Alrighty, sorry for making a new post, i have been trying to get my car started for the past few weeks to no avail. what happened is, i changed the timing belt and water pump, and had my flywheel resurfaced, so i had my engine out, and i swapped everything back in, and now i get it to start and it sounds ok for about a second then it starts to die out and eventually stops. also when i turn the key to the on position the tach is reading about 500 rpms which is wierd. i am getting fuel, and spark, and i did a compression test while it was cold (because it wont start) and got 150 on all the cylinders. when i get the car to start, if i floor it, it does nothing it doesn't make the car rev any more, it just slowly dies out. i have a ground on my thermostat housing, on my starter, and on my valve cover. im not getting any CEL's. i havn't checked continuity on my fuel pump yet, because i dont really know how, but i think it might be that. i checked all my underhood fuses yesterday they are all good.

I have a question, when you set the timing on a b16 you set the cam gears so the arrow is up right?, so how do you know what is up, is it up parallell with the sides of the head or with the car, or perpendicular with the ground? or would that even make that big a difference? is there any way i could have bent valves installing the timing belt, i didn't think it would be possible but i did have to rotate the engine.

i installed my distributor king distributor backwards at first, could i have damaged it internally, i didn't jam it in or anything. i heard somewhere they use different wires or something could that be my problem?

my car is a 93 dx hatch, with a jdm second gen b16a, completely stock. i got new oem plug wires within the past 1000 miles, new ngk spark plugs at the same time. im using an ex interior harness, and an ex engine harness.

any help at all would be appreciated, because i'm running out of ideas besides the fuel pump maybe. thank in advance.


Modified by deathplaza at 1:08 PM 8/8/2006

 

what should i check? any ideas?

 

thx for anyone whos looked so far, nobody has any ideas for me tho

oh yah i have no idea what kind of ecu i have, it is chipped, but it was working before i did all this so i dont think its the ecu.

 

please help, my life sux without vtec. really, it really does.

 

 

Well I kind of had a similar problem, not completely the same though, so I'm just giving you an option to start with.

I switched a bunch of **** over on my cars and one of the things I did was a steering column. When I did that I put my steering column underneath my ignition wires and I must have tightened it to tight and pinched my ignition wires. My car would start and then slowly die off like yours. Sometimes it would stay on for a couple of seconds, sometimes it would die instantly. At first I thought it could have been bad gas or fuel pump, but the easiest thing to start with was the ignition...

So I had an extra set of ignition wires laying around(was stripping one eg hatch) and I changed those out, put them underneath the steering column so they weren't getting any pressure applied to them, and hooked it all back up, I went to start the car and it started like a champ. No more problems.

I'm not telling you to get a new ignition or ignition wires because their are other possibilities, but it's a start. Also is your fuel pump primering? Are you getting gas out of your filter when your car is in the on position?

 

1.) You're supposed to have a transmission ground as well. It's the biggest one aside from the starter and it will make a HUGE difference in the function of your motor.

2.) Why did you assemble the timing system without knowing what you were doing, without an instruction manual and without asking these questions before you tried to start the Goddamned car!? Honestly, how idiotic was that stunt? If your timing is off significantly, which it almost certainly is, this would be one posisble result. Hopefully nothing is completely fucked up.

3.) How do you install a distributor incorrectly? They're keyed to go on one way only. Seriously. Stay away from tools, dude. If you damaged the distributor in your attempt to install it, it's very possible that you mangled something. Since the tach reads signal from the dizzy, that would be a good place to start troubleshooting.

Doing things without instructions isn't manly: it's ******* stupid. Here is one possible result.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Archidictus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">1.) You're supposed to have a transmission ground as well.
</TD></TR></TABLE>


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">2.) If your timing is off significantly, which it almost certainly is, this
would be one posisble result. </TD></TR></TABLE>


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">3.) How do you install a distributor incorrectly? </TD></TR></TABLE>
yeah, how did you manage that?

also check and make sure all of your sensors are connected, maybe your iacv is unlugged.

