AJerman
Member
Hey guys, first post here, so first hi, I'm Andrew. 
I just got a 1998 Accord 4 cylinder (non-vtec) 5 speed. It has some codes being thrown, and the DMV has given me 10 days to drive without a tag before I have to have an inspection done and be back for tags. I'm fairly good at working on cars, and have a lot of the necessary tools, however, this is a new car and engine to me, so I have a few questions.
I got my OBD II codes checked this morning, and got a handful back. To list them, I got the infamous P0420 (cat O2 sensor, I believe), P0302 (cylinder 2 misfire), P0401 (egr insufficient flow), P1456 (evap leak, tank), and P1399 (misfire, again).
My symptoms are: Nearly none. Sometimes a rough, hesitating start when the engine is already warm. Like it barely wants to run, 350-400 RPMs, though hasn't quite died any of the times. Giving it a little gas seems to help it out. And I'm leaking a little coolant that I haven't sourced yet (just got the OK to drive today, gonna thoroughly clean the engine to get a better idea of where it's coming from). Other than that it drives great.
I've been reading this morning, and here's what I've come up with:
As soon as the codes were read, I went ahead and got a new gas cap to rule that out. The evap system sounds like it's isolated from the rest, but as I understand, P1456 is tank side, so I should look at the cap first obviously, but after that, I would be looking for physical damage or a hole in the tank (though I'd expect to smell gas which I haven't been looking for, but haven't noticed), possibly the fuel pump/gasket, or the two way valve/bypass solenoid. I'll clear the codes later and see if the new cap keeps the evap code from showing.
On to the misfire, I haven't felt it misfire at all while driving, and I've read that the CEL will flash in the case of a misfire, which it hasn't been doing. My thought is that this is being tripped when it has that rough idle at start. I kind of think fixing that will fix this. If not, I'll be back to this issue.
That leaves the O2 sensor and the EGR system. I read a nice thread on how to clean the entire EGR system, noting that it can clog itself pretty easily sometimes. I think this is my first place to start this weekend. I'll clean that all out, and hopefully that will fix the EGR code, and possibly fix the P0420 (?). If not I'll replace the O2 sensor as well.
So, my question would be whether or not that group of codes means anything else more common that I don't know about that I should look into, or does the above sound like the right first steps to take to start troubleshooting the issues? Like I said, I've got 10 days to drive without a tag, so that gives me this weekend and next weekend. Hopefully that's acceptable to qualify for urgent, because my lack of knowledge on the engine makes everything a little slower. I'd appreciate any input, comments or corrections that someone with more knowledge may have!
I just got a 1998 Accord 4 cylinder (non-vtec) 5 speed. It has some codes being thrown, and the DMV has given me 10 days to drive without a tag before I have to have an inspection done and be back for tags. I'm fairly good at working on cars, and have a lot of the necessary tools, however, this is a new car and engine to me, so I have a few questions.I got my OBD II codes checked this morning, and got a handful back. To list them, I got the infamous P0420 (cat O2 sensor, I believe), P0302 (cylinder 2 misfire), P0401 (egr insufficient flow), P1456 (evap leak, tank), and P1399 (misfire, again).
My symptoms are: Nearly none. Sometimes a rough, hesitating start when the engine is already warm. Like it barely wants to run, 350-400 RPMs, though hasn't quite died any of the times. Giving it a little gas seems to help it out. And I'm leaking a little coolant that I haven't sourced yet (just got the OK to drive today, gonna thoroughly clean the engine to get a better idea of where it's coming from). Other than that it drives great.
I've been reading this morning, and here's what I've come up with:
As soon as the codes were read, I went ahead and got a new gas cap to rule that out. The evap system sounds like it's isolated from the rest, but as I understand, P1456 is tank side, so I should look at the cap first obviously, but after that, I would be looking for physical damage or a hole in the tank (though I'd expect to smell gas which I haven't been looking for, but haven't noticed), possibly the fuel pump/gasket, or the two way valve/bypass solenoid. I'll clear the codes later and see if the new cap keeps the evap code from showing.
On to the misfire, I haven't felt it misfire at all while driving, and I've read that the CEL will flash in the case of a misfire, which it hasn't been doing. My thought is that this is being tripped when it has that rough idle at start. I kind of think fixing that will fix this. If not, I'll be back to this issue.
That leaves the O2 sensor and the EGR system. I read a nice thread on how to clean the entire EGR system, noting that it can clog itself pretty easily sometimes. I think this is my first place to start this weekend. I'll clean that all out, and hopefully that will fix the EGR code, and possibly fix the P0420 (?). If not I'll replace the O2 sensor as well.
So, my question would be whether or not that group of codes means anything else more common that I don't know about that I should look into, or does the above sound like the right first steps to take to start troubleshooting the issues? Like I said, I've got 10 days to drive without a tag, so that gives me this weekend and next weekend. Hopefully that's acceptable to qualify for urgent, because my lack of knowledge on the engine makes everything a little slower. I'd appreciate any input, comments or corrections that someone with more knowledge may have!
