Colin

My totally stock 2001 started idling rough a few thousand miles ago. I had the valves adjusted last week just to see if the intake valves had tightened up. Not the case, theywere actually a litle loose. A few days later, my car spit up a code #303. The tech who did my valve adjustment here at our Acura store pulled the code with our machine. He went back to have a look at his work just to be sure he didn't make a mistake. No problems with his work.

He then swapped the ignition coil on #3 with #2. We were hoping to find the problem had moved to #2 thus identifying the ignition coil as the cause. Unfortunately the problem jumped to cylinder #1! FWIW, the car seems to run fine at high RPMs it's just idling real rough and fuel economy seems REALLY bad.

I took the car to Honda since I firmly believe it's now a warranty issue vs. a maintenence issue (valve adjustment). They cleared the code, found a couple of plug gaps (I did the recall a while ago) were out of spec and ordered new ones. I'm driving the car while we wait for these to come in. The car still idles rough, but no codes.

My question: Could a improperly gapped plug cause this problem? Somehow I don't think so. The plugs themself were not fouled, and all looked the same. They did a leakdown test, and a compression test and everything came out ok. They mentioned that the MAP voltage was running a little high and they are suggesting the valve adjustment was done incorrectly. The is not likely but we're double checking the spec we used again. Afterall, we were adjusting the valves BECAUSE it was running rough in the first place. What do you guys think?

cdelena

I think the Honda tech has no clue. Minor variations in plug gap and valve adjustment result in little performance and smoothness issues, not misfires the ECU can sense.

I don't know what it is and can admit it and go on my way, the Honda dealership is on the spot to fix it so they are just going to replace stuff until it is more obvious. Either they will eventually find it or accidentally fix it as parts get replaced.

Please keep us posted.

modifry

Years ago I had an intermittent misfire on #1 and after two unsuccessful attempts to determinie the exact cause the dealer replaced the plug, coil pack, and injector for #1.

The problem never came back.

3ngin33r1

3ngin33r1

Colin

3ngin33r1, thanks for the information. The dealer will be replacing my plugs again and once these come in, we'll see if things have improved. They have not gone to the fuel system yet but I guess that's next. FWIW, since I got the car back, it still idles poorly, but there are no lights. I guess I'm back to where we started before the valve adjustment.

3ngin33r1

If you'll notice in the first one (11-A-69) valve clearance is one of the things to check.

I think this is a result of the work you had done. What did the tech that did the adjustment set things at?

Colin

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 3ngin33r1
If you'll notice in the first one (11-A-69) valve clearance is one of the things to check.

I think this is a result of the work you had done.

3ngin33r1

hmmm, I'll have to think about that one.

hondaS2001

well if the valves are too tight it would explain the idling problem...... the engine will shake and vibrate if the valves are OVERLY tight..... Are you 100 percent sure the tech knew exactly what he was doing i.e doing it while fully cold, checking the clearance in the correct fashion?