ughhhhh, engine running rough

[Tippey764]

So i finally have my h23 running and it runs tough as hell

videos are below. What do you think is wrong?

I also have some whiteish smoke coming out the exhaust

Its also very loud because there is an exhaust leak at the header to downpipe connection ( bolt stud stripped out

The exhaust smells nasty as hell also.

I also don't have the knock sensor wired and its giving me a CEL for the EGR valve

Oh and the tach goes wacky some times? I've seen this before as a bad igniter?

[pedroalcala]

dude dont rev it like that!!!

where did you get this motor from??

you got to let it break in, not wiring the knock sensor will make your car run like shit and sound like shit....

wire that up, clean your EGR ports, and IACV. the idle can def. be your igniter.....that can also cause the motor to sound like that to!!

[Tippey764]

The engine is used i got it from craigslist

The intake and EGR are 100% clean ( i did all this before i put it on the engine )

I didn't rev it to 5k by the way, i only reved it up to about 3.5 and then the tach starts going all wacky

Why do i need to break in the engine? Its used its already been broken in?

Could this be a timing issue? I did put a new belt on before i put the engine in.

[YK86]

The tach moving around all weird looks like an ignitor problem which would also cause the car to run rough under certain conditions.

Did you double check the cam and crank tdc after putting on the new belt?

BTW, are all the grounds connected well? Mainly the one under the thermostat housing and engine to body? Those missing those grounds can also cause a wonky tach at around 3.5K.

[Tippey764]

Yes all of the grounds are hooked up, the only thing missing is the a/c system, intake and knock sensor

And yes i double checked and triple checked the belt because upon the first try it slipped a tooth. I redid the belt and got it right the second time and turned the engine over 2 times to ensure it did not slip a tooth again. All seemed good so i installed the engine

[Tippey764]

So i popped out all 4 spark plugs

i started with 4 and went to 1, after removing one i replaced it and then removed the next

Remove spark plug 4 - engine idle changes slightly but continues to run almost the same
Remove spark plug 3- engine runs very very very rough and starts to sputter, i plugged it in before it stalled
Remove spark plug 2- engine idle changes slightly but continues to run almost the same
Remove spark plug 1 - engine runs very very very rough and starts to sputter, i plugged it in before it stalled

Im banking in on the distributor being bad but what do you think?

[92smokeaccord]

what and were did the dizz come from?are u sure the injecter wires sure in the right spots..had this happen to me a couple times..

[YK86]

When you say you removed the spark plugs to test it, do you mean the wires?

Is there a possibility the 4 and 2 wires are on the wrong part of the cap? Is the cap and rotor good? Kind of weird only 4 and 2 would make no difference....but then again, the ignitor might be giving the wrong signals if it's faulty.

[Tippey764]

what and were did the dizz come from?are u sure the injecter wires sure in the right spots..had this happen to me a couple times..

I got it from ebay for $50 How would i mix up the injectors? They are in a row?

When you say you removed the spark plugs to test it, do you mean the wires?

Is there a possibility the 4 and 2 wires are on the wrong part of the cap? Is the cap and rotor good? Kind of weird only 4 and 2 would make no difference....but then again, the ignitor might be giving the wrong signals if it's faulty.

I literally had the biggest trouble finding out plug wire firing order, im pretty damn sure they are right

The distributor had a bad igniter in it for sure but i doubt this would cause all of the trouble. I swapped all the internals from my brand new f22a6 distributor into it so i need to test that

[YK86]

It should be 1-3-4-2. Looking at the cap from the passenger side, if the coil plug was 12o'clock, 2o'clock should be 1, 5 o'clock 3, 8 o'clock 4, and 11 o'clock 2. Most caps have an A marked for the cylinder 1 wire.

['93CB7Ex]

^yup. its that or you have a shitty dizzy.

[evil_demon_01]

What ECU are you using, and is the EGR the only code?
It does look like a potential coil or ignitor issue. Even new parts can be faulty.

Pull the sparkplugs out and have a look at them - Do they all look the same?

[vietkid_2006]

Looks like you have a battery light also; alternator is not charging your battery..probably why your tach is going crazy.

[Tippey764]

What ECU are you using, and is the EGR the only code?
It does look like a potential coil or ignitor issue. Even new parts can be faulty.

Pull the sparkplugs out and have a look at them - Do they all look the same?

Im using a p14 manual ECU, and yes the EGR code is the only one it gave me ( it repeated the code twice so im sure there were no other ones ). I find it strange as i don't have a knock sensor wired in

Im fairly sure the distributor was a piece of crap. I opened up a known good brand new distributor for my f22a6 and removed all of the internal componets and swapped them into the h23a1 distributor, i mean everything. The little magnet things as well as the shaft, rotor and igniter.

I pulled the spark plugs out and one of them was a different tip, a cone style tip vs a cylinder. I swapped them out to 4 matching plugs but did not notice any real difference in the way it ran

Looks like you have a battery light also; alternator is not charging your battery..probably why your tach is going crazy.

Theres no alternator belt on the car right now, i need to finish rebuilding the a/c compressor first

[ChIoVnIdCa]

Is the right plug going to the T p s. Check the wire colors