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1991 Honda Civic won't start
Was highway driving the car yesturday and it was shaking a little. At low speeds it was shaking alot. Thankfully got it home but when I went to restart it 10 minutes later it wouldn't start. It is cranking but won't catch.
I can hear the fuel pump do it's job so I checked for spark and got nothing. looked in the distributer and found the small part that sticks from the d. cap into the ignition coil was all gone so I put a new cap on, no change )I recently replace the ignition in the distributer too). Then I put new wires and no change. (well, used parts but different ones). My Dad checked the compression a few weeks ago and they were around 48, 50, 48, 52 or something like that. They were all close in number anyway. I changed out the main relay, but still not starting. Don't know what else to check. Any ideas? |
Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
compression numbers look horrible
:thud: |
Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
really, id be surprised if your car even ran with the numbers that low.. that thing should have, i think, at LEAST 150 across the board, if im not mistaken.. pretty much ANYTHING that low is allllll bad....
did you block open the throttle body when you did the compression test? the numbers would be low like that if you did the test wrong.. |
Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
Exactly what do you mean by "block open the throttle body".
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Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
well, when you run a compression test, you need to have the throttle WIDE open, to get the most air you can.. when you are reading it, you will see the pressure build.. that is air coming in through the intake manifold, and compressing.. less air, less PSI..
So when you do it, if you have the throttle closed, or have your exhaust plugged up for whatever reason, you wont get the TRUE reading from it, because you arent giving it the air its supposed to have.. PS.. ALWAYS disable the fuel system and spark system when you do it.. |
Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
A closed throttle body will not make it give that low of numbers.
Either way it sounds like the timing belt jumped a few teeth. To "disable" the fuel and ignition system just pull the "Hazard" and "ECU" fuses that are located under the hood. |
Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
Originally Posted by N3va3vaSatisfi3d
(Post 40887966)
A closed throttle body will not make it give that low of numbers.
Either way it sounds like the timing belt jumped a few teeth. To "disable" the fuel and ignition system just pull the "Hazard" and "ECU" fuses that are located under the hood. but yeah.. thats how you disable it.. lol.. very easy, but you just dont want fuel in the combustion chamber, and of course, sparking plugs just lying around is not kosher either... hahaha check your cam timing... if it did jump timing, you need to figure out WHY.. like, did the tensioner fail and give the belt slack? did it shave a tooth off the belt? etc etc etc |
Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
can you tell me why you think the timing belt is the cause?
I looked at the belts and they llok ok but Im not sure what to look for. |
Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
well, the timing belt is sitting behind a cover on the front (driver side) of the engine.. and it doesnt have to be TOTALLY loose right now to jump timing.. just enough is all it takes..
you would need to pull those covers off and check the cam timing at TDC.. if its not lined up, then you know it skipped teeth.. set the timing back, and try it out.. lol |
Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
If its not too much trouble could you describe how to do that for me? Or perhaps point me to a webpage that can give the instructions?
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Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
I just suggested to my dad the timing belt problem and he said the problem is that the car is not getting power. There is no spark and this wouldnt have anything to do with the belt...
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Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
No spark wouldn't cause the engine to have that low of compression...
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Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
sure, but it was running before with the low compression so i think the lack of spark is the first problem I need to worry about. What could be causing no spark?
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Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
BAD: coil, ignition module, ground, ecu, fuse/s, wires, cap/rotor, ect, ect.... There are a lot of things that could cause that.
Check to see if you are getting power at the coil first then go from there. |
Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
ok, gonna check for power at the coil tonight. I'll let you know how that goes. I put in a used ignition coil a couple months ago that I bought from a sketchy guy so it was probably ready to die and that would explain why the contact from the cap to the igntion coil was all destroyed.
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Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
can someone give me the instructions for checking for power at the ignition coil? I looked it up online and it looks like I have to actually open up the brass casing the coil is in.
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Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
ok, I tested them and got 12 volts, so there is power going to the coil. Whats next?
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Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
Check the wires at the distributor plugs. If they all seem good (or you can actually test them with continuity), then I would look at the ignition module. If you take it out then an auto parts store can test it for you. Double check all your fuses and make sure the ECU's "red light" flashes once when you turn the key to position two.
Since you have power to the coil then I would lean more towards the ignition module or faulty wiring. |
Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
just curious but how does the hazard fuse interupt the fuel and ignition. My car is running for like 5 minutes and dying b/c I am losing spark. When you fix it let me know what it was.
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Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
Originally Posted by lil_wilde
(Post 40887043)
Was highway driving the car yesturday and it was shaking a little. At low speeds it was shaking alot. Thankfully got it home but when I went to restart it 10 minutes later it wouldn't start. It is cranking but won't catch.
I can hear the fuel pump do it's job so I checked for spark and got nothing. looked in the distributer and found the small part that sticks from the d. cap into the ignition coil was all gone so I put a new cap on, no change )I recently replace the ignition in the distributer too). Then I put new wires and no change. (well, used parts but different ones). My Dad checked the compression a few weeks ago and they were around 48, 50, 48, 52 or something like that. They were all close in number anyway. I changed out the main relay, but still not starting. Don't know what else to check. Any ideas? |
Re: 1991 Honda Civic won't start
ok, so I got it started by replacing the ignitor and ignition coil.
Its still shaking when I drive though, especially when waiting at a light, and it seem to be accelerating as efficiently either. |
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