i swapped a zc into my 1991 civic. and now it wont start. it wont even turnover, the starter doesnt engage at all. when i first put the key in a turn it one click,the dash lights( check engine, oil pressure,etc) come one then go out( like they should). they when you turn the key the rest of the way as if you were gonna start it nothing happens(i can hear the main relay click). i can also hear the fuel pump running fine. also, when you have the key turned as if it you were goin to start it i can hear the fuel injectors running. does anyone have any ideas as what could be the prob.?? could it be a problem with mpfi wiring? at first i thought maybe clutch wasnt engaging all the way, but that doesnt seem to be the case. both wires are hooked to the starter.

 

If all your wires and grounds are good then it could be bad battery..had the same problem about 20 min.s ago lol

 

no its not the battery. i charged it because it was sittin for a few months, tried boosting it and tried a battery out of another running car.

 

when you get in the car and turn the key to the ON position do you hear a lot of clicking coming fro the relays and a lot of clicking coming from the injectors? If so then you probably forgot to hook up your ECU ground. I had the same problem. It sometimes falls down underneath where you can't see it. It will be on the left side when you are facing the engine on the backside. It is just a little wire that bolts to the thermostat housing.

 

thats sound like it could be the problem. ill try it. because i do hear some clicking.

is the ecu ground on the wire harness?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by silver hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
is the ecu ground on the wire harness?</TD></TR></TABLE>
yes, ECU ground is on the engine harness - usually that doesn't keep it from turning over - just won't start - is the starter good?

 

im not sure, is there some way to check it? can i wire it direct to battery or something?

 

ground at the thermostat housing, ground to the valve cover, ground from the battery to the chassis.

if you mpfi wiring is fucked, the car would still at least crank, just not turn and throw codes, check your grounds first.

use a helms manual:

http://tech.hybridgarage.com/t...l.pdf

good luck.

 

it turns out that it was the ground to the thermostat

 

i was gonna put my money on a ground wire. My jeep did that and i replaced both battery terminals and the starter. Turned out, oil gunked up on one of the grounds. cleaned it and that was it. but in the future, unbolt ur starter but leave it hooked up. The starter will spin if it works, but in my situation the starter didnt spin because of the bad ground. well whatever did it start?

 

yeah it started. i was surprised it started, the gas has been in there for about 3 months with no stabilizer. i started it without exhaust hooked up and it was loud. it was comming right out of the manifold.

 

make sure all of you wiring is ok, check the distributor, see if its getting spark

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by silver hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah it started. i was surprised it started, the gas has been in there for about 3 months with no stabilizer. i started it without exhaust hooked up and it was loud. it was comming right out of the manifold.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hahaha. Exactly my thing. DOHC ZC no start, and we were so excited to see it run that we fixed it and tried to start it before the exhaust was hooked up and got a few disturbing the peace complaints at 11.00 at night. VERY loud. We also went to a friends house open header and wore earmuffs because it hurt bad.

Nothin like that first time startin

 

dude it could be your timing, i tried the same thing in my 89 hatch and th etiming was off by ****** 6o degrees.. after i fixed it it started right the **** up..i had the SAME EXACT PROBLEM!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CR_Xtasy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">dude it could be your timing, i tried the same thing in my 89 hatch and th etiming was off by ****** 6o degrees.. after i fixed it it started right the **** up..i had the SAME EXACT PROBLEM!!</TD></TR></TABLE>

he just said it was his ground wire