weekendwarrior44

So I took my car on a beach trip from San Antonio to Corpus and the car had no known issues up until arriving to our hotel in corpus. After putting our stuff in the room we decided to go back out for food and when I went to fire her up she didn't want to start. Car would just keep cranking but nothing. I attempted again while holding down the gas pedal and basically to keep her from stalling I had to rev her up and hold the gas for a little until she could idle on her own. On start up while holding the gas it sounded like misfiring while it slowly fired up and came to life. There is also (often but not every time) smoke on start up. I had no choice but to drive it around like that for the next few days (at that point I also just thought my car was having troubles with the different air and elevation) I also noticed a strong fuel smell upon start up that went away once running. When we finally got home and checked it out I discovered spark plug 1 to be soaked in oil and some oil on the coil as well so I went ahead and replaced all four tube seals and cleaned the plug as best I could (it did look pretty bad before cleaning it and had gunk all over it) and re installed the plug and installed a different set of coil packs I had laying around. Now she runs slightly better and every now and then starts up okay but not perfect without holding the gas but most of the times I do have to crank the cr*p out of it while holding the gas. And now I also notice what sounds like a vibrating cell phone under my driver seat when I turn the key BEFORE starting the engine. Should I have just replaced the spark plug instead of cleaning it? Or is it maybe just left over oil in the combustion chamber that's burning off??

edit: also occasional stalling unless car has fully warmed up. Also had a bad hesitation and jerking in low rpms but after replacing the tube seals and cleaning the plug that seems to have gone away

Halfassjack

New spark plugs. They are a cheap item and should be replaced at time of coils in this case.

Car Analogy

Oil in the tubes doesn't mean oil in the cylinders. So there wouldn't be any leftover oil in the cylinders causing this. The smoke on startup is all that unburned fuel from all that cranking before it finally fires, especially since you are flooring the gas the whole time. The same reason you smell gas.

You are having to get the mixture super rich for the car to start, and these symptoms, smoke and smell, are byproducts.

weekendwarrior44

You think it would be because the plugs went bad or have an idea what else I should check? I'm at work but I'm planning on picking up some plugs on my way home

weekendwarrior44

Update: installed new plugs, started right up. After a few seconds I shut it off and it wouldn't start without giving it gas again. Now it sometimes starts up perfect and sometimes starts up like **** still. Pulled plugs again and inspected seals and everything looked good. Now I have a flashing CEL occasionally when starting up and idling. Moving on to cleaning injectors next

Chuck S

Torqued he plugs to 24lb-ft? Honda upped the torque a few years ago.

Did you use OEM plugs?

-- Chuck

weekendwarrior44

Yeah I used the OEM replacement plugs, I just torqued them down snug without over tightening them but to be honest I feel like it's something fuel related. Soon as I get home, I'm going to mess with the fuel system. I keep stalling while driving and if I shut the car off and start it up right away it starts fine but if I let it sit I have to give it gas so maybe the fuel pressure isn't right.

Halfassjack

Take fuel pressure. See how Quickley pressure bleeds off after shutting car off.

weekendwarrior44

I will be doing that next if this doesn't resolve the issue. Upon further inspection I noticed the wires that go to the air temp sensor were frayed and touching each other. Trying to pick up the connector for it tonight. Will update.

Air temp sensor https://imgur.com/gallery/bZqWI

Car Analogy

Warning, if a plug comes loose, it can destroy your motor. Torque those plugs with a torque wrench, not just by feel.

This is why Honda changed the torque spec for plugs, plugs were backing out and destroying motors.