Got in my car tonight and as soon as I cranked it up I knew something was wrong. Just a bad vibe I sensed from knowing my car. I rolled the window down and heard an odd puttputt sound from the exhaust. I checked under the hood just to see if anything obvious was wrong. Oil and coolant was fine and no vac lines seemed cracked. I started it up again and felt a definite missfire and then the cel came on. I'll check it w/ a scanner tomorrow but I have a bad feeling about it. The car has never overheated and the t-belt didn't break so I may just be thinking negative but there may be a 6 speed swap and other good parts available in Houston soon.

 

did you pop the hood to see if the engine was still there?


jokes aside, scanner will tell you best.. I'm going to guess IACV

 

why not find out what the code is, instead of being a worry-wart?
head to autozone and ask them to check the CEL with the OBDII reader.
Once you know whats going on with the car, you can then make an educated decision on what to do.

dont just give up at the first sign of a check engine light and be like...yup, these parts are for sale.

 

plus worst case you could buy a used engine for $500 and have it installed. I'm guessing coilpacks.

 

also, I'm in Houston. so, if you need any help or anything.....

 

sooo a junk CLS6 is coming on the market soon you say?!?!

 

I promise i wont break his car

 

thanks and lols. Yes indeed things have been going crazy in general lately leading to a pisspoor attitude on my part. Also a sense of betrayal (misplaced I know) for my formerly super reliable car. No car is immune to problems... I just always felt a real trust in this car. Expected too much obviously. I was just doing some research and best case scenario (and most likely) seems to be coil packs as gnuts said (and he's pretty much batting 1000 on my car) and/or egr ports. I have an ozzygear scanner and an android phone I picked up just for the scanner... and mp3 storage
If it turns out to be coil packs is the scanner going to give me a clue which one(s) or will I have to do the old pull the wire test? I bought new plugs months ago but hadn't had reason to install them.
Is this vid accurate on cleaning the egr ports and channels in the manifold cover?


"If you don't have a 10mm wrench/socket you have no business working on a Japanese car" I loved that comment lol. I've owned 2 z31s, 2 s130s, and an s30. I have a collection of 10mmm wrenches and sockets.

 

pulling the coils one at a time will pin point the coil. I'd do that even if the scanner gives you a cylinder #.

This summer my car started rumbling something awful after I left my parents place. It threw a random misfire. I let it sit for 5 minutes and it was fine after and the code disappeared.. I noticed afterwards that I had to let it warm up a bit before driving or I could tell if I drove it hard it was going to sputter. I'm pretty sure the coils are original so I figure it's that. But I never had the chance to pull coils to check since it runs great 99% of the time.

I can't see that video at work, but I got some carb cleaner and sprayed the hell out of it to loosen up the grime, then scrub, prod, poke with a coat hanger all the tiny ports, hose clean and let it dry well.

 

Thats one of the things he did in the vid. He also cleaned the channels in the plenum cover. I find this really odd but the main problem seemed to be that the gasket was installed wrong which blocked the ports. He didn't mention if the car actually ran before this.
I don't know how to save the scan log off the phone in a readable format. I saved it to my computer as a csv file but that isn't very readable.
My codes are like this in the program screen:
E: P0304
E: P0301
E: P0302
P: P1399
E: P0300
E: P0306
So misfires on five cylinders plus a random multiple misfire. I don't know what P1399 is but I'm going to look for info. 5 cylinders misfiring seems like a lot of misfiring going on.
edit... P1399 seems to be valves out of range or blocked EGR passages. I've never had any valve noise so that may be out.It's possible that some of these are old so I'm going to clear and rescan.
Any comments or thoughts are welcome

 

how many miles on the car? Has it had a valve adjustment yet? Could be clogged EGR ports too which you can take off the IM and clean the passages to the EGR valve. J series engines are notorious for carbon buildup in that passage.

 

If it's that many misfires it's unlikely the coils. It's usually one or two that go bad at one time. Start with the easiest/cheapest solution and clean the manifold.

 

152xxx miles. It hasn't had a valve adj since I've had it. There's never been any valve noise and the car has always had good power. There was no problem when I parked it a few hours before cranking it up last night. I'm not thinking it's valves. I just pulled the plenum cover off. There's a lot of gunk but no real clogs. I only had half a can of carb cleaner so I didn't get far. I have more now so I'll get it squeaky clean tomorrow.


