At work today, a friend of mine from the computer department says he's having a @!#$ty day. His car is running like a bag of dicks (03 Sunfire). His woman thought it was a vacuum leak somewhere, and he asked me if I could help him find it. Someone else mentioned valves. So after our shift, we go out to the parking lot (it's pitch black out except for the flood lights outside the store and it was raining a bit, too. Not a fun time.) and he fires it up. Sounds... Funny. Really rough, and the exhaust has this awful ticking sound. I check all the hoses I can reach for leaks and try my best to see cracks in anything, and it all looks fine, so we shut her down. Then he mentions all the recent maintenance. Lots of little stuff like the air filter, the spark plugs, running some injector cleaner and some kind of interior deodourant. Decided we should take a look at the plugs, so he pops of the plug cover, and this is what we found:
The tip isn't dark because its dark out. Its dark because the month and a half old plugs are toast. Is it just because he used junk plugs, or is it something else? All of his plugs were like that one. That was the worst one, but the others were black like that, too. It gives him a check engine light, but he hasn't had time to check what it is. I'm guessing it was from the misfiring, but I want to be sure its just the plugs.
The car is a stock Eco automatic.
2010 Honda Fit LX
Well, when u say the car was running like a bag of dicks, can you elaborate. Was it sputtering, reving, sounds like its missing, what??? Its way to dark for that pic so I cant see to help u there. If its sputtering, and the plugs are all fouled out, he probably has a issue with the Ignition coil/ign module setup. Very common on those engines. I know of 2 off the top of my head that had those issues. When he revs it, does it sputter?? Does it seem to fall on its face?? If so, I would change the plugs to a delco plug platinum tip, and see if he knows anyone with the same engine to swap over the coil setup (the thing that says Ecotec on it) and swap the whole assembly over. If it clears up, then there is ur problem. Goodluck.
It was definitely misfiring, and there was a popping and ticking from the exhaust. It idles rough and hunts through the rev range. Cleaning the plugs seemed to help for a couple starts, but I saw him today, and its back to misfiring and making the same noises. Regardless of how much light I would've had on that plug, it still would be just as black as that picture. It was toast.
2010 Honda Fit LX
Change the plugs to better quality plugs and gap them properly.
If it's still skipping after than than your getting too much fuel. Running rich is what turns the plugs black.
O2 sensor malfunctioning or leak in ex. system. a leak will cause an O@ to read wrong, even if it is small, too much air will call for more fues to balance out. Thats what mine did, it was a small leak between hte block and the maifold.
Fireboy153
Brady Fire Co. - Station 150
Long Live The Sunflower! (yea its not so "cool")
Spray the top with carb cleaner, like the vacuum lines, intake manifold and injectors ect. See if the engine bogs down more. If so then that is where ur leak is at. Then repair. If nothing happens, then u dont have a leak, but it could be the ignition control module/coil packs doing it. Goodluck!
The owner has decided to trade his sunfire for an '86 Trans Am and $500 cash. We'll see how this goes...
2010 Honda Fit LX
Damnit, wish i was closer, I would have givne him 1000 for the car lol.
