Honda CRV Misfires, Check engine codes, P0300, P0301, P0302, P0303, P0304, burnt valve, $100 fix

Honda CRV check engine misfire codes P300, P301, P303 kept popping up. Rough Idle, poor compression in one cylinder. Caused by a burnt valve from being lazy and not adjusting the valves as part of regular maintenance. Fixed it for less that $100.

[@Jsingle1922]

jJust finished the repair and it fired right up. All my check engine lights are gone. Thanks a lot for all the help appreciate it!

[@mica8254]

This is an awesome presentation on your 2001 CRV valve problem.

[@shelbydogg]

Thanks Zetty!. This is my Wife's daily driver and she loves driving it. It is still running well, as Hondas do, since I replaced that valve.

[@shelbydogg]

Stil is running well at 233,7xx miles. I am now selling it due to the wife getting a hybrid suv. I checked the valves recently and only needed a minor adjustment on a few of the valves. She still drives it to haul her bike to ride in the park’s bike trails.

[@CNYCyberGuy]

Just to point out too, the valve seat is usually damaged and requires replacement by a machine shop. The proper thing to do is take it to a shop, pay the man/woman $20 bucks to check it for straightness and leaks (it would really stink to put a head back on a car with 100 to 200 in new parts only to find out it's still cracked and worthless). They can check the valves and seats for you and tell you if the seats need to be cut out and replaced. At the minimum, checking for straightness is an absolute must and requires a machinists straight edge. If this one is still running, I'd say you got incredibly lucky, more often than not that valve seat being bad will burn the new valve over time if it's not replaced as well. Good on you for fixing it yourself tho! Nice to see another Honda going strong.

[@tubedude786]

Seems to be a CRV issue, mine is in the shop ... burnt exhaust valve #3, after paying for full tune up same error codes. Great video. Thank you

[@shelbydogg]

What did it end up costing to get yours fixed?

[@unlimitedpotential8073]

tubedude786 Answer the question please!? ahah

[@treygrant3649]

That same thing happened to me. How much does it cost to repair it

[@MrCrisisZ]

did any of you ever figure out the cost for this repair?@@treygrant3649

[@Jsingle1922]

still running alright after the repair? Im in the middle of this job and am wondering if I need to recut the valve seat. looks like you just lapped in the new valve. work alright?

[@jayurehman]

Great video and tutorial. Did you change the head gasket or used old one? And the head bolts as well

[@shelbydogg]

Yes, changed head gasket but reused head bolts.

[@quakebot1]

to follow up with my earlier post,.... pulled the head today and found number three has very leaky ex valve. was suprised by the excellant condition of the engine overall.

[@shelbydogg]

Keeping the oil changed often keeps the engines clean. I've seen neglected ones that failed with a dark brown coating inside. Oil changes are cheaper than car payments.

[@reesejones9471]

The head screws are not torqued anywhere near yield. Good video, thanks.

[@pedrosuero2165]

can you elaborate a little more on this. can the original headbolts be re-used ???

[@shelbydogg6251]

Glad to have helped out. Can you imagine what a repair shop or Honda dealer would have charged for this labor intensive job? I can only wonder because I did it myself. The only part I didn't include was trying to compress the valve spring and remove the retainer. The valve spring compressor "loan a tool" from Oreilly's didn't reach the valve to do the job. I had to use a big c-clamp and a nut on each side of the retainer to push it down. Just look at all your stuff and be creative to get the retainer off. One KZbin video shows a piece of wood he notched out that worked.

[@sciteceng2hedz358]

Awesome job man!

[@soiTios]

Hey, great video, helped me get a better idea of what it takes to do this fix. I was wondering about the valve and the engine head. In your case, the valve got burnt out, but what happens if the valve works its way into the head? Does the head have to be replaced, or is there some way to fix that?

[@shelbydogg6259]

The valves ARE working their way into the head. This was a common problem with this engine due to the aluminum casting of the head during these years. Bad quality of aluminum? I don't know, ask Honda. Sinking in is what causes the valve lash to be too tight, causing the valves to hang open a little then burn out a section of the metal. The valve can not close all the way allowing combustion gases to escape, causing a hot spot, then failure. Adjusting your valves regularly keeps them loose enough so this doesn't happen to you. One bad valve, you get a CEL and rough running engine. A common fix for soft valve seats in my old muscle cars, when switching to unleaded fuel, was to have a machine shop bore out the seats then install hardened valve seats, then have a valve job done on the new seats. Way too much money to spend on a 16 valve, 4 cylinder 15 year old CRV. When you lap the valve, as seen in my video, you create a new seal between the new valve and old head. My compression check after the repair verified this. It also verified the all other 15 valves were still good.

