cgoldman11

hey guys,

I have a '92 civic dx, with its stock d15. I was dropping a buddy off at his car a couple nights ago when it was raining heavy, and the car shut off when i downshifted into 2nd gear. When I tried cranking the ignition, the motor turned over, but would not start. All four cylinders are getting spark, the fuel pump works when I turn the ignition, all fuses are good, the car just won't start. The cel code I got is the solid code 0, which means its a ground or the ecm. Will a bad ground keep the car from sparking, and is there an easy way to check if the computer's bad w/o buying a new one?

thanks for any help

Former User

Given that you have both spark and fuel, I recommend that you ignore CEL code 0 for now and check the mechanical timing to see whether the timing belt skipped some teeth.

cgoldman11

wouldnt a bad ecu make for no timing? how would i check/fix the timing w/o taking it to a mechanic?

thanks for input

cgoldman11

oh, I don't think I mentioned either, I was going 15 mph or less in a parking lot, I didn't think it was very likely to have the timing belt skip

Former User

Going 15 mph doesn't rule out skipping a tooth or two. You just need to check.

Former User

You don't yet know whether the ECU is bad.

Remove the valve cover and upper timing belt cover. Turn crank pulley counterclockwise until cam is set at TDC1. Now look whether pointer aligns with white mark on crank pulley.

cgoldman11

thank you for the post...ill have to check in a couple days b/c it is the holidays and i havent had the car towed just yet, its 20 minutes from my house at a friend's...

thanks again, and i will let you know if the motor is out-of-sync and if I have fixed it

kwijibodavid

if it was raining heavy i would suggest that you check the distributor cap i had a bad gasket on mine. one day it was raining and it would bog only fireing 1 or 2 cylinders held it to the floor able to get it running till the cap died out. if it fires when its dry change your cap http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par.../N-ix451Z9n80v or the gasket if the cap is solid. easier then checking timing

cgoldman11

I'm just giving an update on my problem: today, I found that the g101 ground was fine, and checked to make sure there was fuel pressure...I started checking the timing belt, and got as far as removing the valve cover and the top half of the timing belt cover, but didn't go any further, and at least got the car moved back to my house.

It was easy to get access to the end of the cam gear, but the end of the crankshaft is another thing. In order to at least see the end of the crank, you'd have to clear out some of the hardware and it would be easier to see if the motor was out of the car or if I had a lift, but I don't. However, since I at least have the car at my house, I can spend more than a few hours, and I don't have to worry about someone towing it.

If indeed the timing belt needs replaced, has anyone had any problems with timing the motor or the motor running afterwards? I've already read through a walkthrough ( https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-del-sol-1992-2000-1/%5Bfaq%5D-complete-diy-how-timing-belt-water-pump-change-d16z6-lots-pics-649277/ ) and feel pretty confident doing it myself, I just want to make sure the timing doesn't prove to be such a problem (and assuming I don't need new valves, cylinders, motor...)