ofeargall

Mark,

I'll run some tests this week and see where I'm at with compression/vacuum health.

It's an Si Civic, white, black interior with virtually no rust. It's a great little rig. Fun to drive, gets great mileage... Just a little old. I suspect the sunroof drain up front is probably the offender. My son pulled the passenger seat out for me the other day so I can keep an eye on the moisture condition around the ECU.

The floorboard flooded last year when the rear sunroof drain clogged (fried the ECU and had to get a refurb). The mechanic drilled a hole in the floor on the passenger side. I'm beginning to think some water is being wicked up through that hole on my commute. I'm in the Willamette Valley, Oregon where it rains a lot. My commute is pretty darn wet. Lots of water on the highway between home and the studio.

You looking to get into one of these gems? I sure love mine. I just put some winter tires on, sticks to the road pretty darn good now!

Okay, I finally had time to attend to this problem.

The engine actually had a very steady misfire. I pulled the plug wire from the plug furthest from the distributor and the metal snap ring stayed on the plug. Coincidentally, the engine trouble didn't change. I remembered from my shop days in High School that if you have a faulty plug or something you can get a hotter spark by putting a little gap between the plug and the terminal on the wire. I put the plug wire on slowly and it started to run. Sure enough, it started to run normal.

I ran down to the parts store and bought some new wires, put them in and - no difference! That one cylinder was still misfiring.

Next I pulled the plugs. Yikes. The offending cylinder's plug was heavily fouled (black and oily). I went back to the store and bought 4 new plugs gapped at .044 and we're good to go again. (the previous plugs and wires were about a year old.

This leads me to the obvious question about the condition of my engine. The engine has about 250K on it. There's no visible smoke while driving, and only an occasional smoke on start-up. It does burn oil over time as I'm adding a quart between oil changes. This is a highway car for me. I commute 140 miles a day so it's got a lot of time at 65MPH.

Does this sound like what you guys are seeing with your high-mile engines? I don't have a problem swapping in new plugs and burning a little oil I just want to make sure I'm not in the 'danger zone'.

Quick update. The car is idling and my wife says it smells like a mixture of varnish and alcohol, 'slightly' diesel-ish (she's actually babysitting the idling car as I'm at work 70 miles away...).

BEautiful! Thanks!

I wondered if there were front drain lines on the sunroof or if they merged with the rear lines. Thank you for the info. I'll check the rubber seals as well. I suspect they're tired but I don't see any traces of water coming from the windows.