 

yah i kindof screwed up, the distributor key is not offset that much and its hard to tell which side is wider, i figured it out though, and i didn't just jam it in, so i doubt i damaged it, but i guess i could have. No i didn't do it without the fsm and i looked up how to set the timing, but i had the fsm for a 92-95 single cam, so i looked up the diy on honda-tech that a lot of people suggested to use, but that shows a gsr with aftermarket cam gears. i mean if the arrow says up on it then it must go up towards the sky right?, i never heard anything that says otherwise i just asked because i wanted to be sure. i know i set the timing right, it took me a couple tries to get the tension right and everything, just to be sure, how tight should i make the belt? I made it snug but not taught, and equal tightness on both sides.

thanks for the transmission ground hint, i cant believe i would forget something like that but then again i just might be that stupid, and i cant seem to remember where its located so i might have forgot it. i will check that first thing when i get home.

despite telling me to stay away from tools (which i definately wont do) everything else you said helped me out, at least now i have something to look for. i mean its my first car, im trying to learn, and i didn't just tear my car apart without knowing what i was doing, i looked it up but im running into problems. the distributor thing was due to me working in the dark in a bad mood aarrg i hope i didn't screw it up. thanks.

also does anyone know which iacv a b16 has i have like 3 of them at my house and one of them has a larger opening, is a humming sound coming from it normal?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Archidictus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">1.) You're supposed to have a transmission ground as well. It's the biggest one aside from the starter and it will make a HUGE difference in the function of your motor.

2.) Why did you assemble the timing system without knowing what you were doing, without an instruction manual and without asking these questions before you tried to start the Goddamned car!? Honestly, how idiotic was that stunt? If your timing is off significantly, which it almost certainly is, this would be one posisble result. Hopefully nothing is completely fucked up.

3.) How do you install a distributor incorrectly? They're keyed to go on one way only. Seriously. Stay away from tools, dude. If you damaged the distributor in your attempt to install it, it's very possible that you mangled something. Since the tach reads signal from the dizzy, that would be a good place to start troubleshooting.

Doing things without instructions isn't manly: it's ******* stupid. Here is one possible result.</TD></TR></TABLE>

nice flame job. no help, whatsoever.

when you do the timing, there are notches or "lines" in the cam gears. each cam gear will have two, one on each side of the cam gear, when looking from the front. you want all four of these lines (both notches on both cam gears) to line up with each other all the way across. this ensures both cams are lined up with each other. before you do that, you MUST be sure your crank is at TDC.
if you did any of this wrong, you may have bent valves.
after that, jump the connector under the dash and set your timing to spec.

i'd do that first, then see how the car runs. once you have the cams set, you won't be able to damage anything and can continue to find the problem, should it still exist.

 

aight i have the transmission ground, that would be pretty hard to miss. the cam gears are still parallell so i doubt it jumped any teeth, the timing belt is still nice and snug, so i dont think its that. im lost, i guess ill test my distributor, and fuel pump as soon as i figure out how. is there anything else that could be causing my problem? i also just changed the fuel filter. i could really use some ideas.

 

still looking for some clues, or something i may have overlooked.

 

anyone helpful online today?

 

well im really lost at this point. my car still hasn't started (well when i give it gas it sounds like its gonna start but i dont hear a definitive combustion sound, kindof more like a gargle), i havn't driven it since maybe june or even earlier. i checked my timing and its right on, both cams pointing up with cyl 1 at TDC. i changed my fuel pump, didn't help. i changed my spark plugs because my old ones were fouled, still doesn't start. i tried my old distributor that worked shitty but worked nonetheless and it still wouldn't start. it also did the same thing the new distributor was doing where it reads about 400-500 rpms when the engine is off with the ignition key to the on (acc) position. im getting an assload of fuel, im getting a nice bright blue spark, like i said before when we did the compression test it was cold and i still got 150 all across the cylinders so it should be able to fire up. at this point im starting to think maybe there is some paint underneath one of my grounds or something.

