Hey a week ago I pulled up to a stop sign and at about 10 mph it started missing and then died just before it came to a stop. Ive since replaced the fuel filter and tested the fuel pump and it pumps pretty well. Ive pulled a plug on the drivers side right after cranking on it that was wet with fuel so it seems to be getting fuel and I put a timing light on the drivers side bank and the coil and they are all working and getting spark as well. Now as far as what it does do when I try to start it sometimes it will half fire on one cylinder and chug............chug...................chug....... blurgh... it will basically run at 100 rpm on one cylinder maybe then slowly die. No SES light came on and I tried to run it with datamater and there were no trouble codes stored and it was trying ot idle at 3000 rpm because it wasnt starting and throttle position had no effect on it when trying to start. I figure if atleast 2 or 3 cylinders were working it would run MUCH better than it does now... previously over the last 3 weeks both my cats blew out and I dont know why(I have duals) and I had swapped back on the stock maf ends and cleaned the maf but other than that it was running fine. I also have swapped coils from my spare in the garage and there is no difference.... what could this be, opti and coil seem to be working and the motor seems to be getting fuel.... could my pcm have taken a **** randomely??? I have a spare if thats the case but what else could it be... and what are some of you opinions?

 

PCM takes 5 minutes to swap out... you have nothing to lose trying out your spare.

Try unhooking your y-pipe to see if the cats are clogged up again. I have heard they wont last long if the car is running extremely rich.

 

how long have you been running that opti you have in there?

 

I have duals under the axle so Ill drop the whole thing down and see if its plugged, if anything I figured it would be running lean and there are 86k on the opti BUT I tested it with a timing light and it was flashing and I pulled plug wires and put a plug on the end of one and it was firing so...meh... Also Im not sure its the pcm since im not sure what datamaster would say if it were screwed up...

 

In the mean time does anyone have any more suggestions?

 

Just swapped the pcm and it made no difference I think im going to retest all the plugs again when I get a chance since I didnt check all of them, after that I really am lost I cant think of one other thing that could possibly be doing this.

 

It's a good idea to check the fuses. The 2 injector fuses underhood and the PCM Ign fuse in the I/P fuse panel come to mind, but check all of them.

You mentioned about checking for spark. At least check a few plugs from each side. While your there, it wouldn't hurt to do a compression check. If that's good check fuel pressure one more time and check to see if the fuel injectors are firing with a noid light.

Some times you just have to get back to basics. If all of those items turns up good I'll eat my cracked rubber intake boot.

 

LOL well thanks I checked all the fuses under the hood not the relays cause I dont know how to tell if they are bad or not, is the ignition fuse on the interior next to the door? Didnt check those if it is. What is a noid light?

 

A noid light allows you to see injector pulses by flashing each time the injector fires. The one I have has long leads and a suction cup to stick to the windshield so you can work alone.

 

....and if I went to autozone and asked for a noid light would they know it by that name?

on a seperate note I put a timing like on every wire on teh drivers bank and it was lighting up on all of them when I cranked it does that for sure mean they are lighting because all the plugs are good....

 

You can try them, but you'll have better success at an independant or NAPA. I do believe the timing light will only blink if you get a valid spark to jump the plug gap. There is one thing you can try, pull a plug wire off the plug and be sure there is no way there could be any kind of spark. Now put the timing light on the wire and see what happens. Should answer the question for sure.

If you believe you have spark, the next thing to try is, squirt fuel directly into the throttle body and have someone crank it over. Takes a bit of fuel but if it fires up, you know you have a fuel problem. We use a squirt oil can.

Let us know.

 

I tested the spark with a spark tester and it jumped about an inch or more gap on cylinders 1 and 5 which means its not the opti or coil since it would atleast do SOMETHING on 2 cylinders, I am going to test the rest sometime its not dark. I know my fuel pump primes, but is it supposed to pump when you are cranking it or once it fires up? Im not sure how im gonna test the fuel pressure if the car has to be running to do it.... This is ****ing pissing me off, im gonna double check the things you told me to slowpoke.

 

Im gonna crank on it again tonight and spray carb cleaner in the throttle body to see if it starts should have results by tonight.

 

well I had someone crank for a few seconds multiple times as I sprayed carb cleaner directly into the tb that I pulled open with my other hand and nothing different happened so i guess its not fuel related, Ill check the rest of my cylinders for spark with the spark tester. I know 2 of my cylinders 1 and 5 have great spark, jumped over a 30k volt gap on the spark tester.

 

Hey guys I tested fuel pressure today and it seems to be around 40 something so that seems pretty good. I tried to test some plugs on the passenger side but it was too tighht and it kept jumping to the header bolts cause they were maybe 1/4" away so I just tested plus 1 and 3 again and got different results... BTW I had to jump the car the whole time with my mothers accord to do this since my battery drained out from cranking... They both always jumped the 10and 20k volt gap which is 1/4-1/2" but once I did the 30k volt test, about 1" the spark would jump it a couple times or not at all then no more. A few times I put the gap at about 3/4" and tried it and it jumped that most the time but sometimes wouldnt, thing is I just put another used but good coil on there and it was jumping the 30k gap fine before on 1 and 5... If it WAS the opti wouldnt I either not be getting ANY spark or getting sprak at the wrong time? One guy from torquecentral described it as spark scatter.... maybe someone can elaborate?