OldSkoolDa91

ok, so i hate to do this. i know people post all the time about cars not starting and now i have to do the same. i have searched but have not found what i needed. and my problem comes in two! both of my cars will not start. both sound the same way. wtf?!

car number 1...

94 civic ex
b18b1
freshly rebuilt (about 3-4k miles since rebuild. done by me as well)
stock p75 obd1 ecu
no modifications to the ignition

car number 2

90 hatch
b18b1
stock p74 obd0 ecu
no modifications to the ignition

ok, so here's the story...
i had to change cam seals in my hatch the other week. i decided while i was doing that, i'd just take my crower cams out of my coupe and put them in the hatch. simple enough. well, as i was taking the cams out of the coupe, some of my cam bolts snapped. so i just finished working on the hatch and left the coupe sit inside my garage where it'd stay dry. so i was driving the hatch and all was well until we got the first snow storm last weekend. went out on sunday night to go to the store, car wouldn't start. popped hood, engine bay was full of snow i did not have time to mess with it. had a friend pick me up that i work with and then stayed at his house all week so i had a way to work everyday. got home friday night after work. decided yesterday i would work on getting my coupe back together. got the bolts out that i broke, put stock cams back in, set timing, put in new plugs (set gap correctly), made sure everything was completely back together. go to start car and nothing. cranks but no start.

so, in the coupe i have fuel and spark for sure. but when i crank it, it sounds like there is no compression and it does not even try to fire. no spit no sputter no back fire no nothing!

in the hatch, i have not checked it as extensively yet. but, i know i have fuel. have not gotten to check for spark yet. same thing as my coupe though, try to start it and nothing. it cranks, sounds like no compression. no spit no sputter no nothing!

i'm stumped. i can not figure out why/how BOTH of my cars are doing the same thing at the same time after both were running fine. one was taken apart and put back together. the other i was driving every day til it snowed.

someone please HELP!!! i do not know when i'll get to work on them again as i will have to stay at my friends again this week for work, but i need ideas of what to look for in the mean time. thanks in advance

OldSkoolDa91

anyone? any input at all?? seriously going nuts here. bout to just part out and sell both cars

Funanin

well if it sounds like there is no compression, maybe there isnt. Im not saying you didnt install the cams right or time it right but if they are off, that would cause this. Go grab a compression tester at a hardware store and see whats up.

Then thats one down, 3 to go. Next is an easy one, air. just double check that the exhaust systems arent clogged up at all with snow or anything and with the valve cover off turn the motor over by hand to see that all the valves appear to be openning and closing properly. And obviously make sure nothing is blocking or clogging the intake (duh).

Next is spark. while ur at the hardware store see if they have an inline spark tester. If they dont, its ok there are other ways to test for spark. Pull ur dizzy cap and make sure the rotor is good and that it spins when you turn the motor over by hand. Also take a pencil eraser and clean off the electrodes on the inside of the dizzy cap. Use the spark tester to make sure you have spark and if you cant find one do this... take one of ur plugs out and leave it plugged into the ignition wire from the dizzy, then ground the side of the plug (preferably where the threads are on the side of it) to the frame of the car by either touching it to it or by using a wire or jumper cables. Then crank the car over and see if it sparks.

Lastly- Fuel. This one is rather easy. Just pull ur plugs out and turn the motor over a few times, then go see if it smells like gas around the spark plug holes.

People often forget these 4 basic things required for engine operation so go thru even if you are "positive" you think you have it and do these 4 tests and narrow down this problem and we'll go from there. Good luck and let us know the results.

24TEN

iTrader: (2)

Exactly what you should do since you suspect neither have compression. What you didn't mention in your original post is how you removed/installed the cams so I have to ask...

Did you have any issues removing them?
Did you rotate the crank or cam(s) after removing their respective timing belts (before you removed the cams from the head)?
When installing the cams into their respective heads did you adjust the valve lash?

OldSkoolDa91

thanks for the help guys. i got both cars running again. getting ready to go to bed now so heres a quick re-cap of what i found...

first for the coupe... i checked my valve adjustments and found them all to be too tight. so i adjusted to them to factory specs. tried to start the car. it almost turned over but just not quite enough. so, i checked the timing, AGAIN. fought with it for a while (i think the belt stretched) but finally got it set and the car started right up! 1 down, 1 to go...

so for the hatch... i was going to check valve adjustment on it as well, even though i was 100% sure it was right. well, when i tried to turn the crank to set the engine top dead center, it would only turn so far and then it was like it locked up and wouldnt turn. tried turning it the other way, same thing. called my friend and he immediately said it sounded like the valves were hitting the pistons as if the timing had jumped and bent the valves. told me to pull the timing belt off and cams out and then do a compression test. did that and only got compression in 1 of the cylinders and it was only at 45. not good! so pulled the head off yesterday and sure enough, all but 3 valves were bent on the intake side (didnt bother looking at the exhaust side). so today i pulled a head off of another motore i have with spun bearings and put it on the block in my hatch. put cams back in, set timing, and she fired right up like a champ!

so now i have both my cars running again finally. both had the same problem, no compression, but due to different reasons. still not sure how the hatch jumped time though. it ran perfect when i parked it and then when i went to start it 2 days later it was a no go. oh well though i guess.

thanks again for the help guys. hopefully this will help someone else out now too