GUYS YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THIS........................
Ok, so about an hour ago I start the car and drive it 10 miles to the local Honda/Acura Specialist, Jung's Automotive.......
I know how to drive it being sure not to load the engine on deceleration so as not to smash another plug.........
I get to the shop and the car is running pretty good so I have Jung come out and explain what has been happening and to him as well to us this makes no sense at all........
So I start the car to let him hear the tapping, and its not tapping...........WTF!!!!!!
So I told him to wait I'll be back I am gonna go smash a spark plug for him and be right back........Well, I tried to smash a plug and ended up back at home 10 miles later with all my cylinders still firing.......and no smashed plug........
Engine is purring like a kitten again.........How can this be......I was ready to start pullin this engine tonite.......
So I drive it down the street and come back going through the gears hard, engine breaking, and chugging it turning onto my street and then again into my driveway. And it runs well then I park and it cuts off on me. I try to restart it and it doesnt start, so I give it some gas as I crank it and it starts and runs rough for a few seconds gets itself together and idles perfect..........
Could I have some type of carbon build up problem that got into the cylinder???? And may also be causing a fuel flow problem???? I got no engine codes when it shut off and wouldnt start.......and none before the problems began........just the obvious misfire code because the plug was smashed......
This is crazy...............

 

A carbon buildup won't cause a scar on the piston where the spark plug is hitting. There's a very simple explanation to what happened ...... YOU WERE TRYING TO SHOW THE PROBLEM TO A MECHANIC!!!! Everyone knows that problems disappear when there's a mechanic present!

As for your car's problem, keep us informed because I've never heard of this issue on a Honda.

Also, please add the car info to your signature.

 

On the junk Nissan QR25's I work on, chunked cats get ingested back into the cylinder, causing plug, valve and piston damage. This may be what happened in your case -- A piece of the catalytic converter ended up getting sucked into the chamber, causing damage, and then broken up into enough pieces to get spit back out the exhaust.Also, Desert is probably on a good pathwith a bad rod bearing -- I've seen this only once, on a nitrous'ed VQ35 in a 350z, and it was similar to what you describe. The rod bearing wasworn out and under the load of the nitrous, allowed enough upwarddeflection to allow the plug to hit thepiston.Get someone with a borescope to examine the valves and top of the piston, and pull the oil pan and check the condition of the crank journals and bottom end.

+1 on mechanics. We work on people's cars all day long, but a lot of times, the problems seem to go away whenever they get into a bay, and only happen when the customer is out in B.F.E. somewhere.

 

how in the world would a piece of the catalytic converter work its way back up into thecylinder against the flow of the exhaust??????

 

The piston isn't closing the gap up, if it was it would do it on the first revolution. It sounds like something got in there, doubt it's a piece of cat.

 

I doubt that a piece of cat got sucked back into that piston, it would be a first for me .. and I do not think that it is a worn piston rod bearing ,, the noise would be there all the time + a worn rod bearing would have no affect on the runnubility of the car ( it could be noisy as hell ) ..
You need to do a compression test ,,, did you chk the plugs to make sure a piece of it did not brake off and it is floating in the chamber?? did this engine overheat on you ?? or is it overheating on you ?? almost sounds just like when engine is badly overheating and person keeps on driving till it gets so hot that it shuts down ( the chugging, the shutting down ),,fans working ??make sure engine is not overheating also just for the heck of it,, chk the valve springs as well .
and I would not do any major work till you properly DIAGNOSE what exactly is going on..

 

 

Desert..........No engine has not overheated on me and was actually cold when problem first reared its head. The fans are working properly.
Update of info.......
The engine will not make the tapping noise after it is run and at operating temp. The noise is not coming from cam and rocker arm area, its coming from cylinder 2 area right in front of the engine beside the exhaust manifold. The car has good power and the engine idles smooth with no misses and has not smashed any more plugs even after I have been trying to get it to.
The engine is creating a lot of vibration as it is run thru the RPM's either at stand still or when driving. You can feel the vibration in the gas and clutch pedals and matches the rev's of the engine. It is also a bit noisey inside the car than before.
The noise and vibration came after I checked the timing belt condition and removed the two belts and reinstalled them and retensioned them. I never fully removed the belts so they are installed in their original direction. And the timing marks all line up on all pulleys and balance shaft pulleys. But I do have a question. What is the importance of locking the rear balancing shaft in place with a 6mm bolt after removing the belt. What does it matter if the pulley turns after the belt is removed as long as the timing marks are aligned on re-install. I know this has nothing to do with the original problem but I am now also dealing with the vibration problem. I may have let the rear balance shaft pulley rotate on me with the belt off.
I am also suspect that the vibration can be coming from damage to the piston due to either hitting the spark plug or pinching something between it and the combustion chamber.

I agree with you in trying to diagnose before replacing the engine. I am trying to make sense of what could be going on here before I tear it down and start looking. I plan to tear the head off first then the oil pan and check the rod bearings. Then pop out the piston and rod to check the wrist pin, and from there the engine will be coiming out.

 

"What is the importance of locking the rear balancing shaft in place with a 6mm bolt after removing the belt. What does it matter if the pulley turns after the belt is removed as long as the timing marks are aligned on re-install."

You're right in one sense. As long as all the pointers are aligned, you don't need to insert the 6mm bolt (1/4" works fine also). However, it makes the task of aligning a lot easier since you only have to worry about the forward balance shaft. Your vibration could be due to improperly aligned balance shafts. If the balance shafts are not correctly aligned, you will get a lot of vibration.

Your engine problemis certainly a strange one. I look forward to a report, if you decide to tear it down. I agree w/ DesertHonda that a bearing seems unlikely, but it's hard to account for a piston hitting a spark plug w/o some additional movement upwards of the piston. Debris seems equally unlikely to happen,....on two occasions!

good luck