S2k_MoZo

Hi everyone,

As ya'all know I just drove from TX last week and as soon as I got into Tampa, FL I got a CEL. I know I got some weird gas at just one gas station named Pilot, the best they had was 92 and after almost half a tank of that gas I put Chevron 93 in it and after consuming half of that mixture, I got a CEL right as I entered Tampa. I went to Advance Autoparts and it turns out to be misfire at cylinder 3 but the car drove fine. CEL went away after a few hours and then last night it came back on.

After driving a couple of days with the code, got a chance to mess with it, here are the updates:

Update: (08/25/2009)
Tried doing compression test and it came out fine, did it three times the way it's mentioned in DIY.
It was something like this:

Cyl1: around 220
Cyl2: around 220
Cyl3: around 220
Cyl4: around 215

Tried changing coilpacks and plugs with no luck. Put everything from cylinder 3 on cylinder 1 to check if it's coilpack or plug but the issue still starts at Cylinder 3 and then moves on...

Scanner gives me like 4 codes:
P0303 Cylinder 3 misfire
P0304 Cylinder 4 misfire
P0300 Random multiple cylinders misfire
P1399 which I can check out later.

I got my valve adjustment around 5K miles ago and the guy who did it says it might be too tight and can cause this issue? I guess I need to try and change the PCV Valve and get a valve adjustment to narrow down the cause of this issue.
I will keep this thread open to track the issue so anyone else having similar issues can refer back to it.

Update: (08/26/2009)
Cleared the CEL to see what I get again, here is what I got:

P0301 - Cylinder 1 misfire detected
P0303 - Cylinder 3 misfire detected
P0304 - Cylinder 4 misfire detected
P0030 - Random multiple cylinder misfire detected
P1399 - Unknown code

I got these 5 error codes and the car runs fine, just seems to be using more gas and backfires at idle..or make that wannabe muscle car sound?
Taking it to S&R the first chance I get and will update the thread.

Update: (08/27/09)

Took it to shop and they were about to close but they managed to check a few things.
They changed the plugs from platinum NGK to regular NGK and checked a few vacuum lines but nothing so far. It's still popping and it again gave me all those codes back starting at cylinder 3, then cylinder 1 and 4 and random multiple code. There is another code P1399 that I will look up to see what it means...as it's undefined...maybe that is the key?

It's been almost a week and I have finished that tank and put some octane booster today and got some gas from Shell...V-Power (93).
Will drive till Saturday and then see how it goes, else I have apptmnt with the shop on Saturday morning to play with it more and see if they can find the root cause and fix it

Car is running pretty lean and is giving around 18 miles to the gallon at the moment...which is not normal for a car that used to give at least 20mpg in city with quite a lot of vtec

Gas change is done, with no effect.
Plugs change is done, with no effect.
Next is coilpacks...and then God knows what

Update: (08/29/09)

Took it to the shop, changed coilpacks and plugs with no effect and the new plugs we put in were in bad condition too! Car is eating plugs?
Code that comes after all that is P1410 and P1399 I believe which asked to clean the EGR Solenoid and That small cover over exhaust manifold and do valve adjustment?
So put a new EGR Solenoid and clean that small cover on the side of the engine right over exhaust manifold and they were clogged! EGR Solenoid was so bad that we had to put another one.
So changed coilpacks with no luck, cleaned that thing over exhaust manifold and changed EGR solenoid. Then did the valve adjustment again which turns out to be lose but after all that codes were gone and car felt better with less popping and backfire but idles like sh*t! It almost dies and then you have to keep your foot on brake and gas together to keep it from dying or going that low.

It was running better and it was 5'o clock not to mention I was at the shop since 9am so we had to give it a break.
Valve adjustment done, EGR Solenoid changed and cleaning that thing over header and doing all that with no luck. Air pump might be bad since all the codes lead to that and that is next to play with.

Update: (08/31/09)

This morning when I started the car...it could not idle properly...it kept going from 2000 RPM to 100RPM a couple of times and finally when it was about to settle, engine sounded weird (like under a lot of load) and CEL started blinking...
I drove Sunday fine and used almost 3 bars of gas with no CEL, this morning I got CEL and not just CEL the blinking CEL!!

I turn the car off, after a minute restarted the car and it was fine when I gave it some gas to idle and then I checked the codes:

P0300
P0303
P0304
P1399

And the car with CEL works fine now. I just got to work, the car idles at almost 800RPM and pops at every gear change and pops when idling a few times but runs fine.
I am not sure what to do, why the blinking CEL?
Did I hurt the car in anyway?

s2kAtTracks

I had a bad airpump and my car drove perfectly fine. Im not sayng it isnt your problem, but I think its a slim chance. It really just heats the cat up.

I also did not notice a loss of MPG.

Tanikins07

That's why you shouldn't have left texas zo lol. But no really what were the numbers for your compression test? the test needs to be done w/ the car has just been running for a bit so pretty warm and never cold. When you adjusted the valves did you look at the retainers as well? to see if they were cracked. What NGK's did you put in there? stock from Honda should be PFR7G-11S which are the platinum ones, from what I read you went one step lower? which is not good if you did. Try checking out the injectors if you think that's what it is but its a long shot, David told me normally the gas we pump (shell) has a lot of cleaning stuff added in so we don't really have to worry about that.

Edit: Oh and another thing a blinking CEL is never good, should def take it to Honda if you can but that P1399 code is weird.... I don't see a reason for that code anywhere.

03-toda-s2000

a 1399 code is a pending code. Whats wierd is you are reading all the codes i did, when compression was critically low in cylinder 3 of my S and your having alot of the same symptoms i did. I suggest retrying the compression leakdown test.
Luckily all i needed was a valve adjustment where as if you keep driving it you might end up having bent valves or cracked retainers. Also like said above you might try taking out the injectors and try cleaning them.

S2k_MoZo

I put in new OEM Spark plugs the laser platinum ones like around 5K miles ago when I did my valve adjustment which turned out to be too tight after 5K miles and got a CEL now!

Those spark plugs were almost done so I have the non-platinum NGK plugs for now for testing but either platinum with that part number or the ones I have are not doing jack sh*t! It's still running the same!

I have been trying to follow this post:
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=659930

spets

It sounds like you've tried everything except the injectors.

S2k_MoZo

The shop recommends emptying this tank of gas till the light turns on and fill it up with Shell 93 again and see if that solves the problem.
They say that bad gas can stay in there for quite some time, so they just want me to drive a lot and keep filling good gas for now.

I just don't want to harm anything in the car in the long run!
It still needs a valve adjustment since we could not do it right the other day and it's a little lose atm.
Should I drop the car at the shop tomorrow the first thing or run the fuel till it ends and try putting Shell again once the light turns on and see if that helps?

Since I got bad gas, I have gotten like Chevron once and Shell twice, but everytime I filled up, I had like 3 to 4 bars left at least. Should I run it empty and fill up and see? Is it worth trying or should I just drop it off and let them deal with it?

03-toda-s2000

anytime you have a blinking cel it is not wise to keep driving it. If you truely think its bad gas then you dont need to empty the gas tank they have additives that you can put in your tank to clean any water or other crud in your tank. I think you need to take it to honda to get it checked out.

S2k_MoZo

but it's not blinking anymore, it was blinking when it could not properly idle so I turned the car off immediately!

Then I waited like a minute to start it again and then it was fine with just that CEL and it was not blinking anymore, maybe not idling properly was damaging something but it seems to run fine still and the CEL is on and not blinking anymore?

pininfarina456

That sucks dude, I really don't have the answer for something complex like this. Hope the car gets better!