92 Civic CX won't always start, but runs rich, rough, and my header glows. Help!!!

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shorelovr202

Integra Guy
I started my car the other day and my engine light came on for the first time. When I started driving it sputtered about a quarter mile down the road. The first red light I came to, it stauled out and my oil light started blinking. My oil pan gasket is bad, so I figured I might be low and that might be the problem. Then about a mile later it stauled 3 more times, so I parked it and put some oil in. It started right up and seemed to be running smooth. Then, I started losing power and stauled a few more times, so I parked it. Then, It wouldn't start at all. I went home for a bit, but went back to try my luck. I finally got it started... it would basically almost start but choke. But when i did get it started, it would only run if I held the gas in... and I could put the pedal the whole way to the floor but it had no power and sounded like an old V8 that was about to staul. After a minute of tryin to keep it running, I smelled gas really bad. I shut it off and popped my hood and my header and heat shield on my header was glowing orange. The next day, I checked my oil and it was fine, so I don't think I killed my engine or my head gasket, the oil looked normal. What could this be?
 
check all cylinders spark plug wires,make sure none are burnt or cracked, also check each cylinder for spark. no spark to a cylinder can cause unburnt gas in which can cause your problem
 
well, just went back to check the catalytic and now it wont start at all and it had a real weird high pitch to it when trying to start it.
 
you will need to disconnect exhaust between header and cat converter, then try to start it.If it starts with no problems then like ls94civic said plugged converter. you will still need to find what caused the problem
 
you mean high pitched like with no compression "bumps"? you know, the "taa, ta, ta, ta, ta that you hear when it cranks over normally? sounds like you might be having a compression issure....check your timing belt... or pop the oil fill cap while someone cranks it to see if the camshaft is turning....
 
I would suggest checking your timing belt. If your exhaust is glowing, then it could be your exhaust valves opening up too quick.

After that, check your fuel pressure. If you can do what ever you can to get an actual number for fuel pressure. Not a pull the line off and see if its coming out.
 
still workin on it... its not the timing belt. Not sure about the converter. When I checked my plugs, they were shot and there was alot of oil down in there. Head is leakin pretty bad.
 
SO you have a leaky head, bad plugs, bad oil pan gasket....
- check engine code (duhhh)
- replace plugs since they most likely worthless.
- remove cat from header and let idle to make sure it stays running smooth.

with the header glowing it means the exhaust itself is over heating. If your head were to get hot enough and cause the header to over heat... welllll you prolly warped the mess out of it.

anyway.
What i'm saying is to try those three things to trouble shoot and go from there.


I vote clogged cat
 
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