Jestersix

Honda Enthusiasts, some questions...

Been having issues with my Civic since spring this year; it’s an 02 with 120176 miles on it.
Earlier in the year a misfire code cyl 2. Changed spark plugs, same issue; changed all coils, still issue/s; new injectors and still random misfires cyls 1,2,4 but normally cyl 2...
Due to the age of the car, not the mileage, I suspected the timing belt in need of replacement so I set some money aside for it and job done back in March
Car still had issues but more often with random misfires on most cylinders soooooo, did some reading here and there
My suspicion was a worn camshaft and that’s major work and expense so I set money aside for the job. Bought a remanufactured head, and swapped the whole thing; little north of the $1k mark, car ran good, drove it for <75 miles
Yesterday gave a jumpstart to a person on my street, car would only crank but no power, turns out the gas gauge was on the red so I assumed out of gas soooooo, I took my child to school and on the way back, got two gals of gasoline
Plugged the jumpers again and cranked the car but still no combustion; the person then opens a fuse box by the battery and one of the fuses is blown (no wonder) so I tell her to go get a fuse to the nearby AutoZone and I go my way...
By the end of the block my car starts shaking like crazy, no power and shuts off, restart it and lots of shaking no power, no check angine light and for sure a lot of smoke that smelled bad, worse than burning oil, found a street parking spot few blocks from home and left the car there but while parking, the MIL light flashes; plugged in the scanner and misfire all cylinders and lots of smoke if I rev the engine a bit.
Shut down the engine and off to work I went...
Came home later and drove the car to the garage at home, still not much power, lots of smoke but managed to park it.
Oil was nasty, black oil so I did an oil/filter change after roughly 70-something miles of a new oil change, start engine, connect scanner and same issue.
Texted the mechanic to inquire about the issue and suggests the car needing a jumpstart may have had a short (fuse blown) and when I tried helping (samarithan thing) most likely I f’d the ECU of my car (that means fried, don’t think the other f...)
Now I’ve pulled out the ECU just to check the model number and here I’m looking to get some help out of any car nut on BAR.

Does anyone know of a place that repairs ECU’s in the bay area?
I could buy a used one but that means a trip to the dealership to have it re-programmed to work with the keys and immobilizer and (I’m not sure) edit the VIN and set the correct mileage of the replacement ECU
Now if I get the original ECU repaired, I don’t have to go to the dealer which I don’t know how much they would charge.

Any help appreciated

My car is due for registration this month; I’ll pay it on time but is also due for emissions check and that is the major issue!

Thanks in advance!
 
I think you can ship or look for someone local to repair. You know anyone has a similar car as yours?
 
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I’m hoping for a local shop to do the job but seems that I will ship it to have it fixed.
The other thing I have in mind is that maybe, remotely, the possibility of the timing belt skipping a tooth...
I’ll have to lift the car and open the covers, not fun but have to make sure the belt is lining the crankshaft and camshaft on TDC marks.
 
You sure you got the spark plugs back in the correct order?
(You seem like an expert, but just checking)

Check the supply voltage at the ECU before messing with it, when car is running.
Current surge from a bad jump can cause damage. But I would think more wiring, regulators, and alternator related, not ECU.
A low voltage can cause weird issues in older electronics.

I doubt anyone repairs ECUs. Easier to get a used off ebay.
Ask Honda about reflash price. I bet it is not so bad, maybe $200 range.
 
All plugs are fine; can’t go wrong with this engine design when it comes to plugs since the coils sit direct on them in order.
I’ll be taking timing covers off for visual inspection; took the computer out yesterday a little PITA but done deal.
Will contact the dealership to check the price on flashing the ECU
Thx
 
You can buy ignition and computer together and install. And boom, no coding required. Make sure when you order, use actual computer #, not Vin# and make and model.
 
You can buy ignition and computer together and install. And boom, no coding required. Make sure when you order, use actual computer #, not Vin# and make and model.

