problems. Remember that the engine shrinks as it gets cold and expands as it heats up, so it could be a gasket leak that only manifests itself when it's very cold.

Next time it's REALLY cold, pull your plugs without starting first and see if you find any trace of coolant on one.

Maybe this thread should be stickied by now..... you OWN this forum at this rate.

Hope you find it soon, though. You must be frustrated as hell by now.