mjjlm

So its been sitting for 5 years, I was driving as a daily driver then the car stopped running (crank no fire) and I lost interest and it has been sitting since. Last week i put a new battery in and it started right up. Yesterday I seafoamed the oil, intake, and fuel and then drove the car to my in-laws about 80 miles away. There I changed the oil, cap, rotor, plugs, and plug wires. Then we adjusted the timing and everything was running great. This morning I went to get it smogged, upon starting it up it sputtered for about 3 seconds then stared. I drove it down the highway then getting off at the exit I noticed it was idling really low (stalled out) at the stop light. So we pulled over and adjusted the idle up a little and continued to the smog station. when we tried to get it smogged the car would not start. It had intermitten crank and when it did turn over it did not fire up. When you let go of th key it would kinda sputter and then had this gurgling sound then stop. After like 20 attempts at turning it finally fired up and we drove it home. After getting home we turned it off and i tried to restart it and it fired right back up again.

Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks for the help

90civic-ZC

Is it throwing any codes? And are you in a really warm state?

zrickety

iTrader: (1)

Ignition coil

Dc4LsTeG

iTrader: (7)

Maybe main relay?

delsol92

my crx just did the exact same thing about a week ago, it was the little like 3 inch hose that connects the fuel pump to the pick up tube, after sitting for so long it started dry rotting and got a little pin hole in it which made it not hold a steady pressure.

but i also replaced the fuel pump when i dropped the tank

CrxChicken

what exactly did you do to adjust the timing on a computer controlled system.. how far was it out? 10 degrees?

my car also acts up at the inspection station it will throw a engine light even .. but I was told by 3 of the techs and the manager that the one tech forces fails on people..

I never have a check light come on in any other situation .. I am guessing he is blocking the exhaust some how

anyway i think it could be either your coil as said or your throttle body ... but it could also be a dead cat working in unison with an old o2 sensor to screw you up... old ones in 90's will fade out rather then just die.

good luck

90civic-ZC

I agree, that's why I was asking if he lived in a warm state.....kindda sounds like a hot start problem due to a bad main relay.

mjjlm

To adjust the timing we shorted out the electronic advance and then moved the distributor. It was off by about 5 degrees. My check engine did not come on at all. I got to the station turned off the car and it would not restart to bring it into the inspection bay.

I live in Sacramento. I am new to this so how do i change the main realy if that is the problem? Is there a way to check to main realy to insure that is the problem?

Thanks for everyone's help!

mjjlm

Gonna go through this to test igniter and coil
http://easyautodiagnostics.com/honda..._systems_1.php

ill let ou know how it goes.

90civic-ZC

One dead give away is after driving for a while and you stop at a gas station...turn the car off...go in then come out and it doesnt start, listen for the fuel pump to prime. The soldered areas on the main relay will expand in the heat cause a bad connection. The main relay is up under the dash where the hood release is.

mjjlm

arrgh....well i tested the ignitor and per the link above and it tested bad. We went and bought a new ignitor and it fired up but would not idle on its own and then it died. we cannot get it to start again...

I looked into the main relay problem but my fuel pump primes every time i turn the key....does that rule out that it is a realy problem?

90civic-ZC

Well....yes and no....but in MY experience I've only seen a bad relay be affected in the summer months. I wouldn't worry about the main relay for now, the symptoms are pointing elsewhere. Any codes being thrown? And could you give a better discription of how it was running after the new ignitor? You say it "wouldn't idle by its own"....backfiring? studdering? bouncing RPM's? if you gave it gas would it sputter?

CrxChicken

main relays are expensive and difficult to replace..
they are under the left hand side of the dash
just under your change compartment

Remove the bracket not the relay to get it out...

You can get new ones on Amazon.com or at your dealer .. search for the number on the relay.. cost $50

mjjlm

OK so the problem was...........

a slightly loose wire connection at the coil in the distributor. the screw that was on there was slightly too long and bottomed out when screwed in all the way. This prevented a stable connection to be consistently made. After i saw that and put a new screw on and tightened it down all the way the car started right up. I then took it around town running errands and I still have not had any problems.

I will be watching out for that main relay issue though. Thanks to all that responded.

90civic-ZC

Cool deal man, how did you find it out? You just saw a wire hanging out?

spoolinb18

my car is doing the exact samething. it makes a cherping kinda noise coming from the main relay under the dash by the hood latch. im going to replace it and hopefully it will fix my problem. car sometime starts if its warm (in my garage) but when i shut it off for like 10 minutes outside it wont start up. all it does is turn over. think its the main relay?

mjjlm

Well when it would not start up again we took the cap off to start testing the coil and I touched the wire on accident and saw that it had a little movement. I mean this screw was only off by 1mm maybe 2. When I tried tightening it down more it would not go. Put a shorter screw on and closed everything up then BOOM started right up. Turned it off and turned it back on again....took it to the store and back home...took it to get smogged and passed...everything worked great.

Man if we could not have figured it out I was going to part this sucker out...