Robert,
On page 23-56 in the Helms book, it describes checking timing by warming engine up, cutting off motor, putting a jumper wire across the connector with the yellow cap (remove cap), then starting engine and setting timing. Also, double-check the screw holding down the rotor in the distributor- if it's at all loose, that will slip up the timing adjustments.
Your symptoms definitely sound electrical- today I just replaced the ground cable from the battery to the body/engine on the wife's Nissan Quest and it was an absolute mess in corrosion. Good news was I found a 36" replacement cable at Discount Auto that was 1-gauge! (like �-inch thick). That's serious cable- but made a big difference gaining back horsepower as well did the home-brew cold air intake I made from 3" duct elbows (easy pass through in the fender wells on Quests/Villagers).
I replaced the stock battery ground back in 1999 when I did the stereo installation. Yesterday, as I was troubleshooting the problems, I did clean up the ground points and even added another battery and engine ground. So the car is ground pretty good. :^)
Honda uses I believe 10-gauge on the stock battery ground cable- thinner than a pencil and notorious for getting brittle (it'll crumble in your hand). I replaced the ground cable with 4-gauge and replaced the positive lines going from the battery to the first fuse box (passenger side) with 8-gauge oxygen-free copper wire. Take extra time to clean all connection points with Brasso & contact cleaner. The result will be a big difference in idle, throttle response, horsepower, etc.
I too used a 4 gauge battery ground cable when I replaced the stock one. The additional grounds that I added were also 4 gauge (made by Stinger).
Okay, one last tip- when's the last time you replaced the idle screw o-ring (located at the top left on the intake manifold)?
To my knowledge, never. Also, I never had the need to adjust the idle since taking possession of the car back in 1999. And the times it's had to go in for it's smog check/tests, it's never had to be touched by the technician.
I did, however, spray some carb cleaner around the idle screw to see if there was a possible leak... the engine RPM did not change to indicate a leak and I carefully did the same around the base of the throttle body.
As indicated in another reply, I fear that I may have a bad (leaking) head gasket. It was about 50K miles since it was last replaced by the previous owner.
The more I think about it the more I believe my fear my be a reality since I have noticed a slow loss of coolant (with no obvious signs of a leak) even before I replaced the radiator back in August. I noticed the slow loss in early Spring of this year. But it was never a huge loss so I just topped up when needed.
I also noticed, at least yesterday, that when it idled really rough, white smoke from the exhaust would be present as well as the smell of coolant in the air and a lot of water condensation. Said smoke also vaporized really quickly but it didn't feel *moist* (if I passed my hand through it or held it in said cloud). I didn't really smell coolant in the smoke but I also didn't take in huge whiffs either. :^P I could smell the normal emissions, however.
My wife things I sabotaged the engine on purpose so that I can use it as an excuse to drop a B18 in. ;^)
Thanks for the reply...
CRX Owners Group President (http://www.crx.org/southcal)
1990 Honda CRXsi (http://www.hooligan.cc)
ICQ # 3714283 (nickname: godzilla)
Alpine Drive (San Diego County) - December, 2002
http://www.crx.org/southcal/events.html
Or...
http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=339727
