thespawnkiller

I'm not a car expert and know just enough to be dangerous. I've been having an issue with my d16z6 Del Sol that is driving me crazy. Sunday morning, I drove my car about 15 miles to the store and back and it ran fine. Sunday night, it was kind of sputtering and smelled like burning nuts or plastic. It responded when I gave it gas, but with the same sputtering sound. I didn't drive it anywhere and figured that I would look at it in the morning when I could see. The next morning, it wouldn't even start. I could hear it turning over and it sounded like it wanted to start.

My ecu is chipped with Hondata S300, so I looked at the log to see if there were any ECU error codes and there weren't. I could also see that the TPS sensor was working correctly. I have a fuel pressure gauge (attached after the fuel filter) and could see that I was getting 40 psi when the ignition was turned on.

At this point I figured it was an spark plug or distributer problem, so I put in new spark plugs. Now when I turn the key, I hear kind of a grinding noise and it doesn't sound like the engine is trying to turn over. To me that sounds like the starter, but doesn't address why the car was sputtering and smoking.

Although it may be unrelated, about a month ago I had a leak in my radiator. I put in a new radiator, thermostat and hoses. While I was at it, I did an oil and filter change.

I don't want to keep guessing what the problem is, as the parts are getting more expensive. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

wrenchez81

... if the starter hung in the flywheel than youll have the same symptoms... also anytime you have an incomplete combustion aka misfire and introduce raw fuel into the exhaust you will have black smoke associated with the stutter...