C4SxM5

Here's the deal guys. I just finished building a theft recovery that had 467 miles and after washing it got the following CELs:

P0301
P0302
P0300

Pending:
P1339 and states POWERTRAIN

Nothing was stolen from the engine nor the ECU and I took the car for a test drive for 2 miles before washing it w/o any problems. Right after the wash (no engine wash) the CEL came on (solid then flash) and the car idles very rough. A local mech. told me to take the coils out and make sure they are dry and blow some air in them and should fix the problem. Did that and now I get only P0301 (flash still) during idling. Any suggestions? I'm thinking it may be the gas since 1/2 tank has been sitting there for awhile (since it was stolen and recovered), but don't want to drive it just incase the problem may be more serious.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

SenderGreen

If you are getting the flashing CEL/MIL light that means your engine is misfiring bad enough to cause damage (to the emissions stuff?) while running in this condition. Those are misfire DTCs you have posted. P1399 (don't know about P1339, typo?) is temp ramdom misfire. P0300 is multiple random misfire. P0301 and P0302 indicate the misfiring cylinders.

As far as bad gas being the culprit, that seems like an excellent place to start. I had misfire problems before and gas was the first thing the dealer tried to blame it on (It wasn't gas in my case, I was running 100 octane at the time). Next they tried swapping coil paks and sparks and what not. In my case I needed a valve adjustment. There are other causes though, Billman250 lists many probable causes for a misfire in this thread; https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=356740 .

Again, if your CEL/MIL is flashing it's misfiring bad enough that you should not drive it in this condition if it can be avoided. Good Luck

Siepel

I had an occurance of rough idling (after long still stand in garage) with flashing MIL. After swapping coils and re-reading the error code it seemed to be the same cylinder as before, so I knew it was most likely the injector. I used a strong injector cleaner (the one only to be used once every 6000 miles) and tapped the injector with a screwdriver after start-up and presto: smooth as silk.

I'm hoping it's just the same problem with your car. Good luck and let us know!!


Siepel

Wisconsin S2k

definitely run the engine as little as possible if the CEL is flashing. sendergreen hit the nail on the head.

Empedocles99

Who put the gas in the tank that is in there, you or the thieves (87 perhaps?)

C4SxM5

i haven't put any gas in the car and assume it was the previous owner. it had 1/2 tank since I got it. really hoping the thieves werent asses and put something in the gas like sugar...

rioyellows2k

You may have gotten water in the spark plugs...happened to an older AP1 we had in service, and it's happened to my parent's CR-V once...You get a bunch of misfire codes and rough Idling....

Wisconsin S2k

sugar actually would not really hurt the car.

s2kBryan916

I was reading your post C4sxM5 and I was glad you had some codes to work with. You didnt say if anyone actually gave you the descriptions of the codes. I hope these help!!

P0301 - Misfire in cylinder ONE
P0302 - Misfire in cylinder TWO
P0300 - Random misfire (misfire but may not be able to tell what one)
P1339 - I cannot find any information with the system I am using so I dont know about this one. I am pretty sure it is not an OBD2 system code being that it isnt starting with a P0 its a P1 code and Honda chooses that.

From what it sounds like something is not doing its job, either the gas or your spark. I would recommend to fill the rest of the take up with the correct gas (even though you dont know if the gas in it is correct or not). It wont hurt having a little of the wrong octane much as long as your not pushing the car to its limits. The other thing is the spark, I know the ignition coils are built into/around the spark plug wire so I would imagine that it would be cost effective to buy just the one or ones that is not working. I also dont know if they will sell you just one though, normally they will sell a set of the four, but then again normally you dont see a coil built into the plug.

hope I helped some
Bryan

SenderGreen

I believe they are called "coil paks". I think my girlfriends 02 Civic EX has them as well. Also, I think you can probably order them individually. Finally, an OBD2 DTC that begins with P0 is a generic OBD2 DTC, one that begins P1 is a manufacturer specific OBD2 DTC (defined by Honda in this case).