pormach1@gmail.

Hey guys I have a 97 civic coupe dx 5 speed, bone stock. has about 241k miles on it. Always runs pretty good until a couple weeks ago. I was scraping the windows and letting it warm up in the morning and it just shut off, no stuttering or smoke. Haven't been able to start it back up since. I re checked the timing, changed the cap and rotor, got a new dizzy..still didn't start, (returned it and still have the old one with new cap and rotor installed), new starter, spark plugs, plug wires, replaced ignition coil fuse (wasn't blown just old), ecu fuse is good, no smell from ecu. charged the battery. I checked spark with a spark plug tester and all 4 is getting spark, you can smell fuel, you can hear the fuel pump prime too. Any suggestions, any help would be GREATLY appreciated, thanks guys!

92civicdxhatch

Have you verified fuel is reaching the fuel pump sock?

Dumb question but I personally know a member on here who went through hell trying to fix his car, only to find out it was out of gas....

pormach1@gmail.

Fuel pump sock? It has 3/4 of a tank and I even put couple gallons of gas in it just to be sure the gas gauge was wrong. When i pull the plugs you can smell gas on them.

92civicdxhatch

This guy too had a no start with fuel on the plugs.. But if you put a few gallons in it, and it isn't sitting straight uphill, your prolly fine.

Verified the timing belt is there and not broken? Manual timing marks line up on top dead center?

Start at the beginning and reverify everything. Others will chime in soon too. So keep checking back, and do it every step. Even if you think it's worthless or you KNOW you already did it. Just do it again.. Ok

92civicdxhatch

Pull the cel codes and post them here as well...

pormach1@gmail.

That's what I was wondering, when I'm cranking it. There's no engine light just the battery light. If there's no engine light, could i still pull codes? If so, I'll probably get a cheap obd2 scanner.

delsolintegra

Spray some starting fluid in the throttle body to see if you can get some ignition.

Check compression and the timing belt.

pormach1@gmail.

Just regular starting fluid as in the stuff you use for a bbq?

delsolintegra

No. Spray can of quick start, get from Walmart or auto parts store.

92civicdxhatch

Yes you can still pull codes with the engine off. Also try to get a can of starting fluid and see it if will start.

pormach1@gmail.

Hey guys, I tried the starting fluid and no start. I will buy a cheap obd2 scanner today and see if I can pull any codes from it. I hope so, It would be at least getting me somewhere. I wish it was something as easy as the fuel pump, but you can hear that priming perfectly loud. It's getting pretty frustrating, but I know from experience getting frustrated makes it harder so I'm trying to keep a level head about it. Anymore advice I would greatly appreciate guys!

delsolintegra

You said you're getting a good spark so if you removed all the spark plugs and shot some starter fluid in each cylinder. Than put all the spark plugs back in and tried to start it. If you don't hear any cylinder try to fire than I would say that you have no compression. At 240K miles that original head gasket may be bad.

If you had a compression gauge you could check your cylinder compression.

You need spark, fuel, timing and compression to get it to start.

The spark plug wires are on in the correct order, right? 1,3,4,2 clockwise around the distributor cap. Number one is the driver's side of the car.

pormach1@gmail.

Hmm, I will try shooting some starter fluid in each cylinder. Do I spray for 3 seconds in each cylinder? What if it starts? What does that mean? Yea I checked the firing order, all good. I guess I could check the ohms on the ignition coil inside the dizzy but since the car didn't start with the new dizzy I didn't think it was the coil. But with a bad head gasket, wouldn't that make the car stutter and blow out smoke?

JarvisW

Before doing the starter fluid down the holes, I'd get an HEI and check the spark color, if there is any.

And pulling codes may help, but sometimes they don't set if its not running, but try anyway.

You're on the right track, just follow the basics first.

pormach1@gmail.

I've always thought no compression or low would show smoke, stuttering and rough idle. When it ran, it ran pretty smooth, had ticking like it needed a valve adjustment but that's it. No smoke and it ran pretty smooth, it ran normal when it randomly shut off.

pormach1@gmail.

There were some mornings where it would be a little lazy to start but I think that was from the old distributor cap because the point was pretty worn.

pormach1@gmail.

I tested each cylinder for spark using a regular tester with the blinking light and each one blinked. I can try it again

JarvisW

pormach1@gmail.

Oh OK, I'll do that. And when I first checked the timing. It was about an inch off. I re checked it twice and lined it up with the middle mark of the three and the tdc mark where it is in pictures online and in the Haynes manual

doson208

Just wow. Ok stop screwing around with spark color go buy or rent a compression tester and post the results. If you have fuel and spark then hmmmmm maybe you should check compression.

Why are you checking your timing so much? If it was running and now its not and you didnt mess with the timing, its probably not the timing, UNLESS your timing belt is broke. If your belt is broke your dizzy is not spinning and you have no spark which means you are again wasting time.

Check your compression post results, take your cap off and watch your dizzy spin.

jmihalchik

Not Trying to hijack your post, i am having the same issue with a 93, replaced distribuitor, have fuel pressure, injectors spray, cam timing dead on, compression is 100 across all 4, spark is good at all cylinders. tested grounds at ecu, tested injectors at ecu all good. when cranking seems like not even a POOF of ignition. Where do i go from here?

delsolintegra

What's the color of the spark plugs?

After a bit of cranking pull the spark plugs are they Wet with fuel?
Will the engine start when it is cold and just not when it is warm?

Is the gas in the tank fresh? No moisture or condensation?

pormach1@gmail.

Hey sorry guys, been pretty busy. She's all up and running now, idles so smooth it's hard to tell it is running. Figured out it was most likely a bad dizzy and new plugs that were covered with fuel from cranking it so much. Thank you guys for all the input, really appreciate it! Have a nice day.

jmihalchik

thats the odd thing the plugs are not wet, though the injectors are spraying fuel pressure is at 42 while cranking (ive pulled the injecttion rail off to watch them spray.gas is full and about a month old.

jmihalchik

i pulled in the intake manifold back, removed valve cover, cam timing is spot on the injectors are spraying in off patterns, valves closed, sometimes not at all. just all over the place, i just threw on a new distributor also with same exact symptoms.