As mentioned in previous posts, my sister's 99 civic has a damaged valve on
cylinder 3 due to a timing belt breaking. The car is running, albeit poorly
due to no compression on cylinder 3. Once you rev it up, it sounds OK.

Would it be safe to drive the car across town to a different mechanic in this
condition? What are the risks? Or should it be towed?

The drive would be in the city, 50 km/h or less, and revved as low as
possible. Its about a 14km trip.

Please advise.

Thanks
Terry in Winnipeg

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and by risks, i mean could we do further damage to the
cylinder/piston/valvetrain by driving with no compression and a damaged valve.


t

T L wrote:
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"T L via CarKB.com" wrote:

I'd remove the spark plug wire from the plug and put an old 'dummy' plug
on the wire, with the metal part of the plug grounded, so it sparks
normally. Otherwise, I doubt anything bad could happen. (the high
tension needs to find it's way to ground or it will 'blaze a new trail"
inside the cap, or igniter)

'Curly'

Curly, not sure what you mean. How could I ground the 'dummy' plug? (IE
make it stay grounded while driving the car.)

Also, if the gas in the cylinder is not being burned off, wouldn't it cause
the oil on the cylinder wall to be washed away, causing potential damage to
the rings, and contamination of the engine oil? This is one of the big
concerns I have.



'Curly Q. Links' wrote:
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"T L via CarKB.com" <u10197@uwe> wrote

into that cylinder will come to no good.

Mike

"Michael Pardee" <michaeltnull (AT) cybertrails (DOT) com> wrote in
news:TIKdnfqwkrklRRHeRVn-vA (AT) sedona (DOT) net:

yes,the unburned fuel will throw off the O2 sensor,and the ECU will
misadjust the other cylinders.

Better to just leave the spark plug the way it is,not provide a "dummy"
plug.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

Thanks for everyones input! I will unplug the injector and leave everything
else as is. For a short trip, I doubt it will create any big problems.

t

Jim Yanik wrote:
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I'm imagining the combustion chamber pooling up with unburned gas, or would
it just shoot out the exhaust valves anyway?

Is it really worth it to try? What will you save? $50 or less?

I wouldn't do it.

G-Man


"T L via CarKB.com" <u10197@uwe> wrote

"T L via CarKB.com" wrote:
--------------------------

The other guys are more correct . . Unplug the injector. No worries
about any backfiring, but you might still generate a 'misfire' code, but
so what? At least it can't backfire if there's no fuel/air mixture
present.

I was referring to chassis ground, like any part that's steel. Doesn't
matter anyway, but it's worth remembering. Honda spark has to go
_somewhere_ or it will go to the wrong places.

'Curly'