Hey everybody,

I bought my civic in July. Since then, I've probably put close to 10k mi on her. That is up to almost 190k. The check engine light has been on since I got her, but I've been busy chasing down oil leaks and replacing blower motor, AC troubleshooting, and a few other dizzying issues. The car has been getting me as good as 42mpg, so I haven't felt like the CEL has been a huge priority.

I know from reading that the HX has the EGR valve and passages on the IM which need to be cleaned, and indeed, that was one of the related codes the auto parts store showed...So, I purchased all of the o-rings and gaskets, and have just been putting off the job.

The codes that have been plaguing the car, just not addressed yet have been EGR, and O2 codes.

Last week, out of the blue, the car started missing. Up to this point, not a hiccup...the engine had been purring like a kitten. I have no way of knowing when/if the timing belt had been changed, so the first thing I did was pull the cover and inspect the belt just to put my mind at ease. Cool, belt looks good.

I went ahead and bought a dist. cap and rotor while I was at the store having the codes pulled this time. Since they said it was showing a code for Multiple Cylinder Misfire, I figured the problem had to be upstream from the wires themselves. I believe they showed cylinders 1,2, &4.

I changed the cap and rotor, but that didn't help at all. At first I really thought it had, because I fired the engine up, and it ran beautifully for about 10 or 15 minutes. I told my wife I was going for a test drive, and as soon as I fired her back up, I knew right away the problem was still there, because now it was missing again.

I figured it was worth making sure the EGR wasn't part of the problem, so I went ahead and put all those orings and gaskets to good use and stripped it down and cleaned out what appeared to be completely blocked passages in the top of the IM.

But, the engine isn't running any better now either.

In fact, on the test drives, I noted that not only is the CEL on, but it blinks occasionally now to boot !

I read somewhere that a flashing CEL means I could kill the cat. I sure hope they mean 'prolonged' running with that symptom. I certainly have no intention of driving it any distance 'til fixed.

I know just enough to be dangerous under the hood I'm afraid, so I'm sure hoping one of you can walk me thru this momentary nightmare. Driving my motorcycle to work ...130 miles a day, is exhausting.

The codes that were showing up before I cleaned out the EGR system were:

P1300 - Multiple Cylinder Misfire
P1399 - Random Cylinder Misfire
P0420 - Catalyst System Effeciency below threshold bank 1
P0301 - Cylinder number 1 misfire (I did not ask for them to print out the other cylinder codes, but there were at least two others that came up...cylinder 2 and 4 I believe)

Also, please note that I am aware of a hairline crack on the exhaust manifold between the engine block and the top O2 sensor. I am not sure that is at fault for P0420, but they did suggest that an exhaust leak could potentially cause that.

Thanks, in advance, for any assistance.

 

After changing the fuel filter and subsequently starting fresh on the trouble codes because of the battery disconnect, I decided to see what is still being thrown. I ran the engine for 10 minutes or so, long enough to bring it up to operating temp. The engine was still running pretty rough, and the CEL was flashing occasionally.

The codes still being thrown now are 71,72, and 74. (random misfires on cylinder 1,2, and 4) There was no EGR or O2 code being sent yet.

I also got my hands on a timing light so I could see what the timing looks like. I will post more as I get it.

I'm a little surprised I haven't gotten any suggestions yet, but would welcome them. The temps are starting to dip with the season, and I don't want to keep riding the motorcycle if I can help it.

Thanks again.

 

it could be numerous things, first you need to find out if its a spark or fuel causing the miss fire, when you had the timing light hooked up could you see the misfire in the timing light? did it miss some blinks?

 

Hey, thanks for the input. Turns out the light I got my hands on was not an inductive light. It was pretty old and the leads didn't fit right. A buddy at work is going to bring me one tomorrow that I can borrow and should be what I can use.

I will post whatever i find out. Thanks again.

 

Well, I kept reading how everybody says aftermarket wires and cap/rotors are crap, so I figured what the heck...its just another $125. So, here it is...the engine is running without a hiccup after putting on new cap/rotor/wires from Honda.

I'll let you know if anything changes, but as of right now, its back to running great, and no CEL for once in a good while.