The car is a 91 civic dx.....
It will turn and turn but will not start

I have spark, checked all 4 cylinders with the screwdriver in the wire test.
I have fuel, i can smell it in the cylinders when each spark plug is removed, after attempting to start the car.
Also i can hear the fuel pump turn on. I dont have access to a fuel pressure gauge but i am assuming that that is normal as well.
Compression is fine, about 165 to 175 across the board.
There are no ecu codes, it just flashes once when the key is put into the 'on' position like normal. Therefore i assume that all of my injectors are running fine.
Also i replaced the distributor rotor and cap so they are both fine.
Tried jumping it as well and that didnt work.

Im stuck i have no idea why it wont start. It just turns over and over like it wants to but never does.
The car is my moms, she drives it every day to work. It has never been modified in any way and never beat. She drove it to the store this morning, and when she went to leave it just wouldnt start. (it gave no signs of anything wrong).

Any input or help would be appreciated.
thanks in advance

 

It must be the main relay....those fail a lot on our cars......

 

where exactly is that located at?
Sorry if it were my car i would know, but i dont know my moms car too well

 

anyone know?

 

http://www.marklamond.co.uk/ho...y.htm

The main relay is right on top of the hood release, this rectangular square box with 7 wires hooked up to it.

Not trying to say anything but check to make sure the car has gas....and not diesel. **** happens...seen it done so you can never be sure.

 

Same thing happened to my 90 CRX over the weekend. It had been having a hard time starting when the car was warm out so I attributed it to my fuel pressure regulator going out. Normally I could keep trying and pump the gas some and try cranking some more and it would eventually start. I replaced the FPR this weekend with an adjustable fuel pressure regulator and still doesn't start.
Checked out my plugs and they are fouled as hell. I am going to replace these and see what comes of this...
Any other ideas guys?

 

yea the car definately has gas, and regular, not diesel lol
and its getting plenty of it.
I cranked the motor over with all the plugs out and then looked into the cylinders and theres definately gas in each one

 

if you got gas and spark the timming must just be way off because it should be firing

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by doitdub &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Same thing happened to my 90 CRX over the weekend. It had been having a hard time starting when the car was warm out so I attributed it to my fuel pressure regulator going out. Normally I could keep trying and pump the gas some and try cranking some more and it would eventually start. I replaced the FPR this weekend with an adjustable fuel pressure regulator and still doesn't start.
Checked out my plugs and they are fouled as hell. I am going to replace these and see what comes of this...
Any other ideas guys?</TD></TR></TABLE>

THAT sounds like the classic case of the Main Relay going bad.

As for the original poster and his problem... Have you tried removing the intake tube and spraying a little starting fluid into the throttlebody? You say you can smell gas, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's getting *enough* gas (could be too little or too much). If it fires up after spraying starting fluid in the TB (it should fire up for a couple seconds, then die when the starting fluid is all burned), it points to a fuel delivery issue. Other than that, I'd say start looking at the timing. The car basically wants four things in order to run: fuel, spark, air, and all at the correct time in the combustion cycle. Once you start eliminating things, you can quickly see what's missing. If it's getting air (removing the intake tube should make sure of that - I've actually seen cars that were stalling and dying because some jackass left a shop rag in the intake tube!), fuel, and spark, suspect something in the timing/ignition area.

Mike

 

Fuel, spark, fuel pump turns on... shouldn't be main relay at all because if it was you would not get fuel.

Maybe your wires are out of order. Check to make sure they are in the right sequense on your dizzy.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by technine &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Maybe your wires are out of order. Check to make sure they are in the right sequense on your dizzy.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Good point, and an easy mistake to make.

Firing order on the distributor cap should be:

3 4

1 2

On the engine, #1 is closest to the timing belt, #4 is closest to the distributor.

Just in case you didn't have that info handy.

Mike

 

when i replaced the distributor rotor, i actually removed the entire distributor so i am not 100 % positive that rotor is pointing in the same direction as before....

I put the car to what i thought was tdc, and the rotor points to cylinder #1
But if i keep turning the crank it then points to cylinder #4, when the tdc marks on the crank pully come back up.

so which one is actually tdc on my car? and which way should the rotor be pointing?

 

i don't think you can go 180 out on those, ( at least i couldn't on my hf dist.)so you should be fine on the rotor. try adjusting the dist., thats gotta be it.

 

yea i just put it at what appeared to be tdc and then looked down into the combustion chamber and cylinders 1 and 4 are up, so im going to assume that that is all correct, and the rotor is installed correctly

 

so it still won't run, or what?? have you already tried adjusting the dist.??

 

welp it wouldnt start so i just did adjust the dizzy, and it started....finally
now i just have to time it
thanks for all of the help everybody, probably would have taken me much longer if it werent for you guys

 

ur welcome. its nice to be appreciated

 

one more thing, i set the ignition timing at 16 degrees like i do to my integra
what should a stock civic dx be set at?

 

alright so the car sat overnight and now it wont start again...it ran fine last night and now with the engine cold it wont start.
any suggestions?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by white_98_gsr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">alright so the car sat overnight and now it wont start again...it ran fine last night and now with the engine cold it wont start.
any suggestions?</TD></TR></TABLE>

keep me updated i'm having the same probelm but its not timing..

 

check main relay!

if the contacts are even a little fouled or the relay coil is bad = no start.

 

check your timing belt to make sure your cam gear is not rounded out. and to make sure your belt is not slipping