futronic wrote: any help greatly appreciated. It costs $60 for a diagonosis, I have lost the first cylinder at
200,000 miles. oil is brown like it is suppose to be. The coolant is full and green. the spark plugs have been switched around with same result, #1 (on the left) is not firing. I can still go 70mph plus, but it shakes and there is a ton of fumes, gassy smelling. overpowering odor. Driving the car on 3 cylinders will dramatically shorten the life of the catalytic converter due to all the unburned gas that's getting into it (this assumes the fuel injector is still working which it sounds like it is due to your description of a bad fume smell). I would drive the car as little as possible until you get this problem sorted out.
I can see the spark go from the wire to the block, also there is oil? above the other spark plugs. The oil is likely leaking past the spark plug tube seals at the valve cover. These should be replaced. If this doesn't fix the oil problem, then the oil could be coming from the lower seals which go between the cam towers and cylinder head. The latter seals are much more difficult to replace so try replacing the upper seals first and recheck it in a week or two.
By the way, have you checked the compression on the misfiring cylinder? A burnt valve could be causing the problem. In addition, what is the condition of the spark plug electrode? Is there oil, soot, etc? By the way, spark plug wires should typically be replaced about every 100K miles. I would recommend either Honda or NGK wires.
Eric the spark plug looked fine, just like the rest of them, I will get the compression checked. I stopped driving it , Now I may just take out the new alternator, new radiator, nice wheels and tires, new $100 battery and save them for my 92 accord wagon. thanks for the help, I just hate spending money for them to tell me its done. dan