My wife's car bought used in June, auto, Vtec 60k miles. After a few weeks of ownership, started misfiring badly when starting from cold then usually runs okay. One occasion it was almost undriveable and she smelled burning. Ended up having to have the rear brake discs and pads replaced (don't know if this is connected). When the car's misbehaving the warning light for engine management comes on. Since brake replacement she has smelled burning once.
Local garage (not Honda dealer) suspects injector 3 but can't do much until they witness the problem. We've left the car with them for several days but of course it behaved perfectly.
My worry is that more trouble is on the way. If it turns out to be a major component it would be covered by the purchased warranty but this runs out end of December.
Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions regarding this and how I might best get it sorted?
Many thanks.
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What fault codes did they find when the read the ECU and what makes them suspect cylinder 3?
Burning smells are never good - especially on automatics which rules out the clutch. Does it usually happen only after heavy breaking?
Why did you have the rear pads and disks replaced? Was this diagnosed as the problem or where they just looking for work on that occasion? The handbrake could have been stuck on and was merely adding to the problem rather than causing it.
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Before you do anything else; check/adjust the tappets.
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Thanks for the replies.
I don't know what the error codes are...is this something a practising mechanic would tell me?
The smell doesn't, according to my wife, seem to be connected with heavy braking but at the end of a typical journey to work, she will have used the brakes quite a few times.
The brakes were changed because one of the wheels had become very hot and it was thought that this was to do with the brakes, especially as, apparently, the rear brakes were quite worn...I was away at the time so wasn't able to have any input but it is certainly possible that this was not really necessary.
I am largely ignorant of how cars work these days but would a malfunctioning control unit have any effect on the brakes, e.g., via ABS? Incidentally, the alarm that should sound if you leave a window open doesn't sound any more. All this leads a non expert like me to ask whether or not the car's ?central control unit?, if there is such a thing, is misbehaving.
Regarding checking the tappets...I thought they were all hydraulic these days and could not be adjusted. May I just ask why you think it might have something to do with tappets?
Thanks again for suggestions.
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These are good old-fashioned adjustable rocker arms; they should have been checked and freed-off at 27 and 54K - but they never are because everyone thinks that all tappets are hydraulic.....
When they go tight, they make VTECs burn valves, hesitate on a light throttle and miss on start-up. The unburned fuel then cooks the cat.
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Bad misfiring could cook the cat!!(causing a hot smell?)
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Thanks for the latest posts. Just to clarify, are you saying that a rocker arm could be sticking on startup then (usually) unsticking after some seconds or minutes? And on the odd occasion that it doesn't unstick, it keeps a valve open and fries the cat? If this were happening, would the engine management light come on?
Sorry to be so non expert.
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On engines run on our rubbish unleaded; the valves slowly regress into the head.
This gradually eliminates the [adjustable] running clearance in the system and eventually keeps the valves slightly open when cold until differential expansion in the aluminium of the head achieves a slight clearance.
Nothing is sticking; just the essential clearance maybe hasn't been maintained by regular [27K service] adjustment.
The engine management has no function in this area and won't detect a fault.
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