Mandark06

so yeah. last night my car (98 civic ex) just died on me. the motor turned off but the car was still on so i know its not that battery, and if that doesn't say it, i tried jumping it too which didn't work.

i have three guesses here:

i replaced the fuel filter about a month ago and i haven't run into any problems up until last night so i don't know if that would be it or not. i did it in an auto class so my instructor checked it out and everything.

when i replaced the fuel filter i noticed my throttle cable was way loose so i tightened it a little but it might have been too much. i loosened that as soon as the car died last night and if that was the problem then i wouldn't know how to fix it.

and i just did an oil change last week like on thursday. i've been doing oil changes for about two years now though so i highly doubt that that would be the problem.


i'm just troubleshooting right now, i took out the fuel pump and looked at that and put it back in. as far as working is concerned it seemed to be alright. it started up when i turned the car on. so i guess my next best shot is fuel pressure so i'm gonna be back and forth between my garage and the computer. any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. thanks.


Modified by Mandark06 at 12:01 PM 4/3/2007

Mandark06

*bump

Mandark06

this is gonna sound really noob but i'm not even sure where the fuel injector main relay is or what the heck the service manual is talking about when it refers to it... i can't really get a clear definition of what that even is let alone where it's located.

Mandark06

so at the end of the day i had

-found the fuel injector main relay
-replaced my spark plugs
-taken out and replaced the fuel pump
-and fully stripped my interior

tomorrow i'm gonna go through and check the fuel rail and the pressure regulator. i'm seriously bummed out about this guys and i would appreciate any and all help or any suggestions. I'm broke so i can't take this to a shop and i'm really kinda into taking care of it myself, i'm just not sure where to start. thanks.

Mandark06

so i'm up and ready to go for the day. i think i might try and take off the valve cover cause i just did an oil change, couldn't hurt to check it out, right? = /

then i gotta go through and recheck the fuel system, make sure the oil pump's still working and then go through the fuel rail and distributor.

something i forgot to mention though yesterday when i took out my spark plugs the boots were like waaaaay loose and the spark plugs weren't in there very tight either. suggestions?

thanks.

instructor74

you have done a lot more work than you have to you need 3 basic things to have the engine run air, fuel, spark. The first thing to check is for spark. If you have a spark tester us it or do the back yard meth and pull a spark plug out reattach the plug wire hold the metal of the plug to bare metal on the engine. have a friend try and start the car look look for a spark. If you do not have one it is more then likely going to be the coil or poss the ignighter. If you have spark then look at the fuel system check fuel pressure at the rail. If its okay then pull the air box off at the t body and make sure that the butter fly is opening and nothing is blocking air flow.

Mandark06

well if i replaced the spark plugs then do i have anything to worry about there? o.O

i mean based off of what you said the only thing's i have left to check out are the intake and fuel rail?

what would i be looking for though? just trouble shoot it pretty much? = / i've been going off of a chilton's manual so far and i have a service manual too.

thanks for that though.

Mandark06

haha so uh, how do i get the distributor leak cover off??? haha

thanks.

instructor74

I didn't say replace your spark plugs!!!! I TOLD YOU TO CHECK FOR SPARK. reading will own your *** every time. More then likely you have NO SPARK from the distributor. when that happens it is 9 times out of 10 the coil inside the distributor

Archidictus

Sounds like a distributor or timing belt. Check both.

Mandark06

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by instructor74 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I didn't say replace your spark plugs!!!! I TOLD YOU TO CHECK FOR SPARK. reading will own your *** every time. More then likely you have NO SPARK from the distributor. when that happens it is 9 times out of 10 the coil inside the distributor</TD></TR></TABLE>
i had already changed my spark plugs before you had even given me that reply = / they needed to be changed anyways. yeah that's where i'm working at right now is at the distributor, i got stuck though cause i can't figure out how to get the damn leak cover off. it's like a frickin plastic wall and i'm tempted to break it off but seeing as how it's a leak cover i don't suppose that would be a good idea... help? haha

Mandark06

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Archidictus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sounds like a distributor or timing belt. Check both.</TD></TR></TABLE>

timing belt sounds reasonable cause that was due for a change pretty soon anyways. thanks.

Mandark06

so tomorrow then i'm gonna replace the timing belt and i've got the distributor set and ready for me to test for continuity tomorrow morning (it's 1136 where i'm at) and then i'm all set... good thing for me to do would've probably been to try turning the car on this morning? haha i didn't do that yet but since i've got the whole thing in pieces i won't be doing that for a couple days... aaahahaha...

so wish me luck tomorrow and if that doesn't work i'll be back on here looking for suggestions... thanks to those two or three guys there that tried helping so far, appreciate it = )