Very low MPG, constant smoking at idle and running.


Flamby

Flamby

New Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2009
Messages
125
Hello,

I have had a good search but I am unsure if I have found an answer to my problem, so I thought I would ask directly :) Apologies if I am going over an age old subject.

I have owned my Integra since August of this year, so I am no great expert on technical issues with these cars.

My driving style I would say is very relaxed, I get to be around and drive some very fast cars through work so unless I am on a track I do not tend to drive cars hard at all.

I tend to keep the revs below VTEC, mostly around 3.5 - 4.5k, I'd say I probably have a play into vtec once a day whilst joining a dual carriageway.

My integra is a daily driver, I would say it is used for roughly 15miles a day on average, I live in a very light traffic area also.

When I first got the car I was finding that with my driving style I was getting 300+ miles out of a tank.

Car and its mods:

UKDM with 106690 mileage on the clock.
Factory standard apart from a Decat and JDM 96 manifold and cat back exhaust system.
NGK Iridium IX spark plugs, fitted by me less than 1k miles ago.
and a simple Ipod headunit paired to the factory speakers.

Servicing:

Since I have owned it, I have only recently in the last 1k miles changed the oil (silkolene pro s), and oil filter, and spark plugs (NGK iridium IX spark plugs), I did this myself, and I'll admit I did over fill the oil a tad, but wouldn't have thought my problem was related.

Problem:

Well to start with the last 2 tanks of fuel have got me from full to empty only 190ish miles (£37- £42) of Tescos Premium 99 ron fuel. And before that a full tank barely got me over 200 miles.
The car is constantly smoking, at idle and at speed. The smoke stinks of fuel, nothing else sinister as far as I and some friends can tell, just a very very rich fuel smell.
When I get home or to work after a run, all I can smell is Tescos finest fuel also.

I have also found the car to be hesitant if reapplying the gas after letting the revs climb down by themselves, its like hitting a rev limiter sometimes, and this also happens when changing gears in the low revs.
The car also stalled in Traffic today after a short move keeping it in first, and during its come down in the revs the engine just stalled.

In VTEC the car performs as normal as far as I can tell, the switch isn't as brutal as I remember but that may just be me getting used to it.

Right thanks to this forum, I have seen that my problem could be related to the O2 sensor in the manifold, and I found a link to this item which could be the solution.
4-wire Zirconia Sensor for some Honda engines

I would just like to hear any one else's personal opinion based on the information I have given :)

Thank you very much for your time,

Dan
 
hmm I don't know how good the obx one would be. If I were you I would just get a used honda one...
 
I'd be cautious about getting a non genuine O2 sensor due to my experience;

After changing out my header I had a bitch of a time getting my O2 sensor out of my OEM header, basically ended up destroying it just to get it out. So I went to see my Honda parts guys, they priced a new one up and it was coming in at something silly, £150 or there abouts (have to admit I just plucked that out the air, I can't honestly remember).

Anyways, seeing the shock on my face at the price, he told me he could get me a pattern one for something like £80, so I went for that. But after fitting it I got a pretty much constant engine check light on, and the engine was definately suffering a little (although not as bad as you've described yours!). Tried all sorts, but no matter what, the CEL was still showing an O2 sensor problem.

Since I know the parts guys quite well, I took it back and (with a small back hander) he just swapped it straight out for an OEM Honda O2 sensor, which worked perfectly straight out the box.

Moral of the story? Honda parts, whilst expensive, always seem to be spot on. Pattern parts - bad news (not the first time I've found this either!!)

Just a cautionary tale there for you mate! Hope you get things sorted...
 
vtec6000 - cheers buddy, I've never heard of them either, so I appreciate your opinion :) I'm just waiting to hear back from tegiwaimports on the DC2 forum as to whether they have any genuine honda ones about :)

Jokeshopbeard - Thank you very much for taking the time to write that out mate, very cool of you :) your not the only one I've heard from that has had issues with blueprint parts, seems it can be quite a risk with certain parts. Hopefully I can get a genuine honda one second hand, and if it breaks again shortly I at least then know the problem and can buy a new Honda one :)
Thanks again mate!

