i went to the mechanics today, and found that cylinder 1 and 4 were running lean, and cylinders 2 and 3 were running rich. how? Spark plugs 1,4 had white stuff, while 2 and 3 had black carbon deposits. This is since my crower 403 cams went in. then we did a compression test. all came out well. 172 or something, i don’t know how the mechanic did it, but he said they were all okay. then with the plugs in, we pulled one by one. when we pulled the 2nd cylinder spark plug out, nothing changed. put it back in, nothing again. this is while car was sitting at idle. he might have revved it a bit. but #2 wasn’t making a difference. so I went out and bought some new wires and cap and rotor from acura.
First of all, shouldn’t be any problem with compression, rings should still be intact, motor oil level very very constant. no burning, no overflowing. Headgasket is 3 months old. it’s from honda. no leaks in intake manifold gaskets. no leaks in valve cover. brand new ngk iridium plugs, brand knew honda sumitomo wires, brand new honda nissin cap and rotor. still the same.
the mechanic doesn’t know what’s going on, he says maybe it’s the cams that are bad? But I got crower cams, street cams too, should improve engine performance rather than hinder it. anybody else have the same problem? anybody know of what could be wrong?
I gotta say I think I agree with your mechanic. Maybe your intake cam has uneven lobes on it (not very likely, but possible).
Or, check the exhaust. It’s possible that the primaries for two and three are clogged. It’s more likely on an old stock manifold than a header, but still entirely possible, and it could cause a rich condition.
But I also agree that injectors could be at fault here. You have a tough problem there, and I hope you can figure it out.
Originally posted by VTEC91
[B]I gotta say I think I agree with your mechanic. Maybe your intake cam has uneven lobes on it (not very likely, but possible).
Or, check the exhaust. It’s possible that the primaries for two and three are clogged. It’s more likely on an old stock manifold than a header, but still entirely possible, and it could cause a rich condition.
But I also agree that injectors could be at fault here. You have a tough problem there, and I hope you can figure it out.
Ryan [/B]
would crower mess up and make uneven lobes? if so does anyone know off hand if crower would replace it?
also I don’t understand the primaries ont he exhaust, I"m guessing you mean the actual “tubes” of the header. I put in a DC Sport brand new about May, so I dunno if it’s that. I’ll look into the injectors, but i’m not sure how to check if the’yre the culprit unless I just put in new ones and see what happens. Could it be a valve that’s leaking or bent or burnt or whatever? btw the entire valvetrain is brand new crower parts except the valves themselves. so perhaps the 146k miles on the valves plus the cams have worn them down?
Get a timing light and put it on each spark plug wire. That is how you test if you are getting spark through each wire and to the plugs. It is rare, but you could’ve got a bad cap and/or rotor.
Just make sure that you are getting spark before you do anything else.
Injectors would be #2 to check on. You can do the ghetto style flathead screwdriver test. Just put the flathead of the screwdriver on the metal part of the injector and then put your ear on the end of the handle and listen for the clicking reverberating through the screwdriver. It is ghetto style, but it works to a degree.
It sounds like you have some fun ahead of you, I hope you can figure it out.
Oh, one more thing. I just came across a problem just like that. One of the cylinders was not firing and I couldnt figure it out. I pulled the spark plug and the electrode was touching the bent metal part (forgot the name) so there was no gap. I put a new plug in and it works great now. Something like that could happen from dropping a plug or something before the install and just not noticing.
Good luck and let me know if you need anymore help or advice.