I have a crx with 172000 miles on it. Here's the background.I got the crx about a year ago and have maintained the car well ( full sythetic oil, premium gas, fuel injector cleaner, c/a intake, headers). The problem started after I was flushing my coolant, cleaning the throtle body, and degreasing the engine. The car was running fine in the driveway but a quarter mile out and the car died. I couldn't get it to start, so I pulled the spark plugs, and what do I find? Cylinders 2 and 4 had oil on the spark plugs. I clean them of and put them back and try and start the car again. The starter was working fine and it wanted to turn over but then there was this loud pop coming from the intake manifold. So I push the car back to the driveway and get a ride to the parts store to get a valve cover gasket, a head gasket, valve stem seals ( to fix the oil problem), spark plugs and wires, and a new main relay ( I needed one because my fuel pump has been priming intermittantly). So after doing the whole engine tear down and rebuild (heads, valve train, timing, main relay), with all new rubber, the engine still won't start and is still sneezing gas out the mouth of the throttle body. I checked the compression(120-130), spark, and fuel injectors and all appeared normal. I guess I set the timing right but don't know for sure because the engine won't roll over but the pop was there before I took the engine apart. None of my mechanic friends have beenany help. Please someone have an idea about what is causing this crazy problem!

So I got the car started but now it won't hold an idle and once the check engine light comes on the engine won't rev past 3500... the ecu error code is 4 (crankshaft position sensor) is my ecu screwed? The car still pops from somekind of back pressure in the intake. I checked for vacuum leaks but found nothing. I am losing hope for this car...

Error code 4 means one of your distributor sensors is shot. You should get another dizzy and have someone time your engine.

It sounds like you do a lot of unnescessary maintenance.

The main problem seems to be a result of removing the throttle body and cleaning the engine. An older engine that has much dirt does not like to be cleaned. It is hard on the wiring (water, grease and dirt short sensors, water pressure and mechanical force from cleaning brushes loosen wiring).

Oily plugs and raw gas seem to indicate ignition problems. I would start by checking for spark. Next, locate that faulty sensor and replace it.

You may even want to remove the fuse in the ECM to run the engine without any feedback.

How do I remove the ecu fuse so that the engine runs but with no feed back. When I take out the fuse the motor dies.. oh and the timing is right on, tooth for tooth(checked with gun)