[@soiTios]

Shelby Dogg Thanks for the reply Shelby. So as you state above, boring out the head to add new hardened seats costs way too much, so instead you lap the valve by using the metal grinding compound while spinning the valve in the seat, correct? Seems simple enough...

[@shelbydogg]

Valve lapping is always the final step to a complete valve job, on every valve. You would lap a valve whether it was new or a regrind. I did just the new one because everything was running great till the CEL light came on. Sounds like you have one of these repairs ahead of you. Do a compression check an all 4 cylinders before you take anything apart. Might tell you that the problem could be something else. In my case, one cylinder was almost not compressing.

[@soiTios]

shelbydogg Turns out I had the exact same issue as you. I replaced 1 valve and made sure to carefully adjust valves. In the future I will be regularly adjusting valves to ensure valves don't hang open and burn out. It's important to note that I have limited automotive repair experience. I was only able to do this repair because a buddy of mine has an auto repair shop and while I used his tools, he'd pop by and give me advice and check my work. It took me 4 days. Cleaning parts before assembly was the most grueling part.

[@csjccreationsliz7997]

I have the same problem but have no mechanic to fix my car and i love my crv... idk wat to do with it...

[@CHIBA280CRV]

Fantastic job, did you save the other valve , or installed it in place of another valve ? Also used the old bolts ? Thanks

[@shelbydogg]

JOGO, old valve had a section burned out so reusing it would have been impossible. A compression test only showed one weak cylinder so I only touched the one valve that leaked when I turned it over, put some laquer thinner on it, then saw it run right past the valve into the exhaust manifold. Yes, I reused all of the old bolts.

[@CHIBA280CRV]

I meant the other new extra valve , if you saved that one. I know you don't reuse a burnt valve Lol. I see so you only replaced the one bad valve.. It is a very informative video...

[@shelbydogg]

JOGO, Oreillys did sell them in pairs but my counter guy let me buy just one.

[@CHIBA280CRV]

Got ya ..thanks

[@quakebot1]

valve seat was ok? I have a vehicle with same/similar problem.

[@shelbydogg]

Quake Bot, valve seat was okay, only the valve had a burned section not allowing it to seal. Lapping the valve with the grinding compound will let you visually see if you have any bad spots before you reinstall the valve spring.

[@bryanjohnson5580]

Excellent video sir. Wish it existed years ago when I suffered this issue. Honda CRV 98-01 manuals in US incorrectly state "only adjust if noisy." Should've indicated every 30K, as in the EU manuals. There is a TSB 03-038.

[@moniquejohnson5840]

Where do i go to get this job done? My 2008 exhaust is pushing air out and sucking air in it runs excellent on the freeway at high speed but idles hard having trouble breathing!

[@shelbydogg]

Sadly, whoever you take it to is going to want to charge you more than the car is worth. You watched me fix it for the price of a head gasket, 1 valve and some grinding compound, to show it doesn’t need many parts but the labor charge and the parts they will want to replace will surprise you.

[@MrCrisisZ]

I'm no mechanic but i'm getting this misfire code all 5 of them. Is there anything I can ask or say to the mechanic to have them dial in on just fixing what you mentioned without having to replace the entire head? I don't know a lot about cars and don't think I can afford to replace the whole head. My car has 230x miles as well and i'm wondering if it's even worth it or if I should just buy a new car. Can you help recommend what I can ask a mechanic?

[@shelbydogg]

Get a loan-a-tool compression tester from Oreilly or AutoZone. Take all of the spark plugs out and then test each cylinder one by one with the compression tester. that will tell you if any cylinders or valves are bad. Then you can take that information to the mechanic. A Honda with that many miles is still always worth fixing. Like in my video if you have a bad engine, your car is worthless, try to get that fixed like I did as cheaply as possible and keep changing the oil every 3 to 5000 miles and it will keep going. But you have to adjust those valves at least once a year which isn’t hard to do.

[@mostaphaali5938]

Is one valve sold or a complete set and I can only buy one

[@shelbydogg]

I remember the auto parts sold a box with 2 valves. I said that I only needed 1, so they took one out of the box and sold me 1.

[@p1epoppa]

I'm confused...if all the other cylinders were okay, why would it throw misfires and codes for all the other cylinders?

[@shelbydogg]

p1epoppa, I added all of the codes in the title so others can find the video no matter which of the 4 codes they are getting. It was only reporting one cylinder on mine.

[@drchungj]

Got the P0300, P0302 and P0304 codes on a 2000 CR-V with rough idle. Did compression test and cylinders 1-3 were 140 psi, but cylinder 4 showed 90 psi, which I guess is on the verge of very bad. Low compression cylinder spark plug also showed more black soot than other 3 plugs. My low compression may be the cylinder ring instead. Valve clearances checked out on all four cylinders 2500 miles ago. Do you think low compression (~90psi) in one cylinder is enough to cause the engine codes and rough idle? I've yet to try new wires/plugs.

