It just keeps getting better. Jumping a tooth on the cam pulley just put me back to a no-start again. I was on the marks before, so I put it back and got the car to start again but it would not idle. Re-attached the temp switches and the car still started. Re-attached the coolant sensor and, to my suprise, it started and seemed to run better. It still wouldn't idle; up to this point I had been starting the car without the air intake tube, I felt that I didn't need it off anymore and re-attached it. Suprise again! Now it idles, but barely.

Now that I had it idling, I tried setting the timing. It was closer than yesterday, but everytime I got it lined it seemed to change. After scratching my head for a few minutes, I decided to verify that all cylinders were firing. Pulled off plug wire #4 and no change, pulled off plug #2 and the car died. Restarted and pulled #4 again, no change. Pulled #3 and no change. So I swapped the old plugs into cylinders 3 & 4. Now 3 is working but 4 still isn't. However, after setting the timing again the car was drivable. In fact, my wife said that the car was running perfect now meaning that it ran as good as before I started messing with it. I knew it lacked power before, mainly with the AC on; I guess I know why now.

When I set the cam pulley originally, I couldn't see the marks that the manual indicated and guestimated using the up locator. When the car didn't start I figured I was off a tooth one way or the other. After the third time of jumping the belt around I finally found the marks and lined them up appropriately. All the start attempts apparently flooded the engine; the fact that it started when I disconnected the coolant sensor was a coincidence. I'm guessing that the ignition timing was so far off because the ECU was trying to compensate for the two cylinders not firing, the disconnected coolant sensor, and the removed air tube. Talk about chasing your tail!

So now I guess I'll get another set of plugs since at least one didn't want to work. Cylinder 4 is getting spark so I think it's a fuel issue: I'll get a fuel filter as well since that is the only tune-up part I didn't get yet; I'm hoping it's not the injector.

 

You don't "set the timing" by changing relative positions of camshaft and crankshaft. There is only one correct position, both aligned w/ TDC marks. Once this is set correctly, you should set the base ignition timing on the distributor using a timing light. I think this should be 15 degs. BTDC for #1 cylinder.

Also if the camshaft/crankshaft alignment was too far off, it is possible to damage a valve. This would cause loss of compression and dead miss on that cylinder.

Also, you should check the wires in low light or dark by spraying w/ water and see if you see any sparks jumping around. New wires indicated if you do. Cracked distributor cap tower can also lead to loss of spark to selective cylinder.

good luck

 

I did a compression test today, here are the results:

#1 - 160
#2 - 130
#3 - 170
#4 - 120

I was surprised to see cylinder 2 so low, it seemed to be firing ok. I'm probably going to let it go for now since the car is drivable and uses less gas than my truck. If I get frisky again I'll do a leak test.

As frustrating as this was, it was a good experience. And the car is at least running about the same as before, I guess I was hoping it would run better after all this work. Thanks to everyone for the help.

 

Update: car is running much better after a can of Restore. I've never used this stuff before, I have used similar products on other cars that didn't appear to do anything. But I've gotta give some kudos to Restore, it seems to really work.

 

# 2 and # 4 are too low ,, by the way did you adjust the valves after you reinstalled the head ??? Also after a valve job you should adjust the valve about .002-.004 loser ,, valve lash will get tighter once valves have properly settled in ,, and you should recheck valve adjustment after engine has a few thousands miles on it

 

The machine shop adjusted the valve clearance, I'll keep that in mind to check after a few thousand. Thanks.

 

did they adjust the valves with the head off the engine ???or were they the ones that did the full vlve job ( r+r cylinder head ??
I would chk the valve adjustment ASAP.......those compression readings are not right,, there is too much of a difference from cylinder to cylinder ,,,,, do a wet compression test see if readings will come up .
if they come up you got issues with pistons rings.. if they stay close to the same as they are now ,, you got either a valve adjusted too tight thus does not seat fully ,, or a valve job that was not done properly .
engine will not idle smoothly

 

The shop adjusted the clearance with the head off. I removed and replaced the head myself. I went back and checked them and they were in spec. I reset them to the upper limits: .011 intake and .013 exhaust. There was no comparable difference after re-adjusting them.

The car seems to run as good as it did before I started working on it after I added the Restore, with the exception that it may not be starting as easily. It's hard to remember now. Compared to this past week; the idle has smoothed out and the miss is not as noticable. I'm thinking it already had the compression problem before I did all this work. It seems to lack power, especially when the AC is on, but it was like that before.

The only maintenance items I haven't replaced yet are the fuel filter and the O2 sensor. I'm going to have the shop do the fuel filter when I have the inspection done and I'm going to let the O2 sensor go since I don't think there's anything wrong with it. Between the truck, the family van, and this Honda; I've spent most of my summer under the hood of a car and I'm getting tired of it now.