Approx. 4 months ago I spun a main bearing in my 95 Integra LS. I was mortified. After a long discussion with my most knowledgeable "gear-head" friend I decided to rebuild my first engine. It has been a very long and insightful experience, which I quickly realized will continue to be an ongoing hobby. I'll try to be as clear and concise as I possibly can...

A brief review...
Vehicle - 1995 Acura Integra LS 1.8l Non-VTEC (Manual Transmission)
Block - 20/10 Crank, .020" Over Pistons
Head - Certified Rebuilt, ARP Studs (Stock PR4)

Pretty much everything aside from the over bore in the block and the head studs everything replaced was stock.

The Problem...
The grunt work and large expenses are done for the moment but I still have an issue. It will crank but not start. Though it tries.

What I have already done...
-I am getting spark, fuel and compression. (Cyl 1= 180, Cyl 2= 181, Cyl 3= 170, Cyl 4= 179). Concerned with Cyl 3 I performed a very thorough valve adjustment and set timing with a light as best as I could with the starter driving the crank.

-I have tried starting while a friend makes small adjustments to the distributor slightly advancing and retarding. This made very little difference.

-I am not receiving any codes on my cluster after shorting my 'Service Check Connector'. The check engine light stays solid. When not shorted the light goes off after 2 sec. indicating no issues.

-I have scanned the engine bay for countless hours looking for additional connectors I may have forgotten to plug in.

-I have disconnected / reconnected countless sensors, relays and fuses.

Can anyone shed some new light on my situation? I am stumped.

Thank you in advance for any help you have to offer.

 

Are you sure you have the correct firing order? How do the plugs look?

 

I traced cables twice, firing order is correct. Thought the same thing yesterday and my friend today brought the same question up. After pulling plugs I was able to determine that I was in fact receiving fuel and did notice that the tips were slightly blackened. We cleaned and put back in. Now that you mention it - do you have any idea why the brand new plugs blackened so quickly with little to no combustion? Dirty fuel was my guess.

 

They are just gettin drowned man...saturated with gas. Put some new ones in there for the hell of it...see what happens.

 

Doublecheck the cam timing?

When you say "trouble starting", do you mean like it cranks slowly?
Or it cranks and cranks, but just doesnt fire up?

 

double check your wiring harness conectors,like its easy to switch the tps and map sensor plugs they use the same 3 prong conector...and make sure you have the ground wire connected to the thermo housing and the ground on the valve cover.

 

You won't get a CEL unless the motor is on for at least 20-30 secs.

 

Pull a plug with the wire on it and let it arc to see how sufficient your spark actually is. It sounds like you are getting enough fuel, but not a solid spark. Try getting new plugs also.

 

4g hatch
I can take a closeer look at that later once I get out of work. Do you have or can you maybe direct me to a photo where I can physically see the wiring harness connections?

 

Mr. EG
I've pulled every plug and grounded on clean exhaust manifold while trying to start and received bright and sufficient spark.

 

mouab18c1
How do they expect people to diagnose problems that would prevent the car from starting then?

 

PyroProblem
Cranks and cranks but doesn't fire up. Every once and a while I'll get a lil "puhhh" but nothing significant. I'm getting great compression though in all 4 cylinders so wouldn't cam timing be out of the question? Or no not necessarily?

 

clean rice
I pulled them all out after trying for a few hours and cleaned them while recharging my battery last night and it made no difference. These plugs were brand new. When I rebuilt I got a brand new Dist. Cap, Rotor, Plugs and Wires. I can try but I'm kinda short on money until Thursday and unless I'm absolutely sure that new plugs will make the diff. I'm a lil weary.

 

By the way, I really appreciate all of the help I've been receiving from you guys. Please keep it coming though cause I'm still confused.

 

well there is a ground wire from your main wire harness that connects to the thermo housing,it should be a couple little wires running to one circle connector that just goes under a 10mm bolt..its easy to over look..then theres one from the top of the valve cover that goes to the radiator support........ also there should be one from the tranny to the side of the frame of the car...the tps and map plugs are easy to switch....check your grounds first if there good then switch the tps and map plugs and try to crank it...if it doesnt change then switch them back to they way you had them origanlly....i dont know of any diagrams right off hand so im trying to expain it the best i can

 

is the mechanical timing still on with the motor?, have you made sure you are getting spark? you said you got a new distributor? try another dizzy and see what happens

 

I was thinking ground wires as well. Also what about injector wires being in the wrong position? Maybe one and two are switched around.

 

Having the tps and map sensor backwards will still allow the motor to fire, it'll just run rough.

 

Process of elimination.

 

How old is the gas?
Does it smell kinda stale?

 

You can still have decent compression numbers even if the cam timing is off a little bit. Remember, a compression test is primarily used to compare each cylinders compression to each other, not necessarily to see if it meets a certain psi specification...

Another thing I forgot to mention. Some guys new to the honda game dont realize the B series engines rotate counter-clockwise, unlike almost every other engine. If you put the plug wires on assuming your engine rotates clockwise, this could also be an issue...

 

Bump for "Hey man," MAYBE he'll see it this time..

 

PyroProblem
After skimming through the manual today at work I learned about the counter clockwise rotation. But even still, the diagram for the distributer still indicates that the firing order travels in a clockwise pattern which would make since means how it is on the opposite side of the motor. Although I am a little concerned with timing now after learning this because when I originally set timing while the engine was out of the vehicle, I set it rotating clockwise. I've heard this can offset the timing slightly.

 

4g hatch
Yeah I gathered what you meant. But when you say "thermo housing" are you referring to the FITV? Cause I actualy took that apart last night and thoroughly cleaned and tightened the plastic part on the inside in hopes of eliminating that erratic idle for when the car decides to finally start.

 

Riceburner700
I am getting sufficient spark, the distributer is definately receiving and sending spark to the appropriate cylinders. I've checked this more than three times already.