i'm helping my brother out, his civic just died. he was in line at taco bell just idling. car suddenly suddenly started running rough for what he says about 2-3 seconds and it shut off. it won't start back up.

info:

-automatic if it matters
-it cranks
-all power seems to work
-fuses/relays under the hood look okay (didn't check fuses inside the cabin though)
-i popped the cap/rotor...looks fine
-when the key is turned to "ON" you can head the fuel pump cycle
*EDIT*
-no CEL

we do not have the original manual to know what fuses inside the car may have some effect on this.

any help is appreciated!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fivespeedintegra &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i'm helping my brother out, his civic just died. he was in line at taco bell just idling. car suddenly suddenly started running rough for what he says about 2-3 seconds and it shut off. it won't start back up.

info:

-it cranks
-all power seems to work
-fuses/relays under the hood look okay (didn't check fuses inside the cabin though)
-i popped the cap/rotor...looks fine
-when the key is turned to "ON" you can head the fuel pump cycle

we do not have the original manual to know what fuses inside the car may have some effect on this.

any help is appreciated! </TD></TR></TABLE>

sounds like a fuse for sure, if it was the relay then you wouldnt hear the pump prime.
um just pull them and check them, even if you dont know what they're for, just remember where you got them from.

is it throwing a check engine light at all?

 

forgot to say there was no CEL!

 

its a fuse then

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Pr0ject93hb &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">its a fuse then</TD></TR></TABLE>

even though the fuel pump is cycling? what wouldn't be working that is causing it not to fire?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fivespeedintegra &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">even though the fuel pump is cycling? what wouldn't be working that is causing it not to fire?</TD></TR></TABLE>

my car did this exact same thing and it was just a random *** fuse. i cant remember what fuse it was though, it was like 2 years ago.

 

update:

checked every fuse under the hood and under the dash. they're all okay.

what are the symptoms of a bad distributor?

 

check see if you have spark to the plugs my car did the same thing ran fine went out to start the car and nothing if you dont have no spark then its the dizzy .

 

symptoms for is just justting off and wont start

 

Check for spark at the plugs. Sounds like a bad ignition coil to me at this point.

 

this might be a dumb question, but how do you check if you're getting spark?

 

i always check either pull one of the plug wires and put a screwdriver in the wire and lay it on the motor and have someone turn the mototr over and look to see if a spark is jumping from the screwdriver to the motor or you can take the plug out also and put the plug in the wire and lay the wire on the motor and have someone try to start the car while you look at the spark plug and look for spark .Hope this helped you out

 

I just bought my first Honda from a friend for use as a daily. It's a '94 EX. Loving it so far. Today was my first day with the car & it died in a parking lot - same situation as your friend. It would crank and crank and crank - no start. I checked for spark and had none (I just lift the plug-wire off the plug a bit and listen to see if I can hear it arcing.) Ended up being something in the ignition as after replacing the distributor w/ a new one (friend had laying around & gave it to me free) it's 100% back to life! Good luck!

 

Same thing happened to me on friday. ended up being the timing belt jumped like 5+ teeth... (im looking into changing out some valves now... ****!!!!) i changed the belt out today and it started... anyways how many miles are on the car and when was the last time the timing belt was changed? or try changing out the ecu. a friend of mine was chillin in the drive thru line and his car died out. he had spark and fuel still didnt start. he changed out the ecu and IT WORKED!!! rare that its the ecu but its a possibility...

 

If you are getting spark and fuel...its probably a timing belt

 

they said they dint know if they were getting spark or not but they can hear the fuel pump thats why i said check spark and if they got spark then would be ecu

 

yea the ECU is a possible problem....But also just because they hear the fuel pump does not mean its getting fuel. The filter could be cloged or it can have bad injectors. There are a number of things that can be wrong.

 

thanks for the help guys. turns out it was the distributor!

 

if the fuel pump is priming then it souldnt be that.. my only thought would be spark. a SOHC dizzy isnt to pricy just to try it out of borrow someones to se if it solves you problem..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM_ACURA &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if the fuel pump is priming then it souldnt be that.. my only thought would be spark. a SOHC dizzy isnt to pricy just to try it out of borrow someones to se if it solves you problem..</TD></TR></TABLE>

ignore this post.. sorry