i have a b16b in a 1997 hatch. ive got dual springs,hi comp valves,and retainers and thats all that is done to the motor. since i got the valve job done the car kinda took a spin on me. it ran fine from the shop untill i ran a m3 one day and something made a popping sound from under the hood at the top of 3rd gear. since then the car has been running like ****. cutting out like im having fuel problems. but im not. finally it got so bad it would barely drive then it just stopped running and starting period. that day i re adjusted the valves into factory specs, checked all my connections and changed my plugs. as soon as i changed my plugs it ran fine. then a day later started acting up again. this time i stripped the distrubuter down and cleaned every element. made sure my timing was correct on both the gears and the dizzy. once i put the dizzy back together the car ran fine. harder then it ever has. and just yesterday it started cutting out again. first was during hard acceleration in vtec. then it started in regular driving and now it wont run right and hardly starts. now when it trys to start it sometimes sounds like a beached whale and white smoke comes out of my intake. it sounds bad and i dont know what to do anymore. im going to start today with the spark portion by ordering a new cap and rotor. but i want a second opinion. im sure this has happened to someone else so any help would be appricated so i can be driving by monday. thanks to everyone at honda-tech

 

Test the coil and igniter unit in the distributor.

 

and how do i do that?

 

Take the ICM to an auto parts store for testing.

Here's how to test the coil:

 

and what does icm stand for?

 

Ignition control module -- also referred to as the igniter unit for 5th generation Civics.

 

where is that located at?

 

Inside the distributor:

 

ah ok that helps alot so your sayin if i take the icm to advanced auto they can test it for me?

 

Yes

 

thanks

 

still hasnt fixed the problem both the icm and the coil are good and just replaced the rotor arm

 

What exactly are the current problems? No start or rough running? Any CEL codes?

 

current problems today are it wont even attempt to crank so im gonna check the plugs and make sure they are gapped right i have some ngks gapped at .044 ready to go incase they need to be switched out. the motor currently has hks iridium plugs. but yesterday it tried to run but didnt run for long ran it around the block as soon as i pulled in the driveway it just died and struggled to start again. then started that noise that sounds like the engine is like running backwords and keeps doing it after i take the key out followed by white smoke out of the intake tube. so yeah im ****ing lost

 

It's hard to understand what you are saying. A video would be great. However, I would highly suspect there to be a blown headgasket. Maybe it was installed improperly. Just an idea....

 

ill work on a video if i can get it to fire it stumps me

 

If I were you, I would figure out a way to do a leakdown test.

 

i think it might have something to do with water damage cause a storm crept up on me and it started raining cats and dogs and streets were flooded and all that ****. on top of that my car used to be an auto so i still got all these holes in the firewall from a mixture of taking out useless **** and gutting my whole heater box and all my vents.

 

whats a leakdown test?

 

my passenger floorboard is soaked and my car smells like *** already tore apart the ecu and its fine no water damange but idk

 

http://www.c-speedracing.com/howto/l...n/leakdown.php

If your engine was hydro locked, you'd know without a single doubt. The white smoke for some reason tells me that the head gasket may have failed. Have you took off the oil cap to see if there is a coolant/oil mixture?

 

CEL codes?

Your battery now may be low.

The backfiring suggests your timing is way off. Post pictures of your cam and crank at TDC1.