Crowinghen

Hi All!
I came here looking for some help with my daughter's 1990 Civic Lx.
I'll try to make this concise.
Saturday night- engine oil light comes on, (or so she says.. could have been the CEL, because she's not real savvy this way)so she adds oil ( the oil light does sometimes come on every once in a while if she has neglected to check the oil
) She adds oil. continues to drive. 40 minutes later on the freeway the car dies and can't be re-started. Car towed home, where first thing we do is check the dipstick. It isn't even in the tube! So we put it in the tube, and there's too much oil!
Drain and replace oil, change out spark plugs. will not start. Check the ECU for codes, it is flashing a 1 code.
So we replace oxygen sensor. car won't start. Look at the book, and for o2 code it says to check fuel volume, supposed to get 7.8 or so ounces of fuel in 10 seconds. Well, we get 6 ounces or so, but it doesn't seem that far off to keep it from running.
All 4 plugs are sparking white hot. Car cranks but won't turn over. Can hear fuel pump prime .. so does that rule out the igniter and relay?
Hubby's checking compression tonight.. but really could use some advice here! I did call the mechanic to see if they could look at it later this week if we can't figure it out, he said that to him it seems like the reason it won't start is the reason it died and the oil issue is probably not related.
Thanks in advance, I appreciate any help!

Susie

Crowinghen

oh and btw the oil we drained was just oil not whipped or abnormal in any way.

jdm_rb20

Did it smoke before it died on the freeway? If so, pull the sparkplug and look for oil on them. The person in the link below had too much oil in their car.

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-crx-ef-civic-1988-1991-3/help-may-have-ruined-my-engine-3141891/

Crowinghen

don't know about smoking-- we changed the plugs as listed above...
compression test results
0 60 130 80

90 Civic

Your compression tells the story. You have a blown head gasket, burnt, valves or rings collapsed. You did check the compression with all the plugs out & you turn it over at least 4 revolution per hole?
Take an oil can & squirt some oil in each hole & recheck compression. If it comes up then your issue is rings, If not then it is upper end. In which case your most likely going to have to remove the head. Your compression should be around 100-130 across the board. About a 10-15% difference is acceptable as a rule. After rechecking compression post the numbers & I'll try to further help you.

Crowinghen

thanks I will re-post tomorrow evening or so-- Hubby and I work opposite shifts so I will relay this to him and he can check that tomorrow-- thanks!

90 Civic

I'll check back & see what & If I can help you further.

hondrta

iTrader: (1)

Wow. Yea thats why it won't start!
Im in for the update to see what it is.

Son2BEHO

I'm going to guess bad rings valves don't go bad usually unless timing belt broke/slipped but do the oil test id like to know what it is too

Crowinghen

Hubby will do this test this afternoon...
Thank you!

Crowinghen

I guess after talking with my daughter and the local japanese engine supplier, he's going to install a foreign engine...
He's done that before for his Subaru Justy and had great success, so I guess we're off on another adventure!
Does anyone have the service repair manuals that they would like to sell? Or anything in particular we should be aware of?
thanks!!
Susie

90 Civic

That is probably the smart thing to do. Just buy a good used engine & every engine those Foreign engine suppliers I have ever bought were great. Most are low mileage should come with a warranty. In Japan because of smog they can only run a car so many miles & have to buy a new one. That is where all these engines come from.
Good move.

Crowinghen

Thank you for the affirmation!
we have had great experiences with Foreign engines in Lynnwood, wa. The engine will be here tomorrow!
Do you know of any good websites or threads to help us along?
thanks so much!
susie

Crowinghen

I meant to say that my husband will be doing the swap, he has had 8 good years with the japanese engine that he installed in his Justy.

Crowinghen

Bumping this backup--
hubby finished the engine swap yesterday- ran fine, no issues.. ran it about 45 minutes all is well.
drove it today, all good... but on the way home it just died again... no start again
I'm wondering if it's still the problem that originally made the car die... obviously the compression was bad so the engine needed attention.
he replaced a boatload of parts, timing belt, fuel filter, pvc valve, etc
anyone have any ideas?
he may juist tow it to the mechanic...I don't know I'm at work...
anyone have any ideas?
thanks!

ED3 SEDAN-GSR

Reset the ecu again and see if it starts. Thats what its sounding like to me

Crowinghen

thanks-
what is the procedure to reset the ecu?
thanks

Crowinghen

It ended up being the coil- now it runs like a charm!!
thanks everyone