well i searched around and ive comed up with one of my conclusions. in the afternoon i started up my car to warm it up and it was doing fine. then like an hour later i was going to go somewhere but my car wont start. could it be the dist going bad?? because before when i was driving my car suddenly began to loose power and it shut off and i had to push start it. is it the because of the dist? or is it something else?? need some help you guys

 

check and see if your getting spark.

 

sounds like the alternator is bad . it has charged itself by the afternoon but hour of driving drains the battery . check that . I think auto zone and advanced auto check them for free .

 

how do i check if i get a spark???

 

so what could it be the alternator?? need to know by tomorrow so i can fix it

 

what I would do is hook up a battery charger to it and then try to start it and if it starts easily you know you have a altenator problem same thing happend on my 90 ef hatch.

 

battery or alternator

 

lights radio and everything worked fine. so could it still be the battery?? so i could just try to get a jump start from a friend?? and it doesnt work then its the alternator??

 

check for spark. all you have to do is pull plug wires one by one, stick a skrew driver in the end and look for a spark.

if that checks out look for fuel.

one way is to pull the spark plugs and turn it over, fuel will spray out of the spark plug holes.

 

Check your batterie conections, make sure they are tight, and the conections on you starter. When ever my cars havent started it has been something stupid like that..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SLOW_TEAL_HATCH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">lights radio and everything worked fine. so could it still be the battery?? so i could just try to get a jump start from a friend?? and it doesnt work then its the alternator??</TD></TR></TABLE>

stereo and lights can still work if your battery is bad. it could have enough juice for that just not enough to start the car...

 

so guys it has to be the alternator??
could it be anything with my spark plugs or not getting fuel?? i just want to make sure im changing the right thing

 

need my car running guys. help me out

 

anyone???

 

Check your earth see if its got good contact.

 

what happens when you turn the key? do you hear the main relay clicking? do you hear your fuel pump priming? more importantly, does the engine turn over?
sticking a screwdriver into the sparkplug wire is dangerous and can burn out your coil.
what you can do is pull out your spark plug and stick it back into the plug wire. have a friend look at the plug gap to see if a spark jumps the gap. be sure to have the spark plug touching a metal part of the engine/chassis to ground.

 

had same problem.. turned out to be the ignition coil in the dist. took as **** on me.. replaced it and started right back up

 

so i should check for the spark plugs? and the dist?
not the alternator?? cause i have a dist layind around. and this weekend ima try replacing that

 

you still havent answered my questions as to what the car does when you turn the key. answer that and we can better help you. help us help you

 

what do you mean by engine turn over??

 

lol....everyone is throwing things at you that you need to check to take this troubleshootin even further


take a spark plug out...put it against a 14mm nut under the hood that holds the suspension....have someone crank the motor to and see if it sparks...if it doesnt, its the dizzy...i would check the coil...if it sparks...its prob a dead battery which can be caused by an alternator not charging...check the plugs first though..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SLOW_TEAL_HATCH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what do you mean by engine turn over?? </TD></TR></TABLE>

if it cranks over...with no start...

 

yeah. basically it just cranks and it never starts. i can crank as much as i can and it wont start at all.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18CivicEg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">lol....everyone is throwing things at you that you need to check to take this troubleshootin even further


take a spark plug out...put it against a 14mm nut under the hood that holds the suspension....have someone crank the motor to and see if it sparks...if it doesnt, its the dizzy...i would check the coil...if it sparks...its prob a dead battery which can be caused by an alternator not charging...check the plugs first though..</TD></TR></TABLE>

then do as told..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SLOW_TEAL_HATCH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah. basically it just cranks and it never starts. i can crank as much as i can and it wont start at all.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah, that rules out the possibility of the alternator being bad. now, check for spark as mentioned.