Hey, All! I need some help, Please! 2000 Civic DX 1.6L SOHC 74,000 miles. Car developed a rough idle which then became an intermittent/random misfire. This progressed until CEL/MIL came on. OBD2 always indicated it was cylinder #1. Pulled injector connectors off 1-by-1 and noticed little if any change in idle quality for cyl #1 compared to others. Changed plugs-made no difference. Changed injector-made no difference. Replaced rotor button, distributor cap & wires-minor difference, but short-lived. CEL/MIL came back on after a couple days of driving, but showed misfire in cyls # 1 & 3. Reset CEL/MIL, but did nothing else. CEL/MIL came back on a couple of days later, now showing code for each cylinder misfire & also code for random misfire. So now it appears to be something common to all cylinders, not just one of them. It also looks like something that is getting progressively worse. I could assume it is the Igniter?/Ignition module/Ignition coil, but those are expensive parts to just throw at the problem & I can't find info on how to test any of them.

Any help, or advise would be appreciated. Girlfriends car & I'm worried it's just gonna die on her and winter is coming.

Thanks in advance!!
Howie

 

could it be a short somewere in some wires or like inside the distributor wires touching the rotor?

 

o yeah how were the plugs when you took them out?

 

Ok a coupleof things did you take the wires off of the distrubutor when you were changing the rotor. did you change he cap?I know you siad you were changing the button. you siad you pulled the injector out and it didnt change the idle. it means id didnt fire this cylinder.Ok Get a friend and do these.
Start the car. if it starts you have good spark. hopefully
Does it idle roughly does it sputter when you are revving.
If it does it means thatone of the cylinders didnt fire.
Determine which cylinder it is.
Keep the car one and pull out a wire from the cylinder one by one. start with number 4.
Does the idle change this means this cylinder has fired right.
Keep doing this until you figure out which cylinder/s did not fire.
Now when you find out. you will need to check a couple of problems.
Now take the wire of the cylinder that did not fire and pull it from the cylinder. you need to check and make sure you have good spark. Now you can have your friend hold the wire while you try to start it and see if he yells .if he does ten you have a good spark. JK
Ok seriously take a screwdriver and stick the metak end inside of the plug boot and lay across the valve cover make sure it is touching metal on metal. now try to turn the engine over. does it make a spark when you turn the key. if it does then you have very good spark if it doesnt then you have a problem with either the wire or the connection or the cap.
now lets eliminate these problems. 1 by 1
Ok now to begin with chech the connections on the wires. push all of the wires boots and plug boots firmly on the distributor and the cylinders now try to start it again. does it do any better. if it doeswell then great if it doesnt then keep on reading.
Ok here is the tricky part. Do you know what the ifring order is on your car. if not go to autozone.com and look at their online manuals and get the firin order off of here and check the ifring order. this might do it. if not keep reading.
take the cap off of the distributor and look at the inside of it. is there any oil or water build up or are there any carbon lines. if there is then you need to replace the cap.
this should do it. if it does not then you need to replace the wires. you should be able to get some good wires at advance auto for 20 bucks. unlesss you have a performance ignition and since its your gf's car then you shouldnt haafta worry about that part.
ok this has so far cost you about
plugs=$7
wires=$20
rotor button=$18
cap=$13
Now if any of this does not work. then you have a more serious problem. w/o a performance ignition you cannot just replace a coil. yo must replace the entire distributor. this will cost you about 200 bucks sorry but this does do it.
This would be the most common solution for a random misfire but you know the latter is a little less expensive. so you should try these and report back to me before you do anything drastic
toodles

 

the igniters in these cars are horrible... might i suggest checking/replacing that first.. they alllllwwaaaayyyssss go