93 Honda Accord - Misfiring/Running Rough

[93accordmich]

Hi!

 

I have a 93 Honda Accord. Recently, an occasional miss has gotten worse... to the point of not wanting to even drive. When sometimes it will jerk, but it usually has a pretty steady misfire accompanied by backfiring of the exhaust.

 

The check engine light has come on twice, but doesn't consistently stay on. (I'll shut the car off, restart it, and it's gone.)

 

I checked the spark plugs... all of them were covered in a light coat of oil?

 

Also, there's some pretty wicked corrosion on the spark plug wires on the end it plugs into the distributor cap. (I think it's corrosion, but it might be some grease that was put on? i don't know)

 

My coil wire was arcing (from near the boot housing where it connects to the coil pack to a piece of metal within the engine), so I replaced it. I assumed this would fix the problem, but it didn't. Also, I can smell gas when it starts to misfire. (kind of obvious, just trying to give as much detail as possible.)

 

My car has the 2.2, and it's the LX model.

 

It idles rough and runs poorly at most any speed... but sometimes it'll jerk forward on the highway and start to run normally for a second or two.

 

And SOME days (there's been like...3) it will run absolutely perfectly. No misfiring at all.

 

The distributor cap is newer, all the plugs and wires are fine, and I don't think it's the distributor cap. My guess is the coil pack... but what do I know.

 

Please help!

[Turtlehead]

Obviously start with a major service. If that does not fix it then have the timing checked. It sounds like an electrical issuse to me so I would either replace the plugs, wires, cap and rotor with Honda parts, OR find someone that has they same (1990 to 1997) car running well and swap parts (not all parts are swapable between the modles). Too many people under estimate the quality and power of good parts.

 

As far as oil on the plugs, replace the valve cover gasket and the tube seals with good quality parts (I would use Honda, especially on the tube seals) and try to prevent oil from entering the tubes.

 

Best of luck.