Cheers,

Dan
 
Nothing wrong with blueprint parts at all! :(

I work for a motor factors who deal with blue print parts..and i must say all of my service items have been blueprint and have never had a problem nor has any garage come back saying they have so....reserve your judgement until used.
 
Didn't mean to offend you JDMarron, and I respect your right to back up the products you use. Your point is noted :)

When I was fixing and servicing my last car (mr2 turbo) I often found blueprint parts to last longer than "tuning" parts ;)

Like I said in my op, I am new to the Teggie, so I am learning do's and don'ts :D

On topic... I am so frustrated, I took the car out this evening for a good run with a friend, to see if it could replicate the problems, and it ran good as gold... none of the symptoms I described came back...

Maybe the o2 sensor is on the way out? I think I will change it anyway, must be due a change at the mileage I am at.

Cheers,

Dan
 
Ok o2 sensor has now been changed!

I know I know... I should of done it by now :roll: to be honest I should of done it after the first post telling me to do so :lol:

Right so the outcome is the engine light, has now gone off!

But...

I want to go over what happened the first time I turned it on after changing the o2 sensor:

- put new o2 sensor in
- reset ecu
- turned car on - engine light came on straight away constantly
- I then went to the exhaust for a listen, sounded odd, didn't have that 4 pot beat, almost sounded like it was pffft'ing ?

- So I let it warm up fully, then turned off.

- Reset ecu again
- Went to turn on, turned the key and it tried to start but wouldn't, did this 3 times, and on the 4th time it fired up, and engine light didn't come on.

- Left it like this for 10mns just idling away, happy to see no engine light.

- Then turned it off after 10mns.
- Turned it back on, absolutely fine this time, still no engine light.

- Then revved it, got an almost pop from the exhaust on each heavy rev (up to 5k and down again), sounded like the noise an induction kit makes under heavy acceleration, like a gasp for air, but more of a puff... sorry thats as clear as I can be.

- Still no engine light, so I turned it off.

So it appears the engine light has gone? But I am still slightly confused, I mean does it take a while for an o2 sensor to stabilise?

Cheers,

Dan
 
spoke too soon...

Right I've been out for a drive, went to my local Honda dealer about 5miles away.

Ordered some new bits
-distributor cap plus rotor arm.
-thermostat (for an up coming service)

Enquired about the ABS relay that has gone and they said there were two... 40quid each, and I honestly didn't know which one of mine has gone

But anyway, drove it back and the car felt like it was hesitating, really really badly, then engine light comes back on...
real lack of power and hesitation.

Also I get home, turn it off, and try and turn it back on straight away and it doesn't fire up, just like when I reset the ECU at the beginning.

So I'm hoping the new distributor cap and leads Ive just bought will fix this
 
seems like your in trouble..
none of my hondas have ever done this or for that matter
givin me any problems.
dont have a clue since it is nt the o2 sensor. sorry
 
lol thanks for that diagnosis muiris :) pretty sure your right, I am in trouble.

Ideas at the mo:

Distributor + rotor arm related
Main relay
map sensor...

All seem to give similiar symptoms, will work my way through the list and see what happens :(
 
i'd try borrowing a friends dizzy,see if thats the problem.
 
cheers for that corral, I've ordered a new dizzy and rotor arm from honda :) As well as new leads.

Will update once they've arrived and I've fitted them.

Dan
 
Good luck mate, cars can be real annoying sometimes trying to diagnose.
 
I dread to think what a new dizzy would have cost from honda :nerv:?
 
ek9dan - thanks mate, only thing I am grateful for is that its a lot simpler to diagnose and work on than my old mr2 turbo. So I'm not pulling my hair out completely just yet :)

Corral - Parts from honda came to £27.75 for distributor cap + seal and £20.71 for rotor arm.

Not too bad at all I thought.
 
Flamby said:
cheers for that corral, I've ordered a new dizzy and rotor arm from honda :) As well as new leads.

Ah rite,you said here that you ordered a dizzy and rotor arm, thought it was a bit extreme,but all good hopefully you get to the bottom of it :nice:
Click to expand...
 
Yeah those are the prices from Honda :) Just ordered the bits this afternoon through my local dealer.

Yeah maybe it is a little extreme, but if they aren't needed, and if they are not the root of the problem at least I know they are brand new parts, and they won't give me any trouble any time soon :)
 
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