1997 Accord LX with 212k and a new F22 w/ 40-60k put in not even 10k miles ago.

So the other night I'm driving home at 1 in the morning and it's freezing. I look down to see that my car is warmed up and ready to heat me up, so I turn my heat all the way on. Almost simultaneously the lights begin to dim slightly on my dash, then with a flicker. I am coasting at about 40MPH at this time and decide to give it some gas to see what is going on, to have my car slowly die. The engine had shutoff completely at this point, along with my breaks etc., just not anything electrical. I stop in the middle of the road, radio still on, headlights, heat, everything. I go to start it, it cranks numerous times, but doesn't start up. The crank sounded a little airy, not like normal, so I was thinking maybe the compression isn't right. But, ended up pushing the car down the street, with the help of a cop, then my dad, then another cop, and eventually got it to a parking spot.

Today, we went back and ran some tests. The car had good spark in all the plugs, we sprayed starter fluid into the intake which had no affect, so the car is getting fuel, and also checked to see if the lifters are opening up, which they are. My cousin seems to think the car jumped time, which would sum everything up, but either it's just coincidence that I turned the heat on at that exact moment or it's something electrical. I'm going back now that I have some jumper cables to see if maybe it's something as simple as a crap battery, but I doubt it is. Maybe it's the starter or distributor, or something else. Really just looking for ideas of some simple look overs I could try before I pay to send it to the shop.

Thanks.

 

When was the Timing Belt last changed out?

P

 

Not even 10k miles ago.

 

I'd stick a probe down the #1 spark plug hole to determine TDC and verify where the Distributor rotor is pointing.
It could well be the Distributor itself, but I would want to confirm the cam timing hadn't changed.
Is the Alternator the original? I had a customer who's alt brushes wore to the point that the Alternator quit on a cold rainy night, and ran the car until the battery went dead. Surprising thing was that it worked the next morning - for all of about 15 minutes.

P

 

Thanks a lot P. It was a little late and too dark for us to do this as my car is a sitting duck. The battery certainly was drained. We took it too Advanced and had them charge it, put it back in, but to no avail. Whenever the car FIRST died Sunday night, whenever you'd try to start it back up, the starter sounded just like normal, except it wouldn't catch and start up. Now it sounds as though the starter is spinning freely and has no, "uh uh" sound when turning the key. My cousin still thinks it jumped time, and since my car is parked at an Employee spot at a bank, it's being towed to the shop tomorrow.

 

With the missing 'uh, uh' noise, I suspect you may be revisiting the Timing Belt job. Were the seals replaced when the Timing belt was replaced? Perhaps a sprocket bolt backed out ..... (it sounds like low (insufficient) compression. Ick!

P

 

Yeah, everything was replaced when the new engine was put in, along with the timing belt. Yeah, to me it sounded like low compression which is why I'm also thinking it jumped time. I've gone through 4 hotside PS pump lines, each time resulting in fluid all over the place. I'm thinking that could have aided in the jump, but that was a while ago. Not sure, though, we'll figure it all out tomorrow.

 

The key rocked it's way out and lead to my valves bending and or snapping. Selling the car for $500-$1000 and buying a 2000 Civic to get my around for a bit.