Misfire CEL appearing frequently
05-27-2009, 03:47 AM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Misfire CEL appearing frequently
Hi all,
I'm after a little help please.
A few weeks ago I had the CEL light come on a few times (always the same codes 1399, 0301, 0302 etc etc) so misfire related.
I did a search to try to find out why and was surprised to see that the previous owner had a similar issue that was resolved by a good clean of the throttle body a year or so ago.
I did this (cleaned while on the car with carb cleaner and lots of revving) and the problem went away for a week or so.
On Friday last week I was stuck in heavy traffic and the CEL light came on again. The same codes.
This time I cleaned the K&N (It was in a bit of a state) and re-fitted it however the problem still exists. i.e. When sitting in traffic at idle, after 5-10 mins the CEL light comes on again. It's doing it every morning and every evening. The car runs fine although idle is a little lumpy (It's been like this for months though).
I should be getting my new PRM intake towards the back end of this week so will probably remove the throttle body and intake manifold for a proper clean out before fitting it to see if that helps.
What should I be looking at next? I did a search but nothing definative came up.
The car has 72k miles on it. Should I be looking at new injectors? Do they wear out?
Happy to tinker myself and not afraid of the spanners but just wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction.
Thanks
Gary
I'm after a little help please.
A few weeks ago I had the CEL light come on a few times (always the same codes 1399, 0301, 0302 etc etc) so misfire related.
I did a search to try to find out why and was surprised to see that the previous owner had a similar issue that was resolved by a good clean of the throttle body a year or so ago.
I did this (cleaned while on the car with carb cleaner and lots of revving) and the problem went away for a week or so.
On Friday last week I was stuck in heavy traffic and the CEL light came on again. The same codes.
This time I cleaned the K&N (It was in a bit of a state) and re-fitted it however the problem still exists. i.e. When sitting in traffic at idle, after 5-10 mins the CEL light comes on again. It's doing it every morning and every evening. The car runs fine although idle is a little lumpy (It's been like this for months though).
I should be getting my new PRM intake towards the back end of this week so will probably remove the throttle body and intake manifold for a proper clean out before fitting it to see if that helps.
What should I be looking at next? I did a search but nothing definative came up.
The car has 72k miles on it. Should I be looking at new injectors? Do they wear out?
Happy to tinker myself and not afraid of the spanners but just wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction.
Thanks
Gary
05-27-2009, 03:57 AM
#2
Could be lots of things *could* be idle/car sitting related from what you say, look at MB's thread to start off.
1. Coilpacks - are they clean/oil on them, seals gone etc?
2. Injectors - sometimes these are the source of the problem and need replaced or cleaner used (but i'm a bit against cleaner as they move the problem)
3. Sparkplugs - what condition are they in?
4. ICV (idle control valve) clean
5. MAP sensor replacment or whack
6. Have a quick nosey around the engine bay, one day i found one of my vac lines was off causing poo idling but performance was good
7. Doubt its any of the o2 sensors.
IIRC the misfire detection isnt a 100% accurate so you would get a misfire but its a bit hit and miss on exactly which cylinder it is. We had this in my mates garage with one car, it was a spark plug in one cylinder but put missfires on others cylinders too...strange.
I had this problem in the past like you, and started off with the easier things building upto the more difficult things.
Turned out to be some oil on coilpack (oil, carbon, conductivity) was causing arch'ing hence the missfire, i also replaced the injectors later.
1. Coilpacks - are they clean/oil on them, seals gone etc?
2. Injectors - sometimes these are the source of the problem and need replaced or cleaner used (but i'm a bit against cleaner as they move the problem)
3. Sparkplugs - what condition are they in?
4. ICV (idle control valve) clean
5. MAP sensor replacment or whack
6. Have a quick nosey around the engine bay, one day i found one of my vac lines was off causing poo idling but performance was good
7. Doubt its any of the o2 sensors.
IIRC the misfire detection isnt a 100% accurate so you would get a misfire but its a bit hit and miss on exactly which cylinder it is. We had this in my mates garage with one car, it was a spark plug in one cylinder but put missfires on others cylinders too...strange.
I had this problem in the past like you, and started off with the easier things building upto the more difficult things.
Turned out to be some oil on coilpack (oil, carbon, conductivity) was causing arch'ing hence the missfire, i also replaced the injectors later.
05-27-2009, 04:05 AM
#3
Registered User
Thread Starter
Thanks very much.
That gives me some areas to concentrate on at the weekend.
I think I'll look to clean/replace the plugs anyway as the old girl gets a fairly hard life so I can check the coil packs at the same time. To be honest, I've not checked them in the last 18k miles (She's had oil changes though).
Where would I source injectors from and how much are they? Is it the sort of thing that would be wise to replace anyway as preventative maintenance?
It's odd that it's just at longer periods of idle when the CEL light comes on. At lights it's fine but in heavy traffic and when stationary for any long period, that's when it comes on.
That gives me some areas to concentrate on at the weekend.
I think I'll look to clean/replace the plugs anyway as the old girl gets a fairly hard life so I can check the coil packs at the same time. To be honest, I've not checked them in the last 18k miles (She's had oil changes though).
Where would I source injectors from and how much are they? Is it the sort of thing that would be wise to replace anyway as preventative maintenance?
It's odd that it's just at longer periods of idle when the CEL light comes on. At lights it's fine but in heavy traffic and when stationary for any long period, that's when it comes on.
05-27-2009, 05:53 AM
#5
Registered User
Thread Starter
Cheers.
Following a bit more searching using various searches phrases I've found similar advice.
Booked in with Garage-R for a week on Satuday for a valve clearance checkup. Sounds like a nice bloke and extremely reasonably priced too!
Following a bit more searching using various searches phrases I've found similar advice.
Booked in with Garage-R for a week on Satuday for a valve clearance checkup. Sounds like a nice bloke and extremely reasonably priced too!
05-27-2009, 05:56 AM
#6
Originally Posted by eho,May 27 2009, 02:46 PM
Valve Clearance.
I have a very similar situation to yourself back a month or two, got local Honda to do valve clearance check and CEL no longer showing.
I have a very similar situation to yourself back a month or two, got local Honda to do valve clearance check and CEL no longer showing.
Yup forgot about that one.
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05-27-2009, 06:51 AM
#8
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with Ajs_s2kI would put my money on it being valve adjustments. If something effects all four cylinders it's less likely to be the coil packs, spark plugs and injectors.
O2 sensors will give a different error code, so I doubt it's either of those.
