travbrack

Just like the topic says:

Ran out of gas, so I put a couple gallons in and when I can get it to start now it chugs like crazy and blows tons of smoke out the tailpipe. I tried it like 5 different times and it's not showing any signs of improving. I stomp the gas pedal and all it does is chug harder and blow more smoke.

Anything else I can try besides replacing the fuel pump or am I screwed?

Thanks

mrraff

You probably need to rebuild the carburetor.. I had this same car, it was great but you may as well keep a rebuild kit handy at all times, you'll need it... Pop the air cleaner off with it running and check and see if it's just dumping gas down the venturis... The fuel pump is under the the car on the driver's side just in front of the rear wheel, but it sounds like it's working if it's chugging smoke like that. It just ticks, it doesn't hum like a fuel injection style pump...

2ndGenGuy

Are you absolutely sure you ran out of gas and something else didn't happen? These cars have a 16 gallon tank. I think it's more likely something else broke, and that's why you were at the side of the road. Run a compression test and see if you didn't blow a head gasket. It's the most common problem on the EK1 and other early Honda motors.

Question is what color is the smoke? Do you have water in your oil or any weird brown or green oil? Is there any oil in the radiator? These are things I would check out first.

Formula

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 2ndGenGuy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Are you absolutely sure you ran out of gas and something else didn't happen? These cars have a 16 gallon tank. I think it's more likely something else broke, and that's why you were at the side of the road. Run a compression test and see if you didn't blow a head gasket. It's the most common problem on the EK1 and other early Honda motors.

Question is what color is the smoke? Do you have water in your oil or any weird brown or green oil? Is there any oil in the radiator? These are things I would check out first. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, sounds like it could be the head gasket.

When I had my 82' Civic it had some of the same symptoms due to a blown head gasket. If it blows white smoke out then I would really check out the head gasket. If its not the head gasket and it was due to it running out of gas then maybe the fuel pump, fuel lines, and carb could have trash in them due to the gas tank having trash at the bottom of it and it got in the lines when the tank ran dry.

travbrack

Thanks for your help everyone.


Since the car's stopped running I have:
Put in new gas
changed the fuel filter
put in new spark plugs
tried putting a little gas in the top of the carburetor while cranking
Tried to hunt vacuum leaks unsuccessfully

I now know that fuel is getting to the carb by checking the fuel line after trying to start it.

It seems like every time I start it the engine floods. If it's been over an hour the engine will fire but it boggs down really bad and eventually dies after about 2 minutes. I can rev the engine but it just sounds like a dying wild animal and the car shakes violently as well.

I think it's flooding the engine because after the car dies the engine bay smells badly of unburnt fuel and also my oil level is way up and smells like gas. Seems like it's just dumping fuel into the engine. I don't think it's the head gasket because there's no coolant in my oil at least that I can detect. I gave it a pretty good sniffy sniff and maybe the gas is just overpowering the coolant smell, but there's no green tinge to it, it's just brown.

I will check for weak spark, do a compression test.... but it sounds like the general consensus is that if the head gasket isn't blown, then the carb is just dumping fuel?

This is frustrating because the few days I had the car before this happened, it ran perfectly fine except the high idle (2K RPM). Went on the freeway and everything.

Thanks again
Travis

travbrack

Looks like the front subframe snapped in half....

RIP

2ndGenGuy

That sucks man. Live in a rusty area or something?

On that sad note, are you selling any parts off of it? I know a guy with an 83, might need a few things.