wasup guys! i got a 90 civic si and it wouldn't start i changed everuthing new distributor there is a spark and gas i see smoke whenever i try to start my car and it still won't start. Now im thinking it might be the timing is off, how do you change it and how do you know if its on the right timing can someone give me a diagram or anything that can help me change my timing belt. Oh and i forgot to tell you the timing belt was hella loose before it completly died on me. i need help thanks guys

 

shotgun method... spray it w/ parts and hope one hits the problem.

a good indication of timing being off is incorrect compression.
if you dont have a compression tester there is a good indicator of compression. when you turn it over w/ the coil unhooked and it cranks evenly(ra ra ra ra ) the compression is fine. if it is uneven (ra ra ra RA ra ra ra RA) you have low compression on one or more cylinder.

there are so many reasons why a car wont start. im gonna give you a piece of advise my teacher gave me once about diagnosis of a no start. "Keep it simple stupid!"

first check for spark. use the plug that goes in the cylinder and use the wire. if there is no fire, test for spark out of a post of the dist cap. if still no spark do a coil firing test. test lighe from power terminal to ground side of coil. while cranking there should be a flash.

if you have spark, check fuel pressure. if you dont have a pressure tester, just spray some gas in the intake and see if it trys to start. if that doesnt help check for injector pulse.

i had a honda accord that was missfiring the other day REALY bad. you know what the problem was? someone had put the vacuum lines on backwards to the egr solenoid. what would happen if the solenoid was shorted? how do you test for that? try unpluging the solenoid.

as far as timing is concerned, if you havent ever done a timing belt, i wouldnt recomend trying it w/out someone there who knows what they are doing. honda engines are usualy nonfreewheeling engines, so if you are off with the timing you can bend your valves when the piston hits them

 

oh and if you wanna check timing just to be sure, it aint to hard. loosten the valve cover a bit to get out the upper timing cover. then turn the engine until the mark on the cam gear is lined up w/ the side of the head. the gear says UP on the side. make sure it is pointed up allso or the cam will be 180 out. then just look to see if the mark on the crank pully ligns up. i say lign up the cam first because there is usualy more than one mark on the crank pully. this is an over view that will apply to MOST hondas, in my experience. there are minor differences, w/ some but its the same basic idea. example being b16, you can half *** check just by pulling off the valve cover.

 

thanks for the help! well there is a spark and fuel cause whenever i try to start it my car would back fire and a smoke comes out of my exhaust. distributor is brand new, no error code on my ECU. its cranks but no firing at all i can hear in my engine that its trying to start and i would hear a small explosion.