my brother picked up a 95 civic EX 1.6L manual trans about 2 months ago.

he doesnt have his license yet, but he bought the car for 800 bucks running with good paint.

i replaced the battery because it was dead
i put 5 gallons of gas into the tank because it was empty

the car will turn over fine, but will not start up.
all of the accessories work fine, stereo, lights, etc.

any thoughts? car has not been driven in a while but has started fine and runs for 5-10 minutes periodically. however this stopped two weeks ago when the battery died after a snowstorm and it wouldnt hold a charge.

any thoughts?

no CELs
battery light blinks when turning over,
everything else appears normal/.

just tried it again

the OIL, ABS, Battery, and Brake lights are on.

car turns over like a champ. will not fire.
the fuel pump can be heard when i turn it on. it primes and stops til i turn the car over.

no leaks under the car. or in the engine bay.

fuel pump clogged or maybe fuel lines froze.since the tank was run empty and you said it started after a storm.maybe there was a lil water in the bottom of the tank and it froze the lines.use gas line antirfreeze

would the pump still prime with frozen lines? thats a good thought though ill look into it.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's right.. The pump will still prime, but if the lines are frozen (probably), the gas isn't going anywheres. Go out and get some gas line antifreeze. Dump it in the tank and prime it a dozen times are so, by turning the key on and off. Then try to start it.

Quote:

Watching you parade around my bedroom in a thong was a little like watching sea lions mate.

Crack the fuel line and see if its getting fuel. Also pull a spark plug and hold it to a ground and see if you're getting spark. Go from there.

i will try all of these ideas in the morning. ill let you know by afternoon whether or not the car runs. i hope it does.

i have eliminated most serious failures due to the fact it has just bee sitting. and how it ran strong before.

Its probably the distributor cap.

DO a search under google or something, theres some pages that describe a common problem w/ these cars.. Theres several T/S steps.

the first thought did not work.

i checked the spark plugs and ignition system. spark plugs were soaked with gasoline, so i cleaned them off, replaced the wires, regapped the plugs and im going right now to get a new distributor cap/rotor to replace. ill let you know how it works.

if the plugs were soaked, its not a fuel issue, unless an injector is hanging open. still need to check for spark.



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Hamster is dead
replace with new hampster

replaced distributor and cap. no change.

it started to rain and the idea of electricity and water didnt make me feel to well. so i will check for a spark tomorrow morning.

thus far.

replaced:
battery
rotor
distributor cap
added fuel, and fuel line anti freeze
jogged ECU for codes, none present
cleaned plugs and regapped.

about the cars current state:
turns over, rotor rotates where appropriate
gas noticed on spark plugs before cleaning
all accessories work
all fluids were checked and they are "good enough"

thoughts?
will check for a spark tomorrow, if that is the problem what needs replaced? plugs/wires and?

Did you do a search for Civic won't start...??

Theres alot of problems people have w/ a "main relay" not functioning properly, & how to test it.

my old one did the same thing. had gas, would crank, all electrical would work, etc etc... turned out to be the ignition coil. I think it was like $50 at autozone or something, took like 5 min to put it in after I worked on it for 2 days

ignition coils go like crazy an civics

IGNITION COIL!? GAHHHHH! thanks for the tips. ill check for a spark and probably end up replacing the following tomorrow

spark plugs and wires, ignition coil, ICM.

snowed all day long today and my car took a crap on me. ill get back to the honda tomorrow.

Yea, thats what happen to my integra. Ignition coil went out on me. On my B18 it was like 70 bucks and real easy to change. Did you change the plugs or plug wires? Is is possible you mixed the firing order up?

i double checked the firing order and where the plugs go, so that should be 100% correct. i will try for spark tomorrow seeing as i have two cars to work on, and i need to get parts for my car with the honda. haha

themarin8r wrote:Hamster is dead
replace with new hampster

probably, the funniest thing ive heard in a long time!

no spark. from any of the cylinders.

course of action:

new plugs
new wires
Distributor?

have someone crank the engine, while you look around the wires, down the plug tubes, everywhere for arcing. if that doesnt show anything test for power at each with a test light.

i'm still puttin my money on ignition coil

Spitfire2332 wrote:i'm still puttin my money on ignition coil

Yea i'd put a lot on that. Search online how to test the coil. Its pretty simple to test.

Rabbit(AKA RedAssassin) wrote:

Spitfire2332 wrote:i'm still puttin my money on ignition coil

Yea i'd put a lot on that. Search online how to test the coil. Its pretty simple to test.

gas soaked plugs? no spark to any plug? smart money says coil.


this is why you do the initial three tests: fuel/spark/compression. if you'd taken the five minutes to do these tests on the first day, you car would have been running in an hour (factoring in a 40 minute trip to the parts store.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Wednesday, November 26, 2008 3:05 PM


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