So I went home for my week long summer break and drove my car for the first time in six months. I put sta-bil in the tank before I left it and it was not driven during the whole six months I was gone. While home I drove it 2 days and it ran perfectly and started fine and everything was good... Buuut on the third day when I went to start it I had to crank it about 5-10 seconds for it to fire. Once it warms up it runs perfectly and will start fine, its only hard starting when the car has sit for 2 hours or more... I put fresh gas in it and I replaced the plugs because they were destroyed and needed it anyway. I also checked the timing and it was right on. I can hear the fuel pump prime when I turn the key on but I don't know if it is building pressure or if I have another problem. I am thinking its fuel related but I didn't have time to test anything before my break was over and had to fly back to wyoming. I wont be home again till september but I cant stop thinking about this problem...
I am hoping someone has had the same problem but if not does anyone have a thought of what it could be? Oh and its a 90 civic hatch with a b18a1. thanks.

 

I had a similar problem, and turned out the fuel filter was clogged. When was the last time fuel filter was changed?

 

It has probably been a year or so since I have changed the fuel filter.

 

check the comperssion i had a a1 do this to me once its warmed up it didint have a problem did a leak down test and #1 piston ring was bad

 

hmm, I really don't see how low compression on one cylinder could cause it not start like mine does... I would think it would at least fire on the other cylinders when it cranks... But its easy to check so mine as well. thanks for the input.

 

so I got to go home last week and i put a fuel pressure guage on and replaced the filter. Its around 40psi. I am still woundering whats wrong...

 

Could be a cold start compression problem. Those couple cranks help it build compression then it'll fire.

You'll notice summer days are a little easier to start but still not gonna start like normal.

Do a leak down test for sure.

 

it was an overnight thing though, it went from starting in 1 crank to taking 10 seconds to start (which feels like forever) I am thinking it would be some sort of electrical problem but when its hard starting and it fires it seems to pop out the intake for a second like its a timing problem, but i checked timing and it is fine. I am back in wyoming though and have 3 months to think about it before I see it again... still like to know if anyone else has this problem??

 

So I checked compression on all 4 and they were all right around 185 and I didn't see the gauge drop at all over a 5 minute period... I did a little test to check spark by squarting some starting fluid into the intake before cranking and it fired right up, so I am thinking I still have a fuel problem. My fuel pressure guage says there is 40 psi on the outlet of the filter. So my question would be do the injectors have a sensor in the distributor to tell them when to fire, since my engine is obd-0 and I am pretty positive it doesn't have a crank position sensor? Please any input would be helpful...

 

Sounds like the same problem I am having...

 

So I ended up fixing my starting problem when I got back from school a year or so ago. I had another car to drive and I was running out of ideas of what could be wrong because I got a set of injectors from pull-a-part and put those in and nothing changed. So I started unwrapping the engine harness and checking all wires, connections, and grounds and found a few problems that I was kinda pissed to find (I didn't do motor swap so I wasn't mad at myself) But there was a broken temp sender wire and the oxygen sensor wire (single wire obd-0 O2 sensor) wasn't looking to hot either so I repaired that wire too. I then added a few grounds that ground the motor to the frame in a few spots, mainly the main ground for the engine harness where its attached to the engine, which was by the thermostat on my car. After doing these few things I re-wrapped my harness and the car fired up like it used to. This car is my DD and I work 7 days a week and it hasn't given me a single problem ever since I fixed the starting problem. Hope you can find your problem, but I kinda doubt it is going to be the same as mine, I think my problem was rather unique and doesn't happen to everyone, or anyone else for that matter...