timthebiker

Hi everyone, I purchased yesterday a 1996 honda del sol vtec for 450 bucks, but it doesn't start lol. Its been sitting for 7 months and the girl who had it before could've afford to get it fixed. Its a cool little car with 156k miles on it, 5 speed. Well my question is she replaced the distributor and it had a spark about 2 months ago, still didn't start. So I replaced the distributor cap, the spark plugs and the wires, still no spark and no start of course. I think the new distributor is bad, b/c there is power going to it when the key is turned to the on position, about 12.56 volts dc so idk, I'm completely clueless on what else it could be. Also the fuel pump is good, b/c when i try to start it about three times you can smell fuel and the spark plugs become coated in fuel, so please any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Also, I'll be getting a new distributor this weekend so hopefully that helps unless someone can come up with a amazing idea on how to fix it. O other thing, the car ran great according to her about 7 months ago and then one day it just wouldnt start.

EJ8_Man

Check your fuses

Former User

Be sure to make subject specific thread titles -- edited.

timthebiker

All my fuses look good, just its weird how the distributor is getting power but not creating a spark, also sorry for not making a topic-specific title, my bad.

DeLSoLRo

take your starter over to autozone and get it checked out. before you start wasting money on it start with the free/simple fixes

Dreetje1989

is youre ignition oke?

NACvicSi

Ok this is what you do. Unbolt your bumper. Wrap it up really well with bubble wrap and tape. Take it to your local Greyhound station and have it shipped to me. Walla, problem fixed.

93delsolh22

there is two positions u can stap the distributer at they both will fire one the ignition timimg will be off. check firing order last but not least ignition control module if its not working it wont run they are 400 bucks for my gsr .make sure its getting .5 volts at the map sensor

timthebiker

Today I'll take the starter off and have one of the local auto places test it for me, again I appreciate everyones advise, except for shipping my front bumper but its whatever lol, thanks again.

timthebiker

Well, its not the starter and thanks to youtube, eric the car guy I was able to pinpoint the problem to the coil, because theres power going to it but no power coming out when tring to start the car, so I'll get a new coil from o Reily's today afterwork and give yall the update.

timthebiker

I have spark now but it still wont start so I pulled the valve cover off and idk for sure but the up position on the crank on the left side is in the 8 o clock position while the crank on the right, the up position is in the 12 o clock position, is this normal?

NACvicSi

No that's not right. You need to redo the timing belt. I would go ahead and replace the timing belt and water pump since you are in there and it sat for a long time. It's not a hard job and if you take your time you should be able to knock it out the first time in a couple of hours by yourself.

If you are doing all that check and replace the ps/ac belt also if need be. Since you have the valve cover off I would recommend replacing the valve cover gasket/spark plug tube seals. While you're doing that if your valve cover is messed up you could refinish that. Just do it first and by time you are finished with the other is should be dry. It sounds like a lot, but most of it is quick, cheap, and easy. Not to mention save you time later. Here's all the parts I'm talking about:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...1417602562____

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...1017572079____

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...1619805337____

NACvicSi

Oh and where are you located? Just sell me the car, I miss my Slo

DeLSoLRo

glad you found your source of the problem. You didnt mention what happenes when you tried to turn the car on so i advised a simple/free solution.

timthebiker

the car acts like it wants to start but just can't so after seeing the valve timing I was like well that makes sense, lol. But First off, how the heck does that happen and second did it cause any damage plus the timing belt looks good with no cracks, weird.

vartok

belt could have jumped or wasnt installed properly to begin with. also when you are doing your belt, since you said the dizzy hah been replaced, with the #1 piston at TDS (like it should be when doign the timeing belt) make sure the rotor in the dizzy is pointed to the #1 plug. after that, go ahead and check your spark timing with a timing light

timthebiker

IDk still doesnt start, I didnt check the dizzy so ill do that next but if that doesnt do it then idk, completely clueless maybe a new motor lol idk.

NACvicSi

Check the compression of the motor. Did you fix the timing?

timthebiker

I fixed the timing which was a bitch, but now I know how to do it now, I just reuse the same belt bc I dont wanna dump a bunch of money into something that doesn't run just yet, so once I can get the thing to run, but I'll replace the water pump, the timing belts as well as the other three belts and of course all the fluids, then once this vehicle gets running, I might look into a turbo kit for it, I wanna get back into the modding scene again, I quit due to a mazdaspeed 3 which was a complete waste of money, that motor is pure crap and the ecu is ****!!!!!

frankenghia

If the belt was off far enough you may have some bent valves......

NACvicSi

Makes sense. Just don't change your mind and not do it once you get it fixed or you might regret it. When I got my first Del Sol the timing belt snapped the next day. Luckily it didn't do any damage. I had just pulled into the parking space at work. 5min earlier and it would have been at 4k rpm on the interstate.

donmeca2020

dont worry about a turbo kit now, your main focus should be getting it started, if the car is not getting power, or no spark go ahead and check fuses, and electrical wiring, something might not be grounded right. as for the spark try changing out the plugs, wiring, and so fourth.

timthebiker

ok so I flipped the distributor 180 degrees and the car started and was running but only due to my foot holding the gas pedal all the way to the floor and it was running at about 2-300rpm if that, but it was running lol so I'm thinking now that the distributor timing is way off since I didn't mark anything to begin with and I just put it on, what do you all think? I will not be able to work on it anymore today due to school and gym time but tomorrow I'll have someone adjust the distributor very slightly while I start the car and keep it running, hopefully this helps, what do you all think?

timthebiker

the exhaust cam that moves the exhaust valves was a 1/4 off so think of it like exhaust cam, the up position is at the 8 o clock position and the intake cam up position is at the 11 o clock position, so I dont think it was off enough to bent the valves but it was off enough for it not to start, but idk yall are the expects not me, if adjusting the distributor doesn't work then the next step will be to remove the head and take a look at the valves and pistons.

NACvicSi

Just take the distributor and put it lined up in the center. It should run in that position just fine until you get a light on it.