I'm starting this thread to report progress as I get her started again.

As winter as reared its ugly head in the North East, daily driving my EF was starting to become a love/hate relationship. Decided it was time to add heat to the swap. Installed heater the core, replaced radiator for good measure and everything was awesome. Drove to work with heat and I couldn't have been more happy.

That night, went christmas shopping and she died on the road. Started right up and I kept going figuring it was my B/S idle problems acting up. It always bogged but never shut down. I got home from shopping and a fair amount of white smoke was coming from under the hood. Immediately, I figured it was spare coolant from earlier in the day with a slight idea of a worn head gasket in the back of my head (was prayin it wasnt).

Woke up the next morning and started her up and went to the store to get cigs. When I got back out, she wouldn't start. cranked, but didnt turn over.

Had to wait three days for a tow due to the holidays. In the meantime I went back to the parking lot and tested for spark. Wasn't getting spark to the plugs so pulled my dizzy cap, no oil, but a load of grease on the contacts so cleaned it up, went back and replaced it. still no start.

Getting the car back tomorrow so I'll be working on it all day.

From what was visible, no loose connections under the hood from the radiator replacement, no coolant leaks, fuel pressure gauge is reading zero even when primed.

I plan on inspecting the dizzy further, doing my standard checks for fuel, spark and compression in a better environment than a parking lot, along with checking my oil for contamination. Also, I plan on removing my dash once more to make sure wires aren't pinched or fried.

Any comments/ideas are welcome.

updates tomorrow.

 

If it's not getting fuel or spark, it's probably a bad main relay. If it's getting fuel, but your fuel pressure gauge is busted (showing 0 psi but you've determined it is getting fuel), and not getting spark, then it's probably just a bad coil in the distributor. Was the car an SI or HF to start with? Is the CEL on?

 

1991 SI with MSD setup, no CEL.

Tow truck hasn't dropped the car off yet.

 

Consider this a build thread from here on out. I bought this car back in August and its been nothing but problems.

Since I bought it I've had the following problems:

-transmission had to be rerouted because it wouldn't crank
-flex pipe installed because mid-pipe severed from the exhaust manny
-new tires due to baldness
-heater core because no heat
-radiator because mounts were severed off and was sitting on my traction bar
-front passenger control arm is loose and needs to be replaced

The guy who towed it was my family's long-time mechanic. They thought the ecu was fried and were going to ship it out to Texas for diagnosis for $1400. I said f*ck that and now its in my driveway.

Pulled back the carpet to see if there were any noticeable problems with the ecu. Well, yeah there is a problem.

37820-P06-A51

According to Hondata the P06 is from a 92-95 Civic DX non-vtec. So there's a problem already. Only good thing is that its OBD-1. Also, since the 5 signifies automatic transmission, that ain't gonna fly.

First order of business, new ecu.

Obviously, poor decision purchasing this specific car as its been nothing but a money pit so far. I was an idiot for trusting the seller and thinking that I wouldn't run into any problems Good thing is, by the time I'm done rebuilding this CORRECTLY, the experience and time I put into it will be something to be proud of.

 

Dude, stop! You don't need a new ecu. Auto ecus get converted to manuals lol. It's also chipped to run your B16A.

Not sure what you mean by rerouting the transmission haha. And tires are a part of regular maintenance, so you can't really bitch about that.

 

yea i dont look at the tires as being a "problem" just money i dropped on this thing.

we had to override the necessity to have the clutch in while starting it.

im just super frustrated right now. its freezing out and no garage so its difficult to get stuff done.

i mean usually when theres a problem, its something you may have done while fixing the last. i just dont understand how the night before and morning of it was running fine. i literally woke up, went to the sunoco, restarted the car, turned it off and it wouldnt turn over again.

 

No fuel pressure as my gauge still reads zero, no spark, no oil contaminants and tested the main relay. Relay is good according to a post on HT on testing it. Took it apart as well and all soldering is fine. Testing the connectors next.

 

Yea, neutral safety switches tend to go bad on all higher mileage Hondas. Well, not the switch itself, but the rubber plunger piece that engages the switch deteriorates. Did you find any blue/white plastic crayon lookin' pieces in your floorboard?

 

No crayon pieces from what i saw. What would they signify?

I'm thinkin drop the MSD equipment and go back to OEM honda dizzy setup.

 

I think that's a splendid idea.....I've mostly heard bad things about MSD in peoples Honda's.....There was one guy that seemed to have a decent set up. There's nothing wrong with the OEM coil and dizzy set up, it's a lot stronger and durable than you think.

 

everyone proclaims the msd allows higher revs and redline but from everything i read it doesnt make much difference between the oem