My 92 Civic has been stumbling and when I remove the plug wires one by one, I note that on cylinder #3 there is no change to rpms or performance. I do get a spark to jump from the distributor cap to the wire, or from the wire end to the valve cover. Pulled the plug out and regapped it. Pulled off distributor cap and rotor and cleaned them up. Still have the same problem.

Any suggestions as to why this cylinder seems to be dead?

 

Could be a bad valve. Check the compression.

Or the #3 fuel injector isn't injecting any. Try switchingtwo injectors and see if the problem moves with it.

Also I've seen spark plugs get a short in them and they look perfect but won't spark.

 

dito id swap the spark plug itself first. definatly cheapest and quickest to swap....

 

That's funny. I Recieved a 92 civic a few weeks ago and had the same prob. swapped the plugs with no effect. Did a compression test and I had no compression at all. I pulled off the cylinder head cover and found that one of my two exhaust valves had shattered.

If that is your prob than you might as well check the fit of yourinternals and replace the ones that are past the service limits. "gasket sets can be costly"

 

[align=left]Thanks to all for the suggestions and help. Update: replaced spark plugs and saw some improvement; replaced plug wire set and saw 100% improvement. Seems the old wire set must have been the culprit.


Thanks again,
Jedd
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congratulations and thank you for telling us the real problem.