Hello.

Welcome to amateur hour!
_______

I'm working on a 1990 Accord EX.

After several repairs that required removing Timing-Belt, never had a problem.

Then, on the last repair, after the Timing-Cover reinstalled, accessories and motor mounts reattached. . .

TDC=starts right up, runs great!
Next start, turns over but doesn't start.
Crap!
Took timing belt off, double-checked TDC=car started right up, ran great.
Next start, turns over, but doesn't start.
Crap!
Took timing. . .

You get the picture.

TDC=starts
non-TDC=no start

What have I done wrong?

I've searched Honda-Tech and read threads for days.

A tooth off? TDC sensor in distributor?

Holy Cow! I am stumped. [and stupid]

Thank you very much.
esmzoso

 

Why are you removing the belt each time? Is the cam to crank phasing not holding? Are you not properly tensioning the belt? If the crank and cam are out of phase at the second start then you are not correctly bolting down the belt tensioner. Remember the engine rotates counter clockwise.

 

Hello.

That makes sense. The tension isn't correct so I end up out of phase after the first startup.

The last time, I just put it back to TDC. I didn't remove the belt. Then it started up. I thought I had it. But since I'm turning it counter-clockwise, maybe I got the tension set back correctly.

Bad tension would give me at least 3 teeth of play in the timing.

I'll go back out on Saturday and reset the tension. Then I'll post back here.

I knew it was probably something simple. I just needed a kick in the head. It seems that sometimes I over-think things. [me and over-thinking = oxymoron]

Thank you very much.
esmzoso

 

Hello.

I went out on Saturday and the car started right up. I drove it around for a while, parked it, started right up again. Kinda weird.

So I checked all my grounds and put a cap on the positive battery terminal because it was loose.

I'll see if I get another intermittent problem with start up.

esmzoso

 

Hello.

I thought that I would update this:

It turns out that it wasn't timing at all. It was electrical. I read a bunch of threads about Check Engine Lights/Flashing S errors. I went through some of the recommendations posted one at a time.

The one that worked was putting a set of jumper cables on the car.

Explanation:

When I was putting the car back on TDC, I was unhooking the battery cables. This was resetting my Check Engine Light.

I would test drive the car for a short distance, then park it. [I have 3 cars, 2 of which are in a constant state of repair]

I would go back out a week later; car wouldn't start.

It seems that when the battery was low, it wouldn't send a strong enough signal to the TCU/ECM. That would kick on the Check Engine Light/Flashing S. [according to some of the threads regarding this subject had noted]

I thought that this was important enough to post to this old thread and let anyone that was interested know that it was something simple.

This site is unbelievably helpful and I appreciate all the knowledgeable people who regularly post here.

esmzoso