Honda Car Forum

The Car:
2000 Honda Civic EX
AEM Short Ram Intake
91,000 Miles.

The problem:
Check engine light won't go out.
About a year ago my uncle switched the spark plugs on the car. He either over
tightened them or didn't tighten them enough and the plug stripped itself and
blew the #4 cylinder. My mechanic managed to rig it so the plug stays and I run
on all four cylinders. However, the car has backfired lately and the check
engine light is on perpetually. The car has no real performance problems except
for the occasional backfire. We reset the computer and the CEL comes back on
without fail. I'm wondering if it's a cat problem or a bad oxygen sensor.
Emissions testing is coming up and any way I slice it, it looks like I'll be
spending $. Any ideas?

beerwlf33@aol.com (Beerwlf33) wrote in message news:<20040724221119.10848.00001555@mb-m25.aol.com>...
> The Car:
> 2000 Honda Civic EX
> AEM Short Ram Intake
> 91,000 Miles.
>
> The problem:
> Check engine light won't go out.
> About a year ago my uncle switched the spark plugs on the car. He either over
> tightened them or didn't tighten them enough and the plug stripped itself and
> blew the #4 cylinder. My mechanic managed to rig it so the plug stays and I run
> on all four cylinders. However, the car has backfired lately and the check
> engine light is on perpetually. The car has no real performance problems except
> for the occasional backfire. We reset the computer and the CEL comes back on
> without fail. I'm wondering if it's a cat problem or a bad oxygen sensor.
> Emissions testing is coming up and any way I slice it, it looks like I'll be
> spending $. Any ideas?

get the code read, without it anyone here is just guessing, although
it could be a rondom misfire on cylinder 4 but i doubt it. autozone
scans codes for free.
Chip

> Emissions testing is coming up and any way I slice it, it looks like I'll be
> spending $. Any ideas?

get a scantool for $100.

On 25 Jul 2004 02:11:19 GMT, beerwlf33@aol.com (Beerwlf33) wrote:

>The Car:
>2000 Honda Civic EX
>AEM Short Ram Intake
>91,000 Miles.
>
>The problem:
>Check engine light won't go out.
>About a year ago my uncle switched the spark plugs on the car. He either over
>tightened them or didn't tighten them enough and the plug stripped itself and
>blew the #4 cylinder. My mechanic managed to rig it so the plug stays and I run
>on all four cylinders. However, the car has backfired lately and the check
>engine light is on perpetually. The car has no real performance problems except
>for the occasional backfire. We reset the computer and the CEL comes back on
>without fail. I'm wondering if it's a cat problem or a bad oxygen sensor.
>Emissions testing is coming up and any way I slice it, it looks like I'll be
>spending $. Any ideas?

Hmm, I hope you didn't have your uncle do the valve clearances too.;-)
Back firing sounds like kinda bad news - sticking or burned valve. Check
the valve clearances and see what you find - if there's one that needs a
lot of adjusting to get clearance it's burned.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

"Beerwlf33" <beerwlf33@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040724221119.10848.00001555@mb-m25.aol.com...
> The Car:
> 2000 Honda Civic EX
> AEM Short Ram Intake
> 91,000 Miles.
>
> The problem:
> Check engine light won't go out.
> About a year ago my uncle switched the spark plugs on the car. He either
over
> tightened them or didn't tighten them enough and the plug stripped itself
and
> blew the #4 cylinder. My mechanic managed to rig it so the plug stays and
I run
> on all four cylinders. However, the car has backfired lately and the check
> engine light is on perpetually. The car has no real performance problems
except
> for the occasional backfire. We reset the computer and the CEL comes back
on
> without fail. I'm wondering if it's a cat problem or a bad oxygen sensor.
> Emissions testing is coming up and any way I slice it, it looks like I'll
be
> spending $. Any ideas?

Get a new Uncle!