01 Honda Accord cylinder misfire, running rough?

[steven88]

Hey guys I recently did an engine bay cleaning for my girlfriend's honda accord v6...I took out the battery and covered up the air intake...I started to spray the cleaner onto the engine cover, inner panels, firewall, etc....went easy with the water and tried my best to deter from electrical parts

Anyway now the car is acting up...the CEL flashes constantly (misfiring) and the car is rough...I'm unable to rent a scan tool at the autozone...the clerk says its new california law or some [censored] how they stop renting scan tools

I tried pulling the neg battery cable for 20 hours...still a no go

What do you guys think it is? I'm pretty exhausted at this point...you think my engine bay cleaning messed up the injectors or coilpacks? Gosh I need a [censored] scan tool!

 

[bdcardinal]

water in the spark plug wells? check all the plugs i bet there is water in one of them.

o and ya they cant lend out scan tools or pull codes for you anymore, its all over CA. makes me glad i have access to OEM scan tools.

 

[steven88]

you really think it's water in the spark plug chambers? I drove the car for 60 miles and I thought that would be enough to burn off any water in the engine bay

 

[rclint]

My 97 accord still has a distributor cap, if your Honda has one it could have gotten water inside. If it does it all the time I would think spark system, if it's intermittent it could be one of the sensor connections, or still the spark/ignition system.

 

[meep]

+1 distributor cap. my 02 had one.

 

[mechtech2]

The main ignition parts should be checked first - But there are many electrical connections that could have water in them now.

 

[steven88]

this 01 v6 does not have distributor....it's direct ignition

I am having a feeling I messed up one of the coilpacks/spark plugs...or possibly the fuel injector...man I was going real easy with the water too...guess this engine is too darn sensitive

anyways i'm taking it to the dealership tomorrow....i got in touch with an old friend that knows the service manager over there...touched bases with him and explained the situation...he said he will diagnose the problem for employee pricing

if the problem is the coilpacks/sparkplugs...I'll just pay the diagnosis fee and do the parts and labor myself...I saw a write up on how to do it on j30a1...looks real simple...but if it has to do with the fuel injectors, then I will leave it at the dealership and let them play with it

I will keep this thread updated...thanks for the help guys!

 

[benjamming]

any update?

 

[AcuraTech]

Most likely a bad ignition coil. Best way to test is warm the engine up, put it in park and let it idle. Start pulling coil connectors. Listen for a drop in idle RPM. The connector you pull that doesn't have any effect on RPM is the bad one. Happens all the time. Usually the front bank center coil that takes a dump first.

 

[Tosh]

AT: Getting it wet ruined an ignition coil?

 

[Audioquest]

Another horror story after cleaning an engine. I learned my lesson years ago. Water and engines don't mix.

 

[kingrob]

Just curious as to how you're cleaning your engine if you're ruining things? The worst I've ever had happen was the degreaser was a little too aggressive on the paint on some metals.

Wrap all sensors with tin-foil and cover large items (battery, air intake) with plastic bags. Wrap the foil around the spark plug boots, ignition components, any electric connections etc. Spray on some degreaser and give it about 10-15 minutes to work. Then rinse off with a LOW pressure spray. Let the chemicals do the cleaning, power washing is not a good thing. After doing this procedure for many a year I've never had anything go wrong.

I would think that maybe you have some water down in a combustion chamber. Remove the spark plugs and stick a towel down in the holes to absorb what may be in there. It helps to crank the car up as this will "bump" some water out of the wells. If it's a substantial enough amount in there it wouldn't burn off that easily. Check the plugs too, as they may have been damaged. Barring that only an OBD II scanner will tell you what's going on if you damaged a sensor.

 

[Junior]

Originally Posted By: AcuraTech
Most likely a bad ignition coil. Best way to test is warm the engine up, put it in park and let it idle. Start pulling coil connectors. Listen for a drop in idle RPM. The connector you pull that doesn't have any effect on RPM is the bad one. Happens all the time. Usually the front bank center coil that takes a dump first.


+1 on the coil. Had that problem on an f150.

 

[steven88]

hey guys sorry for the delay...i totally forgot about this thread

UPDATE: it turned out to be ignition coil 1...the one closest to the passenger and rear of engine bay...i feel like a complete dummy...if i had invested in a $50 scan tool, i would immediately find a cylinder # 1 misfire...and immediately pull the coil pack + spark plug out to check condition...i would also try disconnecting the coil pack connector and check for difference in engine noise

long story short...bought 6 coils, 6 spark plugs, engine oil and filter...car runs like a champ...I did have to pay the diagnosis fee to the dealership, however...

 

[brianl703]

My 1996 Ford Contour did this--I was driving it and the CEL came on, started flashing, and it was idling a little rough.

I scanned it for codes and it was a cylinder misfire. Since it has a waste-spark system I swapped the ignition wires around and the misfire moved to the other cylinder--obviously the coil.

Got a new coil from Autozone, put it in, and all was well except for a lingering miss at higher loads which I cured by replacing the sparkplug that was misfiring.

You really don't want to drive very far with the CEL flashing, that is, unless you like the idea of buying a new cat.

 

[mechtech2]

brian. That doesn't make sense. The codes are bank 1 or bank 2 [on a 4 cyl].
And since the waste spark ignition fires 2 at the same time, either one gives the same code. If switching a wire changed things, wires were the problem, not 'obviously the coil' .
Etc..

 

[steven88]

Hey guys, was wondering if a bad catalytic converter will throw a DTC? Just wondering because I know with a bad coil, the engine will run real rich and can cause the catalytic converter to fail...my gf accord ran for about 100 miles before the problem got fixed...could that be enough to damage the cat? Will it throw a CEL?

reason why I ask is because her gas mileage seems to be on the lower side...about 23-24mpg mostly hwy and 65mph cruising...i also have an aftermarket short ram intake and put 38psi in the tires...should improved mileage by a few...but still consistently seeing 23-24mpg...any clues?

anybody have experience with the ebay catalytic converters? like these

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Honda-Acc...sQ5fAccessories

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Honda-Acc...sQ5fAccessories

new OEM one from hondaautomotiveparts is $645 shipped

 

[OVERKILL]

When you say "short ram" do you mean like an open filter under the hood? Those things are horrendous. Basically a "hot air intake"

 

[steven88]

its just a pipe with a filter attached to the end...filter sits near the fender where the cold air hole is

i understand in stop and go traffic it might heat up since its metal...but she is rarely stopped...mostly hwy

 

[OVERKILL]

Yeah, means it's breathing engine bay air. Those things are horrendous. I've got one on my townie and the only reason is due to the MAF conversion which left me unable to use the factory airbox/cold air assembly.