Dead Cylinder...but why?
 

Hey, I've searched and really couldn't seem to find anyone describing my exact situation. I seem to have one dead cylinder. When I pull the plug wire or disconnect the FI harness there is no change in how the engine runs. There is spark to the plug, and I switched plugs with another cylinder, no change. Brand new plug wires. All the plugs look great, no oil or gas fouling. No smoke from exhaust. New distributor, cap and rotor. The FI harness is lighting up with a test light as it should (one hot, one blinking), I switched out the injector with another cylinder, no change. There IS a mis-fire sound coming from the exhaust, it dissappears when I pull the plug wire from the dead cylinder. I haven't had time yet to do a compression test. What I don't get is how can I have a dead cylinder and not overheat, and commute at 75mph on cruise uphill with the AC on? Is ONE cylinder capable of being out of time? Anyone else had the same problem? BTW: no CEL codes or light. I've learned alot here already, which is how I've ruled out as much as I have so far. Thanks in advance. Dave

I don't have a definite answer. Do the compression test to see if that cylinder is losing pressure. A leak-down test can give you a more definitive answer.

It could be worn rings, a bad head gasket, tight/loose valve, crack in the cylinder head, etc.... Its hard to tell why something happens until you have to tear the engine apart. See what you find from the tests first.

You may also want to measure the voltage with a volt meter for each hot wire to ground for the injectors. They should read the same. The test light only shows that power is there, so a volt meter would be more definitive.

Maybe test the resistance for each one in the resistor box to see if one is out of spec.

if you have already changed plug and inject to another cyl and still get a miss ,,, new cap and the plug wires,,,,,,,,most likely bad valves ( burnt)

a burnt valve or bad rings WILL NOT cause engine to overheat ,,,,,,,,,i am leaning toward burnt valves ...........Do a compression test ,, if that cylinder is low,, make sure that on that particular cylinder valves are not way too tight ........

if compr is low ,and valve adjustment is ok....., put a bit of tranny fluid in the cylinder and recheck compression if it comes up a lot it is bad rings if it does not come up or comes up just a bit it is burnt valve ( s)

Thanks...not what I wanted to hear, but kinda what I expected. I just can't believe how well the car preforms on only 3 cylinders! If it was not for the shaky idle, a person might not realize the cylinder was bad at all. Well if the valve is burnt, I guess I have a few options, rebuilt head, another Accord, or what I was planning to do in Feb anyway, a JDM H22 swap. I'll get the compression test done and go from there. Thanks a lot, Dave