Honda_Boy Posted February 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 (edited) Got my dang parts today and boy lemme tell ya what....... them spark plug wires smell funny (and strong). Opened up the box and nearly passed out.By the way. This crap ^^^ frickin $162.I should be cleaning up the car soon and taking pics since there's a chance it could be in S3 Magazine ( http://www.s3mag.com/ ). Edited February 27, 2009 by Honda_Boy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JDoors Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 Wow, is that Iridium AND Unobtanium or what? You know, that could solve your "sputtering" problem. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
isteve Posted February 27, 2009 Report Share Posted February 27, 2009 I know that smell, got pretty much the same wires. Haven't seen a distributor cap in a log while. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Honda_Boy Posted February 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 Guess I'll put up with my car running like crap and getting 20MPG for one more day. I'm gonna fix it Sunday after church. I spent all day today playing Tales of Symphonia on the GameCube so I didn't do it today. I wasn't fully confident in doing it by myself either. I want help to make sure I get the gap right on the plugs and the torque right when I put them in. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
isteve Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 I'm sure you more then competent enough to gap plugs and replace them. If I were you I'd put a dab of anti-seize on the threads, the combo of those plugs and a good distributor ignition means extremely long plug life. All this car talk is getting me frustrated, want to take my miata out. Still snow, salty puddles and massive potholes. I think I'll take her out of mothballs today and start her up. Maybe even pickup some plugs oil and filter and order some long overdue shocks and struts. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubba Bob Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 Why the iridium? As for the gap, parts houses used to be glad to gap them for you when you bought them. Did you get em local or on the net? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JDoors Posted March 1, 2009 Report Share Posted March 1, 2009 Jumpin' in: Iridium is supposed to last longer, won't "burn" like standard plugs, and is probably supposed to transmit the electrical charge more efficiently. He got 'em online, but plugs are gapped from the factory at a measurement that should work for most of the applications the plug was designed for. If you have to make any modifications it'll be slight (and likely only to undo any change that occurs due to rough handling during S&H). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Honda_Boy Posted March 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Iridiums and Platinums are not supposed to gapped. I can't remember why with the platinums but the iridiums, you can break the tip since it's smaller. Straight up platinum I think is supposed to last a longer than Iridium (but don't quote me on that) but Iridium provides a better spark or something that is supposed to give the engine more power, shorten rev time, and increase efficiency. Both however supposedly provide much longer life than standard plugs. Iridiums are more expensive and meant for performance engines. NGK also makes a combination platinum/iridium plug that's supposed to provide a middle ground.Anywho, I did it today.... in the snow. I didn't have a torque wrench on hand so I just winged it. It runs much better now. The power is stable and constant, no more missing and power loss, the idle is up slightly (which is good cause it was too low, almost to the point of dying) and stable. The only thing is as my dad and I were driving, he said it smelled kind of rich while we are at a redlight but later in the driveway he said it didn't seem as bad. Also, it popped while letting off the gas on the highway a couple times. I've borrowed a torque wrench form a friend so I'm gonna pop off the wires real quick and make sure they are all around 13 psi (I read on a tutorial using a D17 engine that is where you want it). If I don't have em on tight enough it can cause probs. Ditto with being too tight but if anything, I would think they'd be on too loose if I didn't get it right.Also one of the biggest problems with the old plugs I discovered..... they were Bosch plugs . NGK all the way for me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
isteve Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Almost all plugs are suppose to be pre-gapped but like mentioned earlier they may get banged up in shipping. And usually the double plugs like double platinum that are designed for waste spark ignitions have a problem with the coating breaking off if your not careful gapping them. I usually use NGK or Denso plugs but my Cherokee didn't like NGK but runs great with Champion Truck plugs. A foot of snow today, my miata has to sit a little longer. When is that global warming going to kick in. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JDoors Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 ... A foot of snow today, my miata has to sit a little longer. When is that global warming going to kick in.Patience, I suspect sometime this Summer everyone will be complaining about global warming again.Re: Plugs. I never paid any attention to them. With today's high capacity ignition systems I can't imagine why you'd need to, stick a coat hanger in the hole and it would work. Well, you know what I mean. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubba Bob Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Rich/popping - sounds like your timing is off. Does your car still have the standard distributor that you can rotate to adjust the timing? If so, you may wanna check that.Sounds like you're runnin better atleast. Hows the gas milage doin? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Honda_Boy Posted March 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 The timing is still right. I just think I have the spark plugs torqued down enough. After class I'm going break out the torque wrench and check it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
