ok so heres my problem.

the car: 97 civic DX.....192xxxmiles ran like a champ prior to this


After i went to a mandatory military send-off event that was quite some distance away it was time to go home, after about 15-20 mins on the highway the car just randomly died. after waiting forever and a day the AAA guy came to the rescue. i assumed it was the dizzy since the car randomly died and she wont crank.... well i got got her home and took a look, i managed to get another dizzy from a buddy and still no turning over( the dizzy was slightly questionable) well i managed to get my obd-2 reader back into my hands and the odd thing is i plugged it up to pull the codes and i get -------NO LINK------ wierd because i have pulled codes before so here are my guestimated conclusion

1)DEAD ECU
2)DEAD DIZZY
3)DEAD FUEL PUMP
4) A COMBINATION OF EITHER 1&2 or 1&3



I NEED HELP ASAP, im deploying on staurday to duty and i cant leave my lady with a dead car.

the car cranks, all electronics work, there IS a CEL on, i checked the plugs and they are dry and they look good.

 

main relay maybe

 

check the backup fuse!

 

quite possible, i checked all under-hood fuses and all are good, i briefly but not thuroughly checked the under-dash fuses

 

hmm????

 

ok, i get confused because people say it wont turn over, crank, fire etc.

cranking implies exactly that.
is the starter spinning the engine? turning over is the same thing. is the starter spinning the engine?

i ask because unless the dizzy is so locked up to not allow the engine to crank, its probably not the issue.

main relay? is there gas in the car?
you need 4 things for it to run:
fuel
air
compression
and correct timing.

did the t belt jump?

 

if it were me.
replace fuel filter. then fuel pump.
check to see if theres fuel getting to the rail.
22mm i believe, crack the fuel line to the rail and crank it over
get a rag on handy, obviously. hell u might have ran out of gas lol

 

Im thinking power to ecu because of the no link displayed by the reader.

 

i always thought crank is the starter turning the motor and when it actually turns on it was concidered "turning over"..

anyway thats besiedes the point

yes there is gas in the car, havent really looked into the main relay but a likely suspect.
dont know if the car jumped timing( as noob as it sounds how can i tell)

btw thanx for ur input, i really appreciate it!

 

im thinkin the same...............

 

ok so if the cars not cranking "turning over" the dizzy wont be the cause that would make it crank but not start. does the engine turn over by hand? when you say it doesnt crank does it do anything do you have lights, radio, anything? can you jumper the starter to get it to crank? Is the battery good for sure?

 

x2

Don't guess, diagnose. Theres no point replacing things that MIGHT be the problem.

 

One more thing, what kind of code reader are you using? Not all code readers will work with the car not running. It may say no link because the car isn't running.

 

im not 100% sure of the brand of the reader but it does read when the car is on "contact".

yes i have lights, ect and when i mean it cranks its when u turn the key and the starter turns the engine becasue the rocker arms are moving and the belts/pulleys are turning. i have not tried to turn the engine by hand yet.

 

Check to make sure you are getting fuel, pull one of your injectors out and have someone turn the key on but don't start it. Fuel should spray out so keep a rag handy and aim away from your face lol.

 

lol if it would start it be great, its midnight where im at right now and its kinda nippy and i gotta go play g.i. joe tomorrow at 5am so i need some sleep.... ill go back at it 2morrow

 

btw i tried reading the code by putting a clip into the blue plug on the passenger side and for some reason the only thing blinking was the "SRS" light........wierd x2

 

Try pulling CEL codes using the jumper wire method.

Clean and tighten the critical ground wire attached to the thermostat housing.

Replace hood fuse 44 and dash fuses 13 and 31 with known good fuses.

 

make sure u take a good look at fuses they may look good but some times there blown, if u do think its the ECU try to find a friend u can plug urs into (NOTE don't plug UR FRIENDS IN yours if you have a short it will fry his ECU also) to check if thats the case...even if they have a EX or LX u could plug urs in and there car will run...just wont read v tech on the ex....

 

thanx, will try this and see what happens from here

 

ok so finally got some time in the very last minutes of my stay at home and i checked the fuses with a tester.... turns out mister fuse 13 was blown.. so i further diagnose (fuse 13 (SRS) fuel pump) and i find out after tracing the wiring harness the person that owend the car before me had a ghetto makeshift kill switch on and i guess he eventually took it off, spliced the wires back together but neglected to take them up..... *******


thanks for your assistance all

 

check all of those fuses CLOSELY and might try and swap that ECU or look at it.

 

ok when ur turn ur key and u hear those 3 clicks au kno ur main relay is good....if u hear ur fuel pump priming then u kno ur good there its honestly sound like a igition switch witch is a notorious problems with our cars hey spend the 60 bucks see if it works and if it does ur mint ..but if not just return it ..you got nothing to lose

 

car starts fine now, i wraped that piece of exposed wired that obviously grounded out, replaced the fuse and she turned RIGHT on