eventually changed the under hood fuse box and fuse 15 in the dash and the car is back to normal. weirdest problem ever, pretty sure it is all attributed to using cheap wiring




I have a 2000 CTR B16B from HMO all stock motor (walbro 255 fuel pump, k&n air filter, custom exhaust with apexi ws2 muffler) in a 1997 civic dx frame (98-00 interior).

The build up:
a few days ago (lets call it day 1) i was driving around in the canyons for a good 3-4 hours, a couple times i red lined my engine which has never been a problem before, then made my way home. On the way home my friend blew his h22 because he decided to drive with no oil. So the next day (day 2) this certain friend asks me to take a look at his h22, i go over to his place, 10 miles away, and get let into his parking garage area, he "feel asleep" and i got stuck in his garage area for an hour, trolling back and forth between the 2 gates hoping someone will come in or out. I essentially idled my engine for an hour... Then on the morning of day 3 i jumped on the freeway to go get exhaust work done....

The problem:
I have made it about 5 miles on the freeway and my car starts to jerk a little bit then stops. Then it starts to jerk worse and worse, it feels like it is running limp or with a misfire. So I pull over onto the streets to take a look, everything seems to be fine and the tugging stopped while idled, then it suddenly dies while im looking at the engine bay! I turn it over and it barely starts and im trying to figure out what is wrong. I got home and put a new coil in the dizzy and it doesnt help so i put the old one back in and go to turn the car over, nothing. The car wont start now, just a single loud thud or click, but ive had this problem before from a bad ground, so right away i replace all my power cables and battery/vc and tranny grounds with 1 gauge quality wire. Now the car cranks strong but still wont start, check a few things, no spark now so i replace the entire dizzy. Then before trying to start again i check cam timing, all good but cylinder 3 is totally flooded with gas, so i let it dry out for a while. Go to start car and it barely starts and i have to hold down the gas pedal for that and then it runs like crap and dies if i dont give it gas. I am now upset. Called a couple people and looked online...

What i tried:
~I checked the dizzy/wires/plugs and i am getting nice white spark on all 4 plugs.
~I looked at the spark plugs and cylinders 1, 2, 4 are all black while cylinder 3 is clean and new.
~stethoscope on the fuel injectors, pretty sure i heard clicking.
~took fuel rail off and cranked, injectors 2 and 3 popped off rail gas poured out.
~checked fuses 12, 13, 15, 24, 31 and back up fuse in engine bay. all fine.
~fuel pump primes but also exessive white smoke and fuel smell when idling car, note that there is some seafoam in the fuel tank :angry: .
~cam timing looks perfect, as does ignition timing (checked with light).
~car will not idle unless i take out MAP sensor then it has a rough idle with heavy fuel smell. white smoke from tail pipe (see previous point).
~no CEL until i unplug map and then do jumper pin, only CEL then is #3 (map sensor?)

**maybe i should mention that even with the ECU fuse out the car runs exactly the same?

The car does not feel drivable even though i could take it around the block without more problems. Rough idle (none with map sensor in), drives like there are misfires, sounds like there is no exhaust (there is), lots of white smoke from tail pipe, no CEL.




Ive been at this car for 2 days trying to get my only transportation running again. Right now I am considering a few things for which I already have the parts, such as:
~changing main relay (i have another 97 civic i can take relay off to test)
~using stock fuel pump (i still have it, using walbro 255 right now)

Outside of that, maybe its a bad MAP sensor or TPS?
Any input would be extremely helpful! I am ready and willing to learn something here... Its driving me insane!

 

~Okay so today I put in the stock fuel pump, even though im pretty sure the walbro was fine (the stock one makes an annoying whine when priming).
~I did a valve adjustment, they were all a little tight, nothing crazy though...
~I changed the oil, with the seafoam and a recent quart of oil dropped in, I had wayy too much oil in there (about 4.7 quarts...) Does too much oil cause serious issues?
~I changed out the MAP sensor and main relay from another civic (although that one doesnt run too good either -_-).
~Tried new spark plugs. Results below...

So the valves were a little tight, nothing that surprised me although i did adjust them only 3k miles ago and they usually loosen up between adjustments, rather than getting tighter like they did this time.
While doing this i checked timing over and over, many (counter-clockwise) turns of the crank. Take a look at this photo, is it just me or does the crank look about a mm off on TDC when the cams are aligned? Should I worry about this? I know its hard to look at it in a photo:




The too much oil really scares me. Im usually so good about that and I could have sworn it was really low but i guess it wasnt as low as i thought when i added another quart...

Changed the map and main relay just because (i have the other civic sitting in the drive way but has a crack in the block which i found out after i rebuilt its head... this is a whole other story so i wont get started...) and the engine runs better, starts up easy and idles fine now.

Although the start up and idle are better there is clearly a misfire now. This is where i really need some help... I tried 2 sets of spark plugs and spark plug wires with the same results in any set up. Cylinder #2 [[ref: dizzy 4 3 2 1 cam gears]] has a wet spark plug each time i run it for a minute and check the plugs, its covered in gasoline each time. Cylinder #2 is not firing, but has spark...



So tomorrow I guess I will be doing a compression/leak down test. I want to think bent valve for some reason but I have no hard evidence to make me think that. Will post leak down/compression results if I can get it done tomorrow. How bad would it be to drive the car like this (at low speed/low rpm) just to get these tests done?

**All the injectors are getting voltage when the key is ON and the fuel pressure is fine. Double checked this morning. No change.

Here is a video of the car running, dont know if it will help any...
Photobucket Video

 

Today the problem got weirder. I went to go get a leak down test at a local pep boys (no air compressor) and as I started driving there it was driving just fine, a little boggy and some white smoke but not bad, then after about half a mile it got really bad like before (where I was going was only a mile away) but for the second half of the mile there was not much white smoke even though it ran crappy.

The pep boys did not have a leak down test, weird. So before I drive away i notice when I turn the key I actually have a CEL now! -_-

3 short: Manifold Absolute Pressure
I should probably check for vacuum leaks. maybe just buy a new MAP sensor.

2 long: Electric load detector
I also noticed that my fuel gauge and speedometer are not working anymore, my tach is a little jumpy but works and coolant appears to work, my oil pressure and voltage work fine except that voltage is jumping all over the place.

4 long 1 short: Heated oxygen sensor heater
Could this be because i have been running with a rich misfire?


The entire electrical system seems stressed now, I do have a somewhat extensive (~2000w) stereo system on the stock B16B alternator, I think I blew teh alternator... But get this, while driving back from the pep boys, i kinda floored it giving it gas and the problem essentially went away while doing that. The car picked up and drove well, a little louder than usual but hardly, and the voltage steadied at ~13.5v with no white smoke or jerking BUT the speedo and fuel meter still did not work. When I let up on the gas (stop sign) the problem came back, in the day light i could see the lights in the dash dimming and getting brighter and could here the fuel pump starting to pulse in struggling with the lights. The only change I made recently was the new grounds and REMOVING a capacitor from my set up, until i can fix all this.

Did I fry my alternators low output mode? Should I start inspecting my wire harness? Still need to do leak down test, Ill borrow a compressor soon.