Darkelvis

89 crx si, 14b, dsm 450s, turboedit/ostrich/LM-1
So tonight we are driving the car up to my parents house (about 75 mi. away), the speed limit is 75 and the car was running perfect almost the whole way. After about 50 miles I commented on how the exhaust sounded slightly off. After about 60-65 miles she took an exit of the interstate and when we came to the stop sign at the end of the exit the car died. She started the car back up and it sounded like ----, the whole car (especially the engine) was shaking like a bitch at idle, the boost gauge read 10 in (vac) instead of the regular 20, and the idle read out at 10.3 instead of the 14.5 I have it set at, and the fuel map is at about 11.0-12.0 (it was tuned perfectly before this happened). Well after we let the car cool down for 20 minutes we started it back up and drove it into town at about 40 mph. The whole drive into town the car was bogging down horribly and sounding like a lawnmower. When we got there I checked and found no vac. or boost leaks. I pulled the plugs and 1, 2, and 3 all looked fine, 4 looked brand new and smelled like it had been soaking in gas. I didn't have a compression tester with me so I couldn't check the compression. We ended up leaving the car at her mom's house and getting a ride back home. I have to go back up there later this week to try and figure it out. My question is this: based on what I have said what does anyone think it could be and what should i test? Personally I'm thinking the piston rings have finally ---- out, but I could be completely wrong. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE HELP.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: here is a pic of the plugs, I've got 1,2,3 next to each other and 4 by itself.

whiterice

running on 3 cylinders. no spark to that 4th one? maybe fouled spark plug or wire.
Sounds like you were just cruising and not boosting hard. I wouldn't think it was major damage.
good luck.

TimeEater

CEL come on

Donald125

do NOT guess, do a compression check before anything

Darkelvis

no cel, no boost, replaced the plugs and the car ran the same.
It isn't that I'm guessing so much as I just want to get a clue as to what I may be looking for so I can bring the right tools to find out if that is the problem.

Darkelvis

Bump for more suggestions!

raiden571

if the n0. 4 plug was soaked, it probably wasnt sparking. check all connections.or, get ur hands on a stock ecu and stick ur factory injectors in a dn see if that helps. dont drive with the factory ---- back in, just se if that solves the problem. good luck

FooK

you checked vacuum lines?

usually if i pull my wastegate line off or something it will idle at 10vac

Darkelvis

actually when I pulled the WG line the vac dropped to 20 for about 10 sec before the idle got all fucked up and the vac gauge jumped all over the place.