I am a mechanic, and here is the deal yes it could be a bad injector that is leaking down not closing, but you said you are down on compression, if the valves are over tightned than the valve might not close when you are doing a compression test . A 100% test is a leak down test and than you have to back off all the valves cause there can be no lash on the valves. A valve lash should be done hot also and maybe if you want change injectors from one cylinder like take the #1 injector and put it in the bad hole .

 

Hi Mike, thanks for your advice. Are you saying that I might my vavles might be to tight? And what is "lash"? Im having a leak down test done this week to narrow it down. If I find out my vavles are to tight, then Im going to be pissed. I just had the adjustement done not to long ago and ever since then my head seem MUCH hotter to the touch than normal. I know it gets hot, but were talking heat differences simular to fire and moultan lava. Anyways, Ive been back and forth to the small dealership whom did my vavle job saying it would fix this issue and I cornered the mechanic one day asking if he could of done them to tight and he said that wouldnt of made a difference. Wondering if that was a lie and Im wondering if I need to have them look at my vavles again....

 

On your hood there is a spec for lash, it would be in the same measurement as you do your spark plugs ,so it might be like 15 , the 15 is the room between your camshaft lobe and the roller part of your rocker , you should be able to slide a feeler guage with the number 15 on it with just slight resistance( remember the 15 number i just picked out of a hat i don't know what the lash should be on your car).But in order to do all this the piston and cam have to be is a specific position, engine should be hot for best results. Now the mechanic said that it doesn't matter if the valves are to tight that is b.s cause it wouldn't matter if they were to loose either. If the valves are to tight than what you are doing is opening the valve before the cam lobe , so if the valve is to tight than the valve might be open the hole time and i don't know but i don't think the engine is designed to do that. That is why it is called a four stroke and if the valve is open than why put a cam shaft and the valve in if it doesn't matter. Anyways i don't know if that is your problem but sometimes you have to back track in order to find your problem, i had to do that with my own integra because i messed something up and 6 months later it bit me in the ass.And scanners ,fuel pressure guages and every test in the book that i tried did not work , so i just thought about everything that i ever did to the car and remembered that i had a problem with the upstream o2. Hope this helps

 

I see...well thank you kindly for your guildence. I do appreciate it very much.
Im going to the well respected dealership I bought the car from (not the one whom did the vavle job) to have them recheck there work since all i get is the run around. That happens soon, so I will let you all know the out come.

Thanks,
Don

 

Well, got another compression and leak down test down. My vavles on #2 are shot. Im loosing 80% of the compression so the leak down test shows. Im having the head port, polished, revalved (using type R intake vavles), new retainers, etc. I figure why not do it all up since the head is comming off. Oh yeah, doing new timming belt too. Total cost is 1500.00 including new seals, gaskets, vavles (16 of them, 8 stock exhaust, 8 type r), labor, etc.

Makes me wonder why it broke? Must be my lead foot.

 

Bosch white cap found in my engine...


Yep I tried Bosch when I orginally did my tune-up. A month later I had a CEL and was told I need vavle job, change wires, plugs, etc. Finally got my head off after doing a leakdown test only to find out a part of a BOSH plug go inside. SUCKS BUTT and now I know NOT TO EVER by anything BOSCH!


Bosch is for the GERMEN cards, stay true and buy NGK or Denso plugs as Acura says too...

 

this may sound retarded, but i had the same problem w/my integra. turns out that i was having a problem w/"emissions" or so i thought. turns out i just needed to spend $10 on a new gas cap cuz it was sealing properly. just a thought. havent had the check engine problem since

 

How did that contribute to your valves not functioning properly? Good that you found the problem though, your car should run pretty good afterwards.

 

Im not really sure what caused what. All I was told is, my exhaust vavles for #2 appear need to be replaced. While removing my head, they found the piece of bosch plug in there. They said it might of contributed to the issue, but over all there saying over rev'ing, incorrect plugs, to much heat caused the burn. I never saw any broken plugs when removing them either though...

I dont know, but its getting fixed and thats all I care about after trying and trying and trying to figure it out. At this point, Im not asking anymore questions, only because Im replacing everything there is that can cause it anyhow.

Now Im buying type R vavles, per suggestion of the head shop. They said it wont be faster (or noticiable), but there skinnier or something and better suited for stop and go? They also suggested I get better springs if I want to. And also adjustiable cam sprokets, saying that will be a noticiable addon.

So at this point, Im doing type r vavles all the way around. Type R springs, adjustiable cam gears, timming belt, mil'd head and cluth ACT stage 2 (already had one and loved it).

Question, will I notice much with the cam gears adjusted? Ive got a stock setup with intake. And will the type R vavles be better? They said there skinner? Is that a good thing? I want this to least longer than the 70k my stock lasted? Also, will Mil'ing down my head help or cause more issues? From what I think i understood, will the mill'ing raise my compression? And if so, do I really want that?

Anyways, thanks for everything you all. You have all been great and i appreciate it all.


Thanks,
Don

 

when you adjust the cam gears, you will notice a difference in where the engine makes power, more mid-range as opposed to top end.
the type r valve are a little different. the stem that goes through the intake port has been shaved down. offering a smaller frontal area to incoming air.
milling the head will raise compression, and most likely cause more issues since everything else that controls fuel and spark is the same.

and one last thing, even though the two digit code thing is cool, when trying to diagnose an engine, it is quite useless. next time you take it to a shop with the check engine light on, ask them what the (exact terminology) DTC is. it will be something like P0xxx. in your case it would have been something along the lines of P0303, which is a catalyst damaging misfire from the #3 cylinder. but if it were that exact code, you check engine light would have been flashing constantly every time you drove the car.