The only issue is that I don’t want to get a new computer if it will change the actual mileage on the odometer; I know I could get an OBD2 unit to edit the mileage in the worst case scenario.

@rygh Mark, my car is a simple Civic, supposed to be a “simple engine” easy to fix or deal with but then again, electronic components are a bit complicated to understand...
Did check the link and will send them a question or two...

Thanks
 
Today I had a day off so I took to the task of fixing (or give at least a try) the issues with the car; ordered some plastic covers from eBay that I suspected to be the culprits...
Lifted the car, placed it on jack stands and to work.
Noticed that the spark plugs were full of gunk-Carbon like and some oil covering the anode and cathode.
Everything that attaches to the cylinder head was new.
As I mentioned before; the fresh oil after the job was completed, was black and smelled horrible.
Well, new oil is still clear and has a new filter.
Removed the valve cover and saw some oil looking very dark but in the places it cannot drain to the sump so I cleaned it but noticed very fine metal particles; maybe from the milling of the new head? My main concern was the timing belt having skipped a tooth or two therefore throwing the whole timing off so I aligned crankshaft to TDC from under the car, then checked for the camshaft to be aligned at TDC and both were aligned.
New spark plugs went in for a running test and after a few minutes I pulled them out one by one, noticed a very small amount of oil but my mind tells me is what’s left over from the previous plugs. After a few hours, had to put the valve cover again, tried using the same cover gasket but it stretched and would not fit back so a walk to the store and while at it, got some grommets to replace the ones in the valve cover.
Put things back together and car works but has a smell reminiscent of fireworks powder.
Maybe the engine and the new head mainly, have to be “broken-in”?
I’ve never owned a spanking new car where there’s a break-in period.
Took the car on the freeway since the computer has to register sensors for the overdue emissions controll inspection.
Tomorrow is the day for the inspection; registration is paid but the smog check is what worries me. No more MIL on and that’s a relief for me.
If the car keeps that horrid smoke smell, I’ll look into replacing the Cat converter which is not hard to do since it’s a bolt-on unit BUT has to be CARB compliant hence, more expensive...
 
Two suggestions:
1) Get a magnet on the oil filter, to catch all the metal better.
Small metal dust is not unheard of, but you need to get it filtered out.
2) Take it to a mechanic for an estimate.
Not saying have them fix it.
But estimates are usually cheap, and a good way to have a pro tell you what is wrong.
 
If I decide to keep on tooling around with the car, I will change the take off the oil pan and JB Weld a good magnet in place.
Good thing today is I took it to the emissions inspection and passed!! But not before giving me a headache. After taking my child to school I had planned on going to the smog thing but the darn car started shaking again so I pulled over and stopped; had the tools with me and removed the plug that misfired; all full of carbon deposits but I had a new set of plugs so they went in and passed smog without any issues.
Drove home and parked the car, removed the plugs and they had carbon deposits again so my guessing and by reading here and there, car is running very rich; odd since the air fuel mixture is to be controlled by the readings of the O2 sensors and No MIL has indicated any issues with the sensors or catalytic converter.
Ordered a pair of O2 sensors before thinking of replacing the catalytic converter; I was given a ballpark figure of $500 !!!! all due to being CARB certified... eBay has direct fit cats for about $100 but 47 state legal...
 
If I decide to keep on tooling around with the car, I will change the take off the oil pan and JB Weld a good magnet in place.
Good thing today is I took it to the emissions inspection and passed!! But not before giving me a headache. After taking my child to school I had planned on going to the smog thing but the darn car started shaking again so I pulled over and stopped; had the tools with me and removed the plug that misfired; all full of carbon deposits but I had a new set of plugs so they went in and passed smog without any issues.
Drove home and parked the car, removed the plugs and they had carbon deposits again so my guessing and by reading here and there, car is running very rich; odd since the air fuel mixture is to be controlled by the readings of the O2 sensors and No MIL has indicated any issues with the sensors or catalytic converter.
Ordered a pair of O2 sensors before thinking of replacing the catalytic converter; I was given a ballpark figure of $500 !!!! all due to being CARB certified... eBay has direct fit cats for about $100 but 47 state legal...
Yeah, and I’m sure CA is one of the 3 that are not legal.
I don’t know much about cars but I wonder if using the higher octane gas will help with the carbon deposits.
 
