a few days ago I replaced a ground that needed doing. Prior to this, the car was not starting on some occassions, and I assumed it was the ground. Once it was changed, it worked fine for a couple of days.

Then, this morning, my roomate tried to start my car, and no go. So I started checking things. It was turning over, but it wasn't starting.

I checked the grounds, checked the dizzy cap for moisture (it's been a raining/snowing recently), and then a buddy came over and we had a peek at the spark plugs (which were getting spark)... there was some oil in cylinder 2 on the spark plug... (we cleaned that up...but I'm not sure of the source of the oil..)

we pulled the spark plugs out, and put them back in again, and it started... I put it back in the driveway, and started it again successfully a couple of times tonight when I got home... there are some cel's, which I will check tomorrow..

any thoughts on what is causing this??? it's something that is inconsistent... anybody else had problems like this?

 

What year Civic?

Definitely pull the CEL codes as soon as possible.

If the fuel pump fails to prime when the engine won't start, a prime suspect is the main relay.

 

my main relay solder joints were weak and sometimes my car did the same thing. opened up the relay and resoldered the joints.

good as new

 

I will also agree that if the fuel pump is not priming when the car will not start.. prime suspect is the pgm-fi main relay. if this is in a 92-95 honda civic it's located near the hood release latch.. try tapping on it untill you hear the fuel pump prime then the car start.

As already stated.. You will need to remove the 10mm bolt holding it in.. take a flathead screw driver and pop the cover off and if you can solder.. touch up the joints and viola your problem should be fixed.. I used to have a very detailed write up for this years ago.. I'll try to find it for you.

Considering this is an inconsistent problem for some reason i really think it's probally your main relay.. very common problem on 92-95 civics.

As far as the oil on the plugs.. It's possible it's time to replace the spark plug tube seals in the valve cover. You can pull the valve cover off and inspect

Most definitely pull the CEL's asap and go from there.

 

some pics i took when i did it
shitty pics, but it's hard to focus that close on a camera phone, so deal with it. lol





the black stuff is a little bit of acid from the solder.

 

Click this link for detailed information on resoldering the main relay.

 

thanks for the replies guys.. tried checking for cel's, and of course, when I jumped it, they wouldn't come up... uggh...

driving tonight, the car was starting to do something bad (felt like a backfire>>> a "hiccup" if you will), it would then throw a code, and would stop doing it...

I will have a look at the main relay... I'm thinking the dizzy may also be part of the problem... thoughts?

 

Try again to pull the CEL code as described here.