hey guys, heres the story,

i tried to change the timing belt for my cousins '99 4 door civic lx and during the first coupe attempts to take off the crankshaft bolt, the crankshaft bolt ripped the notches in the belt without me knowing, i thought i was stripping the crankshaft bolt so i put everything back together and when finished tried to start the car... but the car didnt start, when trying to start the car it sounded like more of a whining noise then the engine actually cranking....

after some more thought into everything i just did, i thought that maybe the timing was off due to the crankshaft pulley jumping a couple notches and that the crankshaft bolt was not being stripped... and in fact thats exactly what it was...

so to jump a couple hours ahead, i redid the timing belt (i got the crankshaft bolt off successfully) placed the camshaft at TDC and as well as the crank pulley, then placed the belt around accordingly... put everything else back and tried to start the car but ended in the same result, car doesnt start, still sounds like a high pitched wine....

i checked the starter at advance auto parts and it works fine, fuel is being primed, spark is coming through and in the right order (i never took the wires completely out) as well... but i cant figure out why the car doesnt start? I am getting no CELs

any suggestions??

 

yeah sounds like bent valves........ do a compression test ......that wont lie

or you have a broken camshaft... seen it happen once....

good luck

 

My first suggestions would be to check out all your electrical connections again, and make sure all your sensors are in their proper place.

Are you positive you are getting fuel out of the injectors? And spark at the plugs?

 

yeah im positive, i can hear the fuel pump turn on when i turn the key to the "on" position and i checked the spark plugs by taking them out and touching the valve cover to make sure there was a spark..... everything is in their proper place...

as far as the valves being bent... could they bend while just trying to start the motor?... and if they were bent wouldnt they it throw some type of CEL?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by yellowmonkeyboy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">as far as the valves being bent... could they bend while just trying to start the motor?... and if they were bent wouldnt they it throw some type of CEL?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, they could.

In the even of a broken timing belt on an interference engine, simply trying to restart the motor again, wiil more than likely cause bent valves if the valves wer open when you tried to start the motor.

And it won't ALWAYS throw a CEL when it happens.

 

ok so a doing a compression test will tell me the answer to this.... ill have to do that tomorrow when i can go get buy a compression tester...

anyother ideas or suggestions as to why it wont start?

 

Well, not really... because you are getting fuel AND spark... so that would be my next guess...

Compression test FTW!

 

also, the employee at advance autoparts suggested that i replace my distributor... even though i told him i was getting spark to the spark plugs?? does this make sense? i thought if the distributor went bad then i wouldnt be getting any spark


Modified by yellowmonkeyboy at 3:07 AM 11/19/2006

 

The guy at the auto parts place is just trying to sell you some stuff you don't need. Get a compression tester, tell him no thanks as far as the distributor is concerned and find out whether or not the valves were bent. As turbosol_16 said, a compression test won't lie.

 

oh i totally agree with you, but i was just wondering if thats true that you can get spark with a bad distributor?

 

If the MIL is not coming on it's true you have a mechanical problem. If you suspect the distributor, Bring your car up to TDC and check the rotor position. This will tell you if it's firing in the right position. Any other sensor misalignment would trigger the MIL

 

ok so i checked compression... im getting absolutely no compression in any of the cylinders!!! i was also wondering if i did bend my valves... shouldnt i get some type of compression... even if its 20psi or 5psi?... im getting absolutely 0psi!!!

i checked the timing belt again everything is at TDC.... fuel is being pumped, im getting spark... changed my spark plugs bc thought that it might help since my cylinders were kind of flooded...

any suggestions to why im getting absolutely no compression? or is it just bc my valves could be bent?

 

anyone?

 

Did you remember to put the key back in the key way on the crank pulley? Are you sure that you are not 180 out ot time? Put everything at tdc pull the distributor cap off and make sure the rotor is pointing at the #1 cylinder. If its not you have something wrong in your timing. With the timing cover off does the cam shaft turn as you turn the crank? If not then the timing belt is not on. But it really sounds like you bent the valves and that is why things sound the way they do when you crank the engine over

 

it doesnt sound like you did the compression test right.
how did you do the test?
by the way always unplug your dizzy when doin a compression test