OH NO! My CRV's engine might be in trouble :( Need valve help.

[Rot Box]

Sometime during the month of January my Rootin' Tootin' Raspberry aka 98 Honda CRV started having an issue. One cold morning I started the car then it died and the engine light came on. It restarted and drove home thinking it was something simple. Upon checking the code it was a #4 cylinder misfire so I started at the top of the repair list and worked down. New plugs, wires, cap and rotor and I still have this problem a month later. It hasn't died on my again but it will stumble a bit at low idle and set the code.

Today I had some time and started researching it a bit more. Come to find out it does need routine valve adjustments (news to me! ) and it was due for one many years ago. Turns out this is a VERY common problem with the B-series engine. Apparently anything over 30k miles between adjustments puts them on borrowed time as they tighten up and burn At this point I'm a 95% sure I either have a tight valve(s) or a burnt valve.

Here's my question. How do I test for a burnt valve(s)? I was thinking I'd adjust them to factory specs and run it and see if that fixes the problem. Is that a bad idea? Should I adjust them and do a compression test? Is it better to buy a new head or put my faith in someone to rebuild mine?

Thanks for any help or advice,

Andrew

 

[gertsch]

Vacuum gauge or even the dollar bill at the exhaust pipe test could tell u something.

 

[4x4_Welder]

Well, it wouldn't hurt anything to do the valve adjustment. After that, do a compression test. A test with improperly adjusted valves may give false results, so make sure to adjust then test.

 

[4554x4]

Do a compression test first. test all four cylinders to get a comparision.

 

[Rot Box]

I think all might be well I set them all to specs and so far so good. They were all very tight however I'm not seeing any symptoms of a burnt valve. I was heartbroken there for a while

Anyone with a B-series Honda engine that assumes it doesn't need valve adjustments is making the same mistake I did. I thought that technology was long gone in passenger vehicles--I was wrong for assuming

 

[Cruiser]

Its a burnt valve most likely, probably not to bad yet, but they all do it.. typically will run a little rough at idle and smooth out at higher RPM. compression test and cylinder drop test will rule it out... I just finished a head swap on one last week and it was pretty smooth.. about $500 in parts.