my other ideas are that maybe my cat is clogged or my o2 sensor is completely screwed (i dont think o2 would cause my car not to start *not sure). my fitv might be too far closed but it was running before so that doesn't make sense. lastly i can only hope that im not the first person to bend their valves installing a timing belt, im still not even sure if it's possible to have piston-valve contact when only cranking the engine by hand. if anyone has any useful input im all ears because i need my car working soon.

 

looking for advice, how likely is it that my cat is clogged? can a bad o2 sensor cause a civic to not run? does anyone know which iacv i should use (what it looks like) on a b16? anyone wanna talk **** to me about how i didn't use the service manual even though i did? i dont care i just need help getting my **** running.

 

How ya goin m8?

get yourself a replacement ignitor, coil, & pickup. pop your dizzy cap off. remove the dust cover from over the pickup+ignitor+coil. then remove your rotor + dust cap. remove each part (one at a time) starting with the coil. in this order. 1. remove the coil, then install new one. then put dizzy back together and attempt to start the engine. once you have gone through this sequence. if your problem persists, swap out your ecu with a different one of the same specs. if that doesn't work. go through your harness. if you after going through all of that, still have the same problem. i'm assuming it's safe to advise you to buy a pair of rubber boots and a snow shovel because you're in deep sh*t.

Hope this helps! Cheers M8

 

im pretty sure it wouldn't be my distributor because i am getting a nice spark and i have two distributors, i tried them both and the same thing happens regardless of which one i try. on top of that, the distributor i got is brand new from distributor king. so i guess ill be purchasing some rubber boots and a snow shovel soon haha.


thanks for the reply though, it seems like im invisible or something, or maybe i write too much and nobody feels like reading it.

I had another question, would a lack of coolant in the block cause the car not to start? i drained the coolant from my block when i pulled my engine, do i have to open the bleeder screw in order to let coolant into the block? just a thought i had, didn't have time to expletive with my grounds or try to get it started yesterday, but ill try sanding the connections to the grounds and see if it fires up.

 

G'day m8,

It's a shame you didn't wish to go through with the troubleshooting of the dizzy n all. never the less. the coolant has "to the very best of my knowledge" Absolutely nothing to do with starting the engine. running it without coolant however will prove dangerous. having drained all of the coolant from the engine could prove to be a whole other seperate "nightmare". you have to refill it, then while the engine is running. you have to purge the system at the valve on the intake or throttlebody depending on which setup you have. so as not to allow even the smallest of air bubbles into the system. otherwise you'll have overheating problems from hell.

Hang in there m8! you're not far from finding the source.


Cheers, PS. i can sell you a pair of slightly used boots & snow shovel at m8's rates!

 

hey, well i unhooked my exhaust and sanded the paint off the ground areas and it decided to fire up, but only when i am flooring it, i am 90% sure i must have screwed up installing the timing belt because the engine would die if we turned the distributor to retard while it was running. therefore the cam timing must be retarded somewhat causing it to not run correctly. if it isn't that then i am lost. i still get the 500 rpms on the tach when the car is off. very strange. ..

 

yah, so im retarded and it was my cam timing. actually my cam timing was retarded. spoonwheelssd had me on the right track. i couldn't see the notches on the sides of the cam gears at first because it was kindof rusty. the up arrow doesn't really point straight up it angles towards the front of the engine. everything is good now, the new distributor works good, at first it wasn't sending a good signal to the cluster but its good now. i forgot to check if it still reads 500 rpms with the key in the on position, i think i would have noticed if it was still doing it though. everything is all good now, i have vtec, i am complete. thanks to anyone who read this and especially thanks to anyone who replied. now i gotta figure out why my new clutch is slipping!