Okay....need some real Honda experts to work on this one!

During a severe cold spell here in upstate NY (-20) our Honda would not
start. It would turn over, but just wouldn't catch.

Last Sunday, during a warm spell (yes it broke 32), I was finally able to
get the car started, but it took me a long, long time. When it finally
started, the car seemed to run very poorly. Thinking that this was related
to trying to start it so many times, I took it for a test drive. It
continued to run poorly, particularly at idle. After it warmed up, the
Check Engine light came on.

I took the car home and jumped the blue connector to get the engine
code......code 43. This is an oxygen sensor problem and the manual says
that it is the oxygen sensor if the car runs well and a fuel delivery
problem if the car runs poorly. Therefore, seems to be a fuel delivery
issue.

At this point, I drive the car 3 miles to the nearest Honda dealership and
call them. After 4 days, I get a call that I have big problems. They tell
me that two cylinders show poor compression and that they found "gasoline
fumes" (I think this is what the said) in my antifreeze. They want over
$600 to replace the head gasket plus more money for anything they find wrong
when they get in there (warped head, cracked head, etc.).

So, I call my normal Honda mechanic (I did not take the car there because he
is farther away and I was not too keen on driving the car). He tells me
that in his opinion it is more likely a fuel problem. His hypothosis is
that I have a bad distributor cap that is causing a spark problem and
therefore there is excess fuel in the two cylinders that tested poorly. He
says they would show low compression if flooded with fuel. He also went on
to tell me that the people at the dealership are very young and
inexperienced. I can support this because when I called the dealership
about the engine code 43 the person told me that he was not familiar with
the check engine lights!

One other symptom I failed to mention is that the car pings during
acceleration. What do you think? Does this sound like a head gasket issue.
I will tell you that my daughter reported that the car overheated during the
holidays. However, she is very observant and pulled over and turned the car
off until it cooled down.

Any other theories?

Thanks,
Bill