I have a 1988 Civic DX 4 door sedan with a 1.5 engine and dual point PGM-FI fuel injection. This car has been sitting for the better part of a year outside here in S. Jersey. I jumped the battery and drove it into the garage where I charged the battery with a 2 amp charger overnight. Took the charger off this am and It started right up and I moved it out to the driveway where I left it running and tested the heater and radio etc. while I waited for a buddy of mine to come over and follow me out to the country so I could rev up the battery in third gear at 50mph for awhile without worrying about killing the engine and getting stranded. While waiting I thought I'd take it around the block and work some of the kinks out. I put it in gear and the engine stalled. I tried restarting it and it cranks but doesn't start. Bought a can of starting spray and shot some into the butterfly valve and still nothing. It spits fuel out and tries to turn over and then I get a clunk and nothing. I get the 3 clicks, the check engine light and brake lights come on. This car has 108,000 miles on it. I had the ignition igniter changed in 92 or 93 I think it was. Would error codes
show up on the ECU for this problem and where do I find the ECU on this car anyway? I'm supposed to be selling it tomorrow so I'd sure like to get it running for the buyer. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Pull back the carpet on the passenger side under the dash, you should be able to see the led on the ECU flashing. Check the obvious things first, spark fuel, compression. Are all the grounds still connected?

 

Mellon thanks for the advice but are you sure you're talking about a DX sedan? I tried that earlier from reading another post and just did again to make sure. There's no ECU under the passenger side dash of this car as far as I can see. Where else might it be?

 

The ecu is under the carpet and then under a metal plate held down by 4 10mm nuts. The codes can be read through a little window in the plate or you can remoe the plate.

 

from my experience, the most common things to go out on an EF is the distributor & main relay.

 

Thanks guys. Ok I went out this am and tried jumping it with my other car to check the ECU which is right where it is supposed to be and it fired right up. Got no error codes at all on the ECU once the car was started. So pressing my luck and having a few hours to kill before the buyer was rescheduled to show up I decided to charge the battery up and make sure the car actually still runs. Drove it up to Sam's Exxon station and put air in the tires. It sounded terrible (as any car would if it sat for most of a year) so I decided to have Sam change the oil. As I was putting air in the tires it died on me again. Sam let me borrow a battery to jump it but it wouldn't start again. Cranks, but won't turn over just like yday. Well Sam doesn't have time to diagnose the problem today. We pushed it out of the way and I got a lift home. Called the buyer and told him to hang on til tomorrow but he still wants to come out today and see if he can get it running. He's bringing a battery and plugs. What do you guys think? I had the ignition igniter replaced about 13 years ago. Payed for that myself. Was it a recall item? I'm asking cuz it was a lot of money back then and I'm sure it's more now. If that's the problem I want to see if Honda will pick up the cost. Other guesses? coil? Main relay? I mentioned that to Sam and he says he has no idea yet and won't til he looks at it. Once again any help is greatly appreciated.


Modified by markg8 at 8:55 AM 2/7/2005

 

is your fuel pump kicking on?sometimes mine does the same thing and i have to turn the key on and off till i hear the fuel pump kick on.....hope this helps some...

 

for starters, i would check the main relay.sometimes it will work other times it wont.like when you went to get air. i would pull your plugs and wires and change them. also check timing.and the last thing would be a fuel filter,if its sputtering.

 

Yeah when I turn the key on I can hear the fuel pump. Then I turn the key further and it cranks but no start.

I've read where the main relay can be the problem when it starts and runs and then refuses to start after shut off for anywhere from 10 minutes to 24 hours. Where is the main relay on this car? And is the problem visible to the naked eye if I'm looking at it? What exactly does the main relay do again? If it's job is telling the fuel pump to send fuel I'm guessing that's not it. I hear the fule pump and I shot some ether in the butterfly valve yday when trying to jump it and it didn't work either. The buyer is coming over and we're going to put a new battery and plugs and wires in it and see what happens. if we need a new distributor etc. we'll pick those up. I'm hoping it's not the igntion igniter or if it's the main relay it's not in the trunk. For some reason I can't get in the trunk. The key doesn't unlock it.




Modified by markg8 at 9:28 AM 2/7/2005

 

do you have an extra set of plugs and wires? even some from another honda? your wires could be so old ther are just arcing every were but on the spark plug, i had that problem when i get my most recent b16.i was running one 1 cylinder, change plugs and wires and it ran like a champ.

 

if the car sat for a long time, it could have bad gas, i would get rid of the old gas and put new gas in, or fuel stablizer. bad gas could also foul your sparkplugs, check those too. u can check to see if your plug wires are bad. just get the car running in the dark, and you will see them arc. if it does, get new ones.

also, sometimes just because the car cranks, doesnt mean its cranking fast enuf for it to turn over. from what your saying it sounds like your battery is holding charge. so it might be your alternator. u can get that checked at autoparts store for free. a car can run just on the battery for about an hour (headlights off). battery has enuf current to run the ignition system, but will eventually drain.

 

The buyer came out and put new plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor and battery in it and it ran fine. I sprang for a bottle of gas conditioner. The problem was the rotor. It was wobbling around loose in the cap occasionally making contact with the points. Once we fixed that he drove it away and I have another satisfied Ebay customer and my old Civic has a happy new home. Thanks for the help guys.