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I'm working on a 1996 DX with the D16Y7 engine. Once the car warms up, when accelerating and just after shifting into second gear, the engine sputters for a second. It definitely feels like a misfire, but I don't think it's doing it long enough to throw a code. I've cleaned the throttle body and idle air control valve, adjusted the valves, tightened the timing belt (which was very loose), and checked the timing and it was right on the money. The owner of the car changed the fuel filter, plugs, wires, cap and rotor before he called me to look at it. Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts about what else it could be? The only other thing I can think of would be coil, does that make sense? It runs perfectly at all times other than this brief sputter when accelerating.
I'm working on a 1996 DX with the D16Y7 engine. Once the car warms up, when accelerating and just after shifting into second gear, the engine sputters for a second. It definitely feels like a misfire, but I don't think it's doing it long enough to throw a code. I've cleaned the throttle body and idle air control valve, adjusted the valves, tightened the timing belt (which was very loose), and checked the timing and it was right on the money. The owner of the car changed the fuel filter, plugs, wires, cap and rotor before he called me to look at it. Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts about what else it could be? The only other thing I can think of would be coil, does that make sense? It runs perfectly at all times other than this brief sputter when accelerating.
Thank you in advance for any input!!
Does it have an aftermarket distributor on it? If so, I’ve been through a few aftermarket distributors on a few different import cars and they misfire and don’t send a code at all. 2 aftermarket distributors on my Honda Civic were misfiring terribly and never threw a code or MIL. Toyota’s and Honda’s have a bad reaction to aftermarket ignition parts.
I was working on the car again today and forgot to check if the distributor was OEM or not, I'll be back next week and will check then. He's had the car for over 6 years and just started having this issue a few months ago.
The cat and O2 have been replaced recently, I'm not sure if the brand though. I will do the tests you suggested next time I'm there, I'm going back next week to do the timing belt and water pump. When I was there today, I did a compression test and it wasn't very good. Here's what I got:
1-110
2-90
3-105
4-110
Any thoughts on that? Plugs look really nice. I plan to do a leak test soon as well.
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Re: 1996 Civic D16Y7 sputter on acceleration
Originally Posted by JD323
I did a compression test and it wasn't very good. Here's what I got:
1-110
2-90
3-105
4-110
Any thoughts on that? Plugs look really nice. I plan to do a leak test soon as well.
Compression numbers look suspicious...especially #3. Repeat dry compression test and then repeat using two teaspoons of motor (wet test) in each cylinder. When compression testing trickle charger the battery for 8 hours prior-to and during the test. Need optimal cranking for optimal compression.
Crank engine a few rotations past highest psi reading to ensure correct numbers. All cylinders should be within 20% of each other but ideally within 10% of each other. Two adjecent cylinders with low readings points to a head gasket breach between their cylinder walls.
Compression numbers look suspicious...especially #3. Repeat dry compression test and then repeat using two teaspoons of motor (wet test) in each cylinder. When compression testing trickle charger the battery for 8 hours prior-to and during the test. Need optimal cranking for optimal compression.
Crank engine a few rotations past highest psi reading to ensure correct numbers. All cylinders should be within 20% of each other but ideally within 10% of each other. Two adjecent cylinders with low readings points to a head gasket breach between their cylinder walls.
This makes sense to me now. The owner had suggested that maybe the head gasket was blown somewhere, but I didn't think so because there was no oil/water mixture anywhere, I didn't think about leaking from cylinder to cylinder. I have a leak down tester, would it make sense to just do that first and see if I can hear a leak between cylinder 2 and 3? If so, there should be no further diagnosis needed, correct?
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Re: 1996 Civic D16Y7 sputter on acceleration
Originally Posted by JD323
This makes sense to me now. The owner had suggested that maybe the head gasket was blown somewhere, but I didn't think so because there was no oil/water mixture anywhere, I didn't think about leaking from cylinder to cylinder. I have a leak down tester, would it make sense to just do that first and see if I can hear a leak between cylinder 2 and 3? If so, there should be no further diagnosis needed, correct?
Yes, you can do a leak down for blown gasket. Can do it with or without the leakdown tester using straight compressed air (150 psi) at TDC with the radiator cap off and look for bubbles in radiator. Might as well do a leak down test (with tester) for compression loss as well.
These engines will rarely have a head gasket breach that causes coolant in oil. The usual sign is coolant loss in radiator with coolant gain or overflow in reservoir. Read the links in my signature for types of head gasket breaches.
Last edited by Wankenstein; Mar 3, 2020 at 03:19 PM.
Well, did the leak down test and I think unfortunately the rings are shot. Unless I'm doing something wrong, but it seemed to be leaking so bad that the gauge wasn't even able to pressurize. All 4 cylinders sounded exactly the same, a ton of air coming out of the crankcase and through the dipstick hole. The strange thing is, other than the minor misfire that I started this thread about, it runs awesome! It's really got me stumped! The plugs have around 1k miles on them and they look brand new yet. There was a little oil in the airbox too that I don't believe was there when I started all this a little over a month ago, I know that could be caused by bad rings among other things. If it is bad rings, how can it run so good 99% of the time, and wouldn't the plugs at least show some signs of oil burning?
Here's a video of the test and a pic of the plugs and oil in the airbox.
Your car will still run fine with bad rings, but your compression will be crap, and you’ll be burning a ton of oil.
Another way to be sure: have someone drive behind you and absolutely floor the car. If you have blue smoke at higher rpm, then it’s also most likely rings.
Have you tried what Puffin suggested yet with the oil in the cylinders? Your compression will spike if your rings are bad.
Thank you for reminding me! I haven't done the wet test yet, I'll talk to the owner and see what he wants to do. Probably should do it to get verification.
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Re: 1996 Civic D16Y7 sputter on acceleration
I doubt all four cylinders are leaking compression. When doing a leakdown test each cylinder has to be at absolute TDC or you will get false compression loss readings. Being this is an interference engine always turn crank counter-clockwise (for Honda's) and use a long screwdriver or other usable item (I use a window blind wand). Can feel for compression stoke by placing your thumb or finger over the spark plug hole and feel for air pushing out of the cylinder. Can also use a balloon as shown in the video below. Once you see the screwdriver (or other object) rise to it's highest position on the compression stroke you can rock/rotate the engine back and forth (if needed) slightly past TDC to find TDC. Going clockwise rotation a bit will not harm the engine and will give you a better feel of exactly where TDC is. Do a leakdown test with and without the tester and listen for air by removing oil cap, dipstick, open throttle body butterfly/blade,exhaust tail pipe and radiator cap to check for bubbles.
