Update: plugs are gapped and in the car, the sputtering is not as bad, but still there. Also the idle has become more erratic, definitely jumps suddenly about 400rpms every few seconds or so. The #4 cylinder still fails to operate, the wire-pulling test showed no change in engine performance when i pulled it. I also noticed that the #4 wire would spark whenever it contacted the spark plug chamber through the rubber sleeve? I'm thinking change ignition wires maybe or is that normal? I'm gonna take the cap off the distributor cap and inspect that. Also 2 of the metal contact tubes inside the wires came out when I pulled them off. I tried to be gentle but I had to wiggle them alot to get them out.

 

Get new wires and try not to totally cheap out on them. The oil leaking into the plug holes is very often from the lower cam tower o-rings, as seen here (#19):



They're a much more labor intensive problem to solve. Mine leak but I'd rather just clean out the holes every few oil changes when I'm checking the plugs anyways. Not worth the labor if you ask me.

 

Ya that looks like a repair completely out of my league. I'll continue to repair this vehicle until something internally goes out. If the head gasket ever blows the car will not be worth sending to a shop so I'll wait until then to get some experience disecting the engine. Won't have anything to lose then, if I can't fix it the car's going to the junk yard anyway. Alright I'm off to get some new wires, mid-grade, no cheapo wires. Thx for the help hopefully thiis fixes it.

Replacing those o-rings does that require removing all the valve springs, cam shaft, etc?

 

I think you can get away with leaving the cam in place, but as you can see the towers have to be unbolted.

 

Replaced ignition wires with an AC Delco product. It was mid-way priced, i'm assuming it was a midgrade wire. The lip that seats around the spark plug chamber fit much better than the previous wires btw, seals the chamber much better so I'm glad I did it. Misfiring seems to have stopped. I took it for a spin around the neighborhood and didn't get any sputtering or vibration. My idle is still really low but that's not a recent thing, it has always been really low especially when idling it reverse. other than adjusting the throttle cable, what would I look for in order to even out the idle?

Thank god the misfire fix was something simple. I put a dialectric boot grease on all 4 spark plugs ends and inside the wire boots. It's supposed to help lock out moisture and prevent the boots from sticking which for a dollar i figured it couldn't hurt. I appreciate all the help Matt and I'm very happy it was a simply fix.

I'm gonna agree with you on the tower o-rings I'ma have to just clean out the chambers every now and then. F that. LOL

 

Good idea about the grease.

There is an idle screw but for the time being I would leave it alone. Does it idle low both when cold and after warming up, or only one or the other? The idle air control (IAC) and fast idle thermal valve (FITV) could both likely use a good cleaning and possibly adjustment on the FITV. I assume your check engine light isn't on? Here you can see the IAC (#15) and FITV (#8):



Both have coolant lines attached to them, but generally you can leave them attached and clean them up without disconnecting the lines. The FITV doesn't necessarily have to come off. If you take the top cap off (2 screws) you will find a nylon (or some kind of plastic) "doughnut" screwed down inside. The doughnut can unscrew itself and cause idle problems (mine unscrewed itself a bit and was causing my idle to lope up and down). I take it out and clean out the FITV with some carb cleaner, then put a little medium/low strength loctite on the threads and then screw it back down. If you unbolt the IAC there is a little screen that can get plugged up and mess with your idle as well. Use some carb cleaner and an old toothbrush to clean the screen. I also spray out the inside cavity liberally with carb cleaner.

Try that out and see if it brings your idle up to a normal speed, ~750rpm.

 

The idle is low only at operating temperature. Upon initial start up after being cold the engine runs at approximately 1500 rpms, then slowly reduces to about 400-500rpms consistently at operating temp. Upon the resistence provided by the transmission it drops further to 300ish in D and a really low 200 in R. I'll take some time to clean those two items out soon and see what happens. Thx.

 

Now way it's idling at 200rpm, so maybe some tach. inaccuracy is to blame there. As for the oil in the plug wells, if it was my car (I'm lucky to have a VTEC-equipped model so it's not an issue) I would probably try a seal conditioner of some sort to see if it helped, as I wouldn't want to go to the trouble of replacing those either unless you have no choice - although replacing them really would be the best solution possible if you had the time/money. If it was due for a timing belt replacement, I'd have them add those donuts/o-rings to the menu.

 

The tach on a 92 accord doesn't start at 0, so you have to read backwards from the 1000rpm mark (I think it goes down to maybe 400?).