isteve Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 The plug torque should not make a difference. Plugs have a crush seal that allows for a fairly large tolerance. Although the correct torque is good, it is to keep the plugs from backing out or stripping threads. Have you tried higher octane gas? A small 1.6 motor that makes 148hp at the rear would almost certainly have a high compression and need high octane fuel. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Honda_Boy Posted March 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 I've always run 93 Octane. I know it's high compression. After double checking some stuff, I don't think the plugs are under torqued. It's probably just some crap that'll work itself out soon. If it doesn't get any better, I'll ask my mechanic when my car goes in for camber kits which I plan to order this Friday when I get paid.The torque wrench I borrowed was too big for any of my sockets anyway. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Honda_Boy Posted March 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 Well my problems from before changing out all the parts has returned. I thought about my dad saying he thought it was running rich and I believe I agree.It is now that I'm reminded of my dad's wisdom. He's no automotive expert, particularly not with OBD2 Hondas, but I asked what he thinks could be causing it to run rich. He said a bad sensor of some kind. He said the Oxygen Sensor would be his guess. Now I had completely blanked on that cause my Check Engine Light is permanently on for the non-existent FTP Sensor. It had not dawned on me that I could have a bad sensor that would be indicated by the CEL. I'm gonna look up the way to check CEL codes and see if I get something other than the Code 91 for the FTP Sensor. You're supposed to unbend a paper clip and stick the 2 ends in 2 different spots on one of the ECU's plugs, turn the key to the ON position and see how many times the CEL blinks (long blink = 10, short = 1). I have to figure out where to stick the paper clip though.I had a Oxygen sensor go bad in my old car but it didn't seem to make a huge difference. I believe the high compression of this motor is why it's so noticeable. My old car had a much lower compression engine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Honda_Boy Posted March 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 (edited) OK, looked it up. Found out where everything was and how to check the CEL codes properly. I was to look for a green cover in which 2 plugs go into (it's a cover, it doesn't go anywhere, these plugs are for diagnostics) and put the wire in one and run it to the other plug. I found the green cover but nothing was in it. I thought, "cool, it's just not in the cover". I looked for it and couldn't find it. Now granted I did this in the middle of the night but still a flashlight was plenty to find out that the FRICKIN THING HAD BEEN CUT OUT. Whoever wired this thing for the swap did one hell of a hack job. Man I'm pissed now.Here:Not my car. Just showing you. Green thing's there, but that blue plug is missing. I need that blue plug but it's frickin gone. Edited March 4, 2009 by Honda_Boy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JDoors Posted March 4, 2009 Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 So the entire problem may not be components, but a hacked wiring job. Ouch, wiring's tough to troubleshoot. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Honda_Boy Posted March 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2009 Naw, it's a component problem but because the hack wiring job, I can't check to see what's wrong. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Honda_Boy Posted March 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 (edited) OK, now I'm confused. Today, car runs abso-friggin-lutely perfect. It hasn't run this good in a long while. No loss of power, in fact it's power was back up to normal, not weirdo rev problems (every time I'd step on the gas, the revs would drop some then go up, and letting off the gas felt real strange, it's hard to describe), no pops, nothin. It was great. It also appears my fuel economy is back up. So now I'm all confused. Edited March 6, 2009 by Honda_Boy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JDoors Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 Is your ECU "smart" enough to adjust itself? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Honda_Boy Posted March 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 I doubt it. It may have somehow been reset or the oxygen sensor started sending an acceptable signal again. I'm gonna clean out the muffler tip again and see how long it takes to turn black again. Last time I cleaned it, it was thoroughly coated in carbon by the next day. Usually it takes a while for it to get covered in carbon but even then, it doesn't get that thick of a coating so we'll see. I'll clean it out before my usual Friday runabout and see if it stays relatively clean by the end of the day. If it does, it quit running rich, if it's relatively dirty, then it's still not right. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Honda_Boy Posted April 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2009 I got some BLOX Racing Camber Kits ordered to fix my camber problem. It's gonna be nice to get my steering wheel straight again Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JDoors Posted April 7, 2009 Report Share Posted April 7, 2009 Does your car have a diagnostics port? With all the changes you've made you might wind up with too many conflicting codes, but since you're doing so much of the work yourself, you might want to invest in a reader. They're not really all that expensive. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Honda_Boy Posted April 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2009 That's what I was talking about a while back. My port is apparently missing so a diagnostic reader would be useless. But now my car is running as it should so my focus is on repairing the Camber problem my rear disc brake swap created.The kits should be in sometime next week and I figure that I should have them on the car within a week or 2 of getting them, then I'll run the car over to the tire place and have another alignment done. Man alignments are so cheap in this area that it's not a pain in the wallet to get them done. I know up north of here in Cool Springs it costs $125+ while down here, it's only $50 and at the same chain no less (Gateway Tire). After that though I probably need to order a timing belt kit and have that done. Not sure if my car actually needs it but since the history of the car isn't well known, it wouldn't hurt to just go ahead and do it instead of waiting till the old one snaps and destroys the head. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Honda_Boy Posted April 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2009 (edited) Well, now it appears I won't be getting those BLOX camber kits but instead stronger Buddy Club P1 Racing Cambet Kits instead. The rear BLOX kits were out of stock and they offered me a discount on the rear Buddy Club kits and I asked them to upgrade the front kits to Buddy Club too. I don't mind paying the extra. I didn't even know they carried them. All Buddy Club, JUN, Competition Clutch, Mugen, TODA Racing, and Spoon Sports parts are in there own categories separate from the rest on InLineFour's site so that's how I missed it. I'm kinda excited now cause I'm gonna have more bigger badder brand parts on my car. Right now, the A'PEXi muffler is the only truly high end (Japanese too) part that I have. I consider the AEM intake and H&R Springs sort of in the middle. Edited April 8, 2009 by Honda_Boy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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