Honda Car Forum

My car is only running on 2 cylinders. Cylinder #1 and #4 are not hitting even though the spark plugs are brand new and are gapped, and its still not running with good spark plug wires.The car runs, but it has a lot of power loss and the motor shakes a lot too when I start it up, but calms down if I am reving the engine in park. What could be the problem?all the plug wires are in the correct order.....cylinders 1 and 2 are not firing, running on 2 cylinders

the first thing to check is the inside of the distributor cap to see if there is any evidence of cracks or spark arcing. The odds are there isn't because cylinders 1& 4 are opposite each other on the cap but I'd recommend checking it first.the most probable cause of your problem is an ignition coil that is breaking down. It takes time for the coil to regenerate between each time the primary circuit is opened to fire the spark plugs. It sound like your coil isn't recharging fast enough to fire every time so its only firing the plugs every-other time.A failing ignition coil would be most evident under heavy engine load. You say you can rev it in park and that's a no load situcation. the coil break down would also cause the misfire and shaking.ignition coils are very common on older hondas. they're relatively cheap and its the first thing I'd recommend changing.if you're certain you are losing spark then I would rule out the catalytic converter. Your description is symptomatic of a bad catalytic converter but that would have no effect on the ignition system.go with the coil.hope that helps

so have you actually checked for spark? when you changed your plugs did you get the firing order mixed up? look at that first. with the plug wires switched around it'll only run on a couple cylinders and run really rough and slow and will shake like you said