I have a 92 Accord LX 4 cyl. I have a bad engine miss and errant starting problem. Sometimes it starts other times it will not and 5 minutes later it will. Bad miss at idel and under acceleration. I have changed the distributor, plugs, wires, cap and rotor as well as the main relay under the dash. None of these changes made any impact or change on the issue. The computer is not flashing any codes and there are no check engine lights. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

make sure that all injectors work properly,,,,,,,,if they do,, do a compression chk..

 

Thanks guys. I can do the compression test. Plugs all looked good, no indications of a bad cylinder etc. How would I test to see if the injectors are all working properly?

Thank you, Jason

 

Thank you for taking the time to detail that. I will do what you have suggested and hopefully determine the problem. I will be working on it this weekend. Thanks again for the time and detail that you have provided.

Jason

 

A compression test is a crude form of testing. You should do a leakdown test. That will tell you more about your engines internals.

As for the miss.. have you made sure all your plugs are firing? Are the spark plugs gapped properly? Check and clean the grounds.

You can always pull the injectors and get them flow tested and cleaned. I am not sure what the cost is down there, but I imagine it is next to nothing.

For my supra they were $10.00 per injector to flow test and clean.

You could always try running some fuel injector cleaner through first.

Have you replaced the fuel filter recently?

 

A leak down test will give you more solid answers such as if you have leaking valves or rings. This is why I prefer the leakdown test.

One can get a leakdown tester for a decent price. When it is all said and done they can just return it if they wanted and the store will usually take it back.

An adequate compression tester can cost as little as $20.00

That would not be cool to do a ring job based on a compression test only to find out your valves are leaking when the engine is all put back together.

A compression test you need to factor in how long the engine has been sitting cold. If it has been a while, these can also throw off the compression numbers.

The only extra step to doing an leakdown test is having an aircompressor hooked up to the leakdown tester and removing an airbox to listen for intake leaks, or run to the muffler to listen for exhaust leaks.

 

you are kidding me right ????? tell me,,,,,,,,,,, if you have very low compression on 1 cylinder what does that tell you ?????? ( burnt valve, valve too tight, worn rings ),,,,add some oil,, if compr comes up a lot , you got bad rings , if not ,, most likely burnt valve (s)


a leak down test will tell you how much amount of leakage you got on that cylinder ,,,possible causes burnt valve, valves too tight, worn rings, head gasket issues ,,

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kris_loehr

Now you got the OP needing to get an air compressor. With a compression test you need to be able to interpret the readings something a leak down test does for you, but a leak down tester takes a little more mechanical skill to do the test. I don't know the OP's skill level but I know we can do a lot with the results from a compression test if it is listed by cylinder and redone if low with some oil in the cylinders.

I am sure the OP may know someone who has an air compressor. If not then it the compression test may be a better option. I stated that a compression test is a crude method as it gives you limited info. I did not state that you can not do a compression test.

I am stating that a leakdown test is a preferred method for myself. As I mentioned, I prefer to be very thorough in my work. Leakdown testers come up information on how to interpret your findings. There is also Google that one can type things into to get answers on how to interpret more data or what else they can do with a leakdown tester.

To site your example a leakdown tester will let you know about a leaking headgasket by pressurizing the cooling system. Not that hard to remove the rad cap to look for bubbles.

Speaking of headgaskets and removing rad caps, you can look to see if there is oil in the coolant, or see if there is coolant in the oil. This is another good way to see if you have a BHG.

Interpreting a leakdown test is easy.

Sometimes simpleton answers are good, but for those who are looking for more indepth knowledge it does not cut it.

 

If you have high leakage and it is not coming from the valves you can pinpoint to the compression rings. I am assuming that most people would have checked the oil levels before they did a compression test. If it was low, then they would do a top up.


As I mentioned a compression testor is crude method, it tells you some info, but for those who want to know more then a leakdown test is a preferd method.

 

That is good.

I know a few people who are mechanics at Honda, Nissan and Toyota. They all do leakdown tests. They prefer to do them over a compression test.


Yes, the compression test they will still do, to determine the cylinder compression as it gives them some numbers to match to spec. The leakdown lets them know how much air is leaking out and where it is coming from.