Tiffany1229

Maybe someone can help me...

I have a 1997 Honda Civic EX 2 Door Coup with a 1.6 D16Y8 motor. It has 152,000 miles on it. I just did a head swap and replaced the head gasket and used ARP head studs. It has a new fuel pump and spark plugs, etc. The problem is after we did the head swap I was having idling/stalling issues. I thought I finally got all of that sorted out Sunday after setting the ignition timing with a paperclip in the ECU wires. Sunday afternoon the car was fine, idling at 800 RPM and running fine. Monday afternoon I started the car and watched the idle jump to 1500 RPMs. I put it in reverse and and backed out of my parking space and it stalled. It started back up and stalled again. Now I can't get it to start at all. I've checked my fuses, nothing. It's getting fuel and spark. The battery and starter are fine and like I mentioned it's got a new fuel pump. Does anyone have any ideas on what to try or what could be wrong? I really need this car back. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm about to lose my mind.

Tiffany1229

Anyone??

p_expresss1

Sounds to me your timing belt if off a tooth or so very easy to do if it was running fine before you swaped the head then thats the only possible scenerio since you say its getting fuel and fire. Now is this the same head and intake or head off somethying else?

Tiffany1229

Thanks for your reply! I have checked and double checked my timing. It's dead on. The car was running fine Sunday and all the sudden Monday it died and now won't start. I've been reading some other posts and it's pointing to my igniter. I'm going to try to go out to a wreck yard tomorrow and see about getting another distributor and test it with that. This is another head, though. It was off a '00 Civic with 106 K on it. The engine had thrown a rod and the guy sold it to me for a good price. I have the original intake manifold, though.

p_expresss1

That is a good possibility ive seen honda distributors do some crazy things

Kohen

take your distributor cap off and wipe the inside.
if there was moisture inside that could be your problem.
i'm sure this is not the only thing, if this is one.

Tiffany1229

Update : I tried a different distributor today and nada. The car still won't start. I'm on the verge of flooding it because we have been trying to start it too much. I don't understand how the timing could be off but when I checked it Sunday it was spot on. I don't understand how or why it could have / would have slipped. Does anyone have any other ideas? I'm so close to giving up.

Tiffany1229

Update # 2

I just wanted to update this again for anyone who may have this issue in the future. Since I couldn't get the car started and I can't do much more than I had already done on it here at my apartment complex, I had to have it towed this morning to my parents house. My Dad has been looking at it today and **somehow** the timing slipped a little. He's working on putting it back together now. The car has started, and is running. Thanks for everyone's help. I appreciate it.