Well, after a bit over a year of the issues with my Civic, seems that it’s completely in normal operation again. At times I just wanted to give up on it and just sell it as “mechanic’s special” but I did put a few green backs on it and quite some elbow grease.
Stopped at the junkyard few days ago and picked a fuel-rail with a set of fuel injectors from a Civic with VTEC engine. I just didn’t want to spend for new OEM replacements since the ones it had were new. I also changed the upstream O2 sensor and shot some Seafoam spray through the sensor’s port before inserting the new one in. Snake oil? Maybe but a new Cat is very expensive. I don’t know if one is able to “clean” a cat converter but after some reading, took my chances with the Seafoam stuff. I did not change the downstream sensor because I was sent the wrong one but did clean the old one with carb and choke cleaner; it was full of carbon deposits.
I was suspecting the issue, being too much fuel injected into each cylinder to be a stuck open injector (but I had three cylinders misfiring at times) and that if the sensors via computer were to inject more fuel than normal due to a too-lean reading of the combustion gases from the up and downstream.
I cleaned the spark plugs with fine sandpaper since I wanted to drive-test the car before putting in a new set. Been driving the car since Monday evening, Tuesday gave me a major setback while driving through an underpass; the MIL came on along with the charging light and loss, big loss of power. Was able to pull aside with the impulse of the moving car at time of failure and avoid being stuck in the light-rail tracks.
Code indicated a bad TDC sensor (camshaft position sensor) intermittently malfunction. I replaced that sensor back in March 2019 while doing the timing belt service.
Shut the engine off, restarted and car worked fine again.
I must say that I was running the engine at higher RPM that I do in my normal driving, which I keep the tachometer at an average of 3k RPM and 3.5k the most while driving on the freeway.
Was monitoring each gear at about 4.5k and 5k RPM on a cell phone app for misfires while engine was running at higher stress than what I put the little engine on its everyday life (before all the problems started)
After the MIL incident with the TDC sensor, car has been running fine, today went on a short freeway run, no issues, engine runs smooth and no bad smell from the exhaust pipe.
I will replace the TDC sensor; it’s a bit of a PITA to remove it since the timing belt cover (upper) has to come off and is a tight squeeze. Wonder why Honda did such a stupid thing to hve to remove the cover in order to replace the sensor but then again, a service from the dealership might mean a new valve cover gasket along the way and a few hundreds for such a small thing.
Knocking on wood, I think my little gas friendly manual transmission Civic is back and well.
Now, about son’s GTI @(#)&&:#””=%#...
 
Odd that the TDC sensor went bad. Was it OEM or aftermarket? I rebuilt at least 3 engines so far and never replaced them! I do clean them as debris tends to stick to it. Especially metal shavings (magnetic?).

TDC sensors are easy to check with a multimeter.
 
OEM sensor and seems to be magnetic.
While installing the new head, I replaced also the crank sensor but it was bad (autozone) so I poaced back the original, just cleaned it. After the job was done, engine started right away but then the misfires occurred as it had been doing.
I pressed it in (the connector) when the issue happened, just to make sure it was properly in place. Gonna be driving the car for a while in the city mainly and if no more misfires, a new set of plugs and hope it lasts me as a Civic is supposed to last...
 
Car popped the same code again so I replced the sensor yet once more. Wires seem to be all in good condition. No more misfires. Bought a new set of spark plugs NGK; was surprised the four went for less than $20.00
I had used Bosch Platinum without issues for several years and the guy at Autozone said they are no-good... OEM it is then.
Keeping an eye on it but for the past couple weeks has been behaving well (knocking on wood) both in city driving and freeway but at conservative speeds.
 
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