Misfiring on all 4 cyl after fill up

JamesShort · **Posted:** Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:46 am

My brother said his car (99 Civic EX d16y8) was running like crap yesterday and I told him to go to AZ and have them scan the codes: P300-304 misfires and P1399 (random misfires).

I asked him a bunch of questions about maintenance on the car since I sold it to him to which I received the response "What maintenance".....ok WTF (but not surprising for my family). Anyway, I asked him if he filled up recently and sure enough he said he did about 10 miles prior to the issues. He said it was a BP station in SC (just south of Charlotte) and I asked if he put diesel or E85 in it and he said the pump definitely said 87 on it.

So I'm assuming he got a tank of bad gas so he called the station which said they had no reports of problems. Usually when stations have bad gas there are stories all over the news of blown engines and what not.

I guess the cheapest thing for him to do before start throwing parts at it (dizzy cap, rotor, plugs, wires, ign coil etc) is to siphon the gas out and fill it up with fresh stuff. Any ideas of where he can go to have someone siphon out 8-10 gallons of gas (petrol if I were Zach)? Mind you my brother probably doesn't know how to use a screwdriver so there is no way he can do it him self.

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:56 am

JamesShort wrote:

I guess the cheapest thing for him to do before start throwing parts at it (dizzy cap, rotor, plugs, wires, ign coil etc) is to siphon the gas out and fill it up with fresh stuff. Any ideas of where he can go to have someone siphon out 8-10 gallons of gas (petrol if I were Zach)? Mind you my brother probably doesn't know how to use a screwdriver so there is no way he can do it him self.

Make a post on craigslist for free gas and wait to see who shows up with a siphon hose.

On a serious note, have him siphon out about half the tank and then refill it. He's probably best off purchasing a couple of 5 gallon jugs and then cycling the gas back into the car a couple of gallons at a time. Or use it in a lawn mower.

JamesShort · **Posted:** Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:07 am

Jason Mauldin wrote:

JamesShort wrote:

I guess the cheapest thing for him to do before start throwing parts at it (dizzy cap, rotor, plugs, wires, ign coil etc) is to siphon the gas out and fill it up with fresh stuff. Any ideas of where he can go to have someone siphon out 8-10 gallons of gas (petrol if I were Zach)? Mind you my brother probably doesn't know how to use a screwdriver so there is no way he can do it him self.

Make a post on craigslist for free gas and wait to see who shows up with a siphon hose.

On a serious note, have him siphon out about half the tank and then refill it. He's probably best off purchasing a couple of 5 gallon jugs and then cycling the gas back into the car a couple of gallons at a time. Or use it in a lawn mower.

Jason, he can't use a screwdriver....do you really think that he can siphon or use a lawnmower (he lives with my folks who have a townhome so no mowing for them)

.

I told him to go to this shop my father in law uses to see if they'd siphon his tank and I told him to fill up with some 89 octane top tier fuel.

JamesShort · **Posted:** Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:16 am

I'll be damned....he just called me and said he bought an easy siphon and 2 5 gallon gas cans at Autozone and he's going to attempt it himself

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DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:17 am

The "bad gas" could easily be water that has settled to the bottom of the tank. If so, it might be possible to get the siphon hose to the bottom and get most of the water out without needing to remove much gasoline. In the pre 10% ethanol in the gas days Dri Gas might help but current gas comes "stock" with ethanol. :lol:

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Fri Oct 28, 2011 2:02 pm

The gas might be coincidence. Might be gas, might be electrical problem. Tina recently ran through a deep puddle of water in her 98 civic (nearly same engine) was getting the same codes. Turned out to just be water in dist cap.

A year or more the same car went from having a slight miss/hesitation to full on 3 cyl operation within a few miles. CEL started to flash (which means you need to stop the car ASAP as the gas is not burning in the cylinder, but is now burning in the cat and melting the cat core). If I remember correctly all it took (beyond a new cat!) was new plugs and wires to resolve that problem. Ask when was the last time the plugs and wires where changed.

Richard

JamesShort · **Posted:** Fri Oct 28, 2011 2:05 pm

Richard Casto wrote:

Ask when was the last time the plugs and wires where changed.

Richard

When my wife owned it and I serviced probably :roll:

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Misfiring on all 4 cyl after fill up

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