///Mathew

Hey guys... got a friends car with a no start problem. Its a 95 Civic DX Automatic. It ran completely fine the night before, then the next morning it would not start. It cranks over but doesn't run.

First we checked spark. To be absolutely sure we got a little spark tester to make sure they spark is strong enough. We also replaced the plugs since they looked horrible.

Second we checked fuel. Pulled the line off the filter and we had fuel. To be 100% sure we pulled the rail and could see fuel coming out of the injectors.

Finally, we thought timing issue. Pulled the timing covers and the timing belt is dead on. No broken teeth or anything.

Compression is iffy. My friend did a compression test before I got there and said he got 50 psi across the board, but he had the throttle closed. We tried again with throttle open and got 90psi, but only checked one. Later, we decided to check again after all the other tests, and got 115psi on cyl 1, but we forgot to disconnect fuel and compression dropped to 30psi on other cylinders. I'm thinking we washed the cylinder walls with fuel.

So realistically ignoring the compression test, any ideas on what we're looking at here? We have fuel, spark, correct base timing. The engine doesn't cough and sputter like it wants to start, it just cranks over and over again.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

B_Swapped93

Just because the timing belt doesn't have any broken teeth etc. DOESN'T meant timing isn't off. Drop a 12'' 3/8th dr extension down the #1 plug well and spin the engine by hand(17mm on the crank pulley bolt) that's how you 100% know. next with the throttle close vs open you realistically gain maybe 20psi not enough to tip the scale(note this is when the engine is warm). 140psi per cyl is the service limit...you're below it, with a max variance of 25psi per cyl. No you wouldn't wash walls by not unplugging it, it takes quite a bit more before you drop even 20psi of compression. No CEL's ?

///Mathew

The timing marks were all in their correct spots, is it possible for the cam sprocket to spin on the cam? Is there not a woodruff key there? Is there anything else that could cause the timing to be off? I'll check to be sure tomorrow, but it seems unlikely.

I feel like the compression testing results should be thrown out, we did it so many times and got so many different results, there was a lot of fuel on the old plugs and we could see some in the cylinders, thats why i thought the walls may be washed.

Anyhow, if the compression is too low, wouldn't the car have given some sign that it was going to die? It was perfectly fine the night before and then the next morning it wouldn't start. Doesn't even try, it just cranks.

If low compression is the culprit, what are we looking at, head gasket? Seems odd for it to go so suddenly.

B_Swapped93

The thing is "IF" it jumped by a bit it could have bent valves, to a degree that's the only way it could "just go to ****", that's why I was suggesting the 100% method. I've had my civic off a few times and when I spun the engine by hand it all lined up on the out side but inside the piston was not a TDC even tho the cam said it was. For the woodruff key to just fall out it's virtually impossible unless you had the cam gear off so in short no.

no compression that low is either timing or bent/burnt valves, in witch case replace the valves or simply re-set the belt on the cam then re-do the comp test. Sing you're getting strange results I won't suggest a wet test just yet the other possibly shot rings.

In short there's no way you're running fine then all of a sudden you have 90psi of compression due to cylinder wash.