[@shelbydogg]

Just having lower compression in that cylinder tells you that it is not plugs or wires. If you pressurize that cylinder with compressed air at its TDC or BDC with both valves closed, you'll hear air coming out of the intake, muffler, crankcase or radiator. This will tell you which valve is bad, rings or head gasket.

[@drchungj]

Finally did a proper wet compression test on that low compression cylinder and I got 120 psi (was 90 for dry compression test). So, I'm thinking it's not the valves.

[@shelbydogg]

+FixPraySing go to auto parts store and buy a non-fouler that matches your plug thread size, screw in an air fitting to hook to an air hose to pressurize the cylinder.

[@shelbydogg]

Into it then pressurize that cylinder with an air compressor to listen for the leak. Compare with the good cylinders.

[@tocaplay]

r'nt_we_suppossed_not_to_compress_gun_the_crankshaft?

[@CNYCyberGuy]

Would have been a lot easier to adjust the valves with the head still off the car. Just put it on a couple chunks of 4x4 (or otherwise suspend it) and do your adjustments off the car. Easier to work with, and you don't have to worry about crankshaft position.

[@shelbydogg]

The final adjustments on the valves are done with the engine warmed up. The head has to be on the engine. You can do the initial adjustment with the head off of the engine.

[@hmongboy9161]

well this cause my timing to be off? cause i have all 5 codes on and my timings off now

[@shelbydogg]

I had another video where my civic timing belt jumped teeth because my tensioner's lock plate was turned and not locking the adjustment even though the bolt was tight. Timing is triggered by the cam and timing belt. Have you lined up or checked the dots or arrows?

[@hmongboy9161]

yea i redid it and i try useing the timing light to align the crankshaft but the crankshaft top dead center wouldnt align with the timing cover even when i move the distributor backwards and upwards the crank shaft tdc is way off from the timing cover ...i also have code p1768 and p1298 but idk if it will cause anything to the timing since its transmission problem only

[@hmongboy9161]

i did the short circuit to the plug on the passenger side while i was doing the timing

[@shelbydogg]

+User Name your problem is beyond my knowledge of Honda engines.

[@CNYCyberGuy]

The computer automatically adjusts to correct for variations in valve timing. Your problem is a mechanical one. The procedure is really simple. Align the crank marks being careful to make sure both keys are in the crank (one for the crank timing belt sprocket, one for the crank pulley). Then align the mark on the crank sprocket (not the pulley!) to the line on the block. Then adjust your camshafts to the top and lock them (requires a tool unless you're crafty). Then put your belt on leaving all the slack between the crank and intake pulley so the tensioner can take the slack up. Adjust your tensioner to factory spec, and your should be good. Make sure you manually turn the crank 4 times when you're done and line up all your marks again to double check your work. If you meet a point while turning where the crank won't go any further you've messed up and need to start over. Valve adjustment is independent of timing position, and since the computer adjusts for crank variations you should only need to reset the timing when the distributor assembly has been removed from the head.

[@abdelrahmanalomari588]

it sounds like you really know what you talking about . i am just wondering the purpose for making this video to show that you can do it or how to do it? i think you just show that you can do it ... so for me was watching video is wasting the time. Sorry but you did not any of the step you talked about

[@shelbydogg]

Many that viewed this were able to fix their own engine without me wasting time by showing steps that would be in any service manual. I suggest that you pay someone to do the repairs for you.

[@shelbydogg6251]

Jsingle 1922, it is still running very well and as reliable as a Honda can be. Lap your valve and look at the cut, it will look great.

[@shelbydogg6251]

Lisset, if you don't fix it soon, the catalytic converter gets lots of unburnt gas from that cylinder and could fail next. It could cost you more money the longer you wait. You need a good mechanic "friend" to help you get it fixed ASAP. Good luck

[@treygrant3649]

+ShelbyDogg I have 2001 5 spd passport with 100k its getting misfire from cylinder 3 p0301,Sometimes waiting at signal lite it will cut off, but will start back but hard too start, running at hight rate speed it never cuts off, I have drove this car from los angeles to vegas too times.How much will you charge me to fit it ..

[@shelbydogg]

+trey grant I'm out in Pacific, Missouri. For the price of you getting out here, you can find another 01 Passport to replace yours. Go to an Auto Zone or Oreilly Auto Parts and get a compression tester from their loan a tool program. Do a compression test on all your cylinders to check them. If they all test the same, you might just have a coil pack or driver out and have a simple fix. Start testing or have a car friend help you. Good Luck!

[@treygrant3649]

Hey: Thank you so much for the infomation

[@shelbydogg6251]

Joshua Jager, I don't know how to private message in KZbin. Send me one, then I'll reply back.