Leady

Stopped over a buddies who just finished a timing belt on a 99 ex d16y8.
He also changed all the gaskets on the intake manifold and throttle body. Cleaned the throttle body out as well. He did a cap and rotor too. Everything looks like it's plugged in like it should I looked it all over.

After getting it back together it will not start for him. We have fuel, spark, everything is lined up correctly as far as the mechanical timing goes, but it will not start.

Tried starting fluid with no luck even though we are getting spark. It wouldn't even fire doing that.

Double and triple checked the mechanical timing and it is dead on. The rotor button points to #1 cylinder when it is at TDC for that cylinder so the ignition timing is on as well. All marks line up like they should.

Crank position sensor is plugged in as it should be.


Gets spark but the plugs are soaked with gas. The car obviously had a driveability issue whenever he brought it in because the intake manifold gasket had a huge leak. But it ran fine otherwise just an occasional jerking because of the leak. An occasional hard start too but it has all but ceased to start.

Another thing to mention for what it's worth is that when he was turning the distributor to try and get it to start it shocked his hand. The valve cover ground and the tranny ground are the only two I can see, but they both were connected and seemed ok.

Any ideas?

Leady

Thinking some weak spark but why outta nowhere

mechanix619

Does the engine turn over?

Start from square one. If it doesn't crank then it's probably something starter related. If it cranks then it's spark or fuel.

fabioso

are you sure the bottom crank is lined up with the top end? The engine won't start if it's off a few teeth. I would do a valve adjustment too.

slowDB7

Check the grounds on the thermostat housing too, other then that it sounds like timing is off.... Did he put tension on the tensioner correctly, maybe the belt was loose and jumped some teeth when he tryed starting it?

Leady

I wasn't there when he did the job so the only gauge I had to go by was the timing mark on the lower cover and the pulley. It cranks but doesn't fire. He said it started and ran for 3 seconds today when he tried then wouldn't after that so I'm guessing distributor

TKATS_EF

Sounds like it could be a pinched wire or and issue with the crank sensor. Especially if it ran for a few seconds and died...it would be worth checking out. if it ran for a bit then the spark and timing are ok...at least to make it run. a bad crank sensor will just make the engine crank over and over...and not start. check the connector and wires of the crank sensor and also the teeth on the crank cog gear.

HondaPartsHero

Test the coil