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Car: 2004 Honda CRV-EX (the moonroof one)

Miles: 220k~

Issue: I had cylinder misfires before on this car and they were fixed with new sparkplugs and ignition coils.

Recently I've had more misfires and high engine temps. My starter died and I replaced it then things were ok.

Last week I had lots of trouble starting my car, got it started and it was driving ok then the engine kept sputtering and died. I opened it up to change the spark plugs and I discovered that the C4-Ignition Coil was melted and broken.

I replaced all the plugs and the coil and the car now just whirrs and doesn't turn over. Any solutions as to what I should do next to troubleshoot this? Do I need to reset the car's computer? Did it go into some kind of safe mode because of the issue?

EDIT: I had noticed high engine temps and I burped the radiator but I found out that the coolant in the reservoir was boiling which meant a bad radiator cap or thermometer. I have replaced both.

Update

I performed a compression test and I got some great results...

C1-50-55 | C2-0 | C3-10-15 | C4-50-55

So where do I go from here, what could be the problem? Is it the gaskets?

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Stegathesaurus
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4 Answers4

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This issue is, you have serious cylinder pressure (or should I say, non-pressure) issues. The pressure test results you give (as long as the test was done correctly), shows a massive drop in cylinder pressure from where they should be. I'm not entirely sure where the Honda engine should be, but I'd bet it should be somewhere in the 150-180psi arena and within 15% of each other.

To me this indicates one of two things have happened. Either the piston rings are completely shot (less likely) or you have severe leakage past the valves. If you've lost the cam belt or if the cam belt has slipped, this could be the cause. You'd need to check your timing to see if it's the belt.

In either of the above cases, this is going to require major surgery and/or possibly a new engine. Luckily you can get replacement JDM engines for these fairly cheap (at least in my area you can). Rebuilding either just the head or the entire engine will most likely cost more than a JDM replacement, so I'd highly suggest looking at that avenue before you make a decision on what to do.

Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2
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A bad starter wouldn't cause misfires or high engine temps, and there aren't any "safe modes" that prevent starting.

  1. Test your battery, make sure it is healthy
  2. Inspect your belts, make sure they or one of your pulleys aren't seized
  3. Inspect your engine ground. If it's frayed, your starter may not be getting enough juice.
  4. Make sure you reconnected the correct ignition coil to the correct spark plug.
  5. Check all your fuses
  6. Find the cause of the melted ignition coil, they're not supposed to melt.
tlhIngan
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A motor failing to start is usually cause by one of 4 aspects failing:

  1. Insufficient Spark (Ignition),
  2. Insufficient Air,
  3. Insufficient Fuel,
  4. In correct timing (this has to be fairly messed up to result in NO start).

Since the problem you’ve run into have been ignition related, you’re probably gettin #1 above.

If you’re comfortable with it, you can do this spark test. But even before doing that, I’d make sure to check the fuses again.

Updates

Per this article there is the #1 fuse under the dash that is labeled “ignition coil”. So I’d at least check that one as far as the under dash fuses.

With the fuses under the hood, honestly I’d just quickly test all of them. Most of them don’t handle ignition, but I’d check anyway.

And yes, I’d check the all with a multimeter in continuity mode.

Also, As Glen pointed out, compression could be an issue, and I don't see any reason not to do a compression test and or a visual cylinder inspection.

Based on you compression test results, there’s something seriously wrong that doesn’t have to do with ignition. Per what Paulster2 notes, and per this article you should be getting 100+ psi on every cylinder. However, getting a reading of 0 PSI is catastrophically low! A blown head gasket alone wouldn’t (likely) cause 0 PSI. It’s worth noting that the article does recommend testing more or more cranks on every cylinder to avoid false/inaccurate readings.

In summary, I’d go with what Paulster2 recommends.

kyle_engineer
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going along with what others said, "boiling in the reservoir" will never be caused by a loose radiator cap or thermostat. It sounds then that you had already suffered a blown head gasket, and were getting exhaust gasses pumped into the coolant. This alone won't wreck an engine, but if it catastrophically fails it will seriously affect your compression readings. Times like this are when you need to ask yourself how much your car is worth and how much you want to spend. No matter the outcome, it's going to be at least a thousand dollars to fix it.

John Lord
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