That's the plan. I'll have it clean and back on tomorrow and install the new plugs and see what it does.

 

Misfire codes are generally from bad/old spark plugs. This is common for our cars and most cars for that matter. Things get worn out after years of use.. Start with spark plugs, then move forward to the coil packs. Cleaning out your intake manifold is a good idea and can't hurt. Let us know how it goes!

 

I just watched the video you posted and what he did was absolutely nothing lol he just replaced the gasket for the top cover? Pull off the entire intake manifold and thoroughly clean all ports, plenums, etc... Buy a can or two of carb cleaner and you're set!

 

I also think it's a couple of ignition coils gone bad which also happened to my 01 CLS at 111k. (Yes, two at once -- freaked me out as well!) Find a Honda shop that will lend you a couple of their spares to confirm problem.
I further recommend anyone with ignition coils older than 100k to replace all of them as preventive maintenance (and don't use OEM this time).
I think you're getting all those 'extra' codes because the engine is not starting, so don't panic!
Good Vibes!

 

I was with you up until this..




OEM coils or risk more problems

 

Ja, usually I'm insistent on OEM parts, but since two of my OEM ignition coils failed suddenly at 111k, then I'm going with something else.

 

I haven't been able to do much lately but when (if) I find the resolution I'll update it. I did get the channels in the plenum cover squeaky clean. That brings up a couple of questions. 1. the cleaning process really damaged the finish on the top of the plate. No big deal. I'll leave it as is or paint it w/ a nice cheery shade of red high temp. Norcalhonda suggested removing the entire plenum. I am guessing the cover plate channels are the last point in flow and thus most likely to clog and cause problems. These weren't even close to being clogged. The port holes in the top of the plenum wall were nowhere near being clogged so I'm not sure I see the point in removing the plenum.
I've read in a few places that the plenum cover gasket should be reusable. I don't believe this and it certainly doesn't seem worth the risk. My nearest dealer wasn't very helpful in getting a new gasket so I ordered a Reinz gasket from advanceauto. Reinz has been a trusted name in every car group I've ever belonged to and I can get it much quicker than the dealer seems able to get it.
I order one new Denso coil to use for testing. I should be able to install the new plugs today but I'm not sure there is any point in installing the plenum cover plate using a suspect gasket.
I try it it anyway just to see if the problem is fixed. Obviously if the gasket doesn't seal completely this will be a waste of time.
A trusted mechanic friend cautioned about pulling the wire from the coil method of testing. He admitted to being unfamiliar w/ this engine ignition system but relayed examples of other car makes getting ECM/PCUs damage from this method of testing. Any comments on that are welcome since there are people here who know these cars well.
Tosh, the engine started and ran. I just didn't want to drive it like that and risk more damage.

 

I reused both my plenum gaskets and the top plate gasket. They're all metal. Give them a good clean and they should be fine.

 

ive also re-used the gaskets on that top half of the engine

 

I had my cl-s for 10 years and during that time I replaced the plugs once, never did a valve adjustment and never replaced a coil. There are lots of reasons for a misfire do you ever get into the throttle? it really isn't a bad idea to romp on it every once in a while to blow the junk out so to say.... the only engine issues I had were ICV related and a simple remove and clean solved that....

as for coil testing I would not pull wires but instead remove coil insert a spare plug and watch it fire off

 

I ordered one Denso coil which I'm still waiting for. I got antsy and ordered 5 Wells coils from rock auto because they ship pdq .The Wells coils got here a few minutes ago and I just installed them. So for the record... it was indeed the coils. Purrs like a kitten again. I'll install the other coil when it gets here. Appreciate all the help and support everybody.
You're still batting a thousand gnuts... I read that when one or two coils go bad they can cause multiple random misfires.
BTW YeuEmMaiMai yes I do get into it pretty often. I broke two drive axles that way just a few weeks back. Usually I'm already rolling when I get into it but that time I did a launch. I won't be doing that again but as long as I have this car I'll drive it... spiritedly? Yeah

 

good to hear! How much did the rock auto coils run you?

 

You bet. This dropped my stress level down a notch or two. The coils were $105 shipped.