Ok,

I posted this in General Tech help with no reply so I thought I would try this forum:

I just bought a 2000 Civic LX with a few mods (body kit, AEM intake, short shift kit, carbon fiber hood and a few other things). As far as I can tell it has a 1.6L SOHC engine installed. I haven't looked for the engine code yet. Anyhow, I took the thing to Autozone to get the check engine light codes scanned. Turns out that all of the codes were related to a couple cylinders mis-firing. So we started out by replacing the plugs and re-setting the light (dis-connected - Batt lead for a few minutes). While replacing the plugs I noticed a couple of them had oil on the insulator and on the electrodes. My limited knowledge tells me that the oil in the cylinder is either due to worn rings or maybe valve guides?

Also while replacing one of the plugs it was found to be loose (not torqued), and one of the wires came apart at the plug end while dis-connecting. One of the wires also seems to keep falling off the cap. I am heading back to auto-zone tomorrow to purchase a new cap, rotor, and wires.

Any ideas on how to diagnose the oil problem without tearing down the engine? Also, any other ideas on the cylinder mis-firing other than what I have mentioned?

Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

Also, here is a link showing the car if interested:

http://www.autotrader.com/dealers/vi...r_id=173624037

 

As an update, I replaced the cap, rotor, and plug wires today (one of them fell apart while disconnecting it). Reset the check engine light, and it came back on after a few miles. So it is back to Autozone to get the codes scanned again.

 

try a compression test to check the condition of the piston rings. does it smoke? if so, what color and when? on shifts, startup, or all the time.

 

Sacicons,

THanks for the advice. I will have to check at Autozone tomorrow for a compression gage that will reach far enough down that tube the plugs are installed in. It doesn't seem to smoke at all, I have not noticed any smoke at any time.

 

have someone else drive it hard in front of you and see if it smokes. also, watch the tailpipe when someone else starts it after its been sitting a few hours.

 

Well,

Went back to Autozone to get the codes scanned. They told me that all of the codes relating to cylinders mis-firing were clear, but now I was getting a faulty O2 sensor (code 0420). Bought a new sensor and installed it, light came back on the next day. Back to Autozone to find the same code. Re-replaced the O2 sensor (under warranty - thinking that the one Autozone sold me was faulty). Light came back on the following day, I am assuming that it is still the same O2 sensor code.

My question is what do I do next? Is it possible that the wiring for the primary and secondary sensors are swapped? Will it do any damage if I swap the wiring and see what happens? I believe the connectors are the same. I suppose it could also be a faulty wiring harness to the computer, or possibly the computer itself?

Any and all help getting this sorted out is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

Did you reset the ECU after replacing the O2 sensor?

 

oil could just be a valve cover gasket... most common problem with oil on the insulators, and as you pull the plug out, it will get on the electrodes. did u change the right o2 sensor?

 

Kappa22,

I did reset the ECU using Autozone's scanner after replacing the O2 sensor. The light came back on after about 2 hours of driving.

93WideB18,

According to the dude at Autozone, code 0420 indicates a bad primary O2 sensor. So that is the one that I replaced, in the exhaust header just prior to the cat converter. And thanks for the tip on the valve cover gasket, I will replace that and hopefully it will take care of the oil problem.

 

So anyone have any idea if I can swap the wires for the primary and secondary O2 sensors without causing any damage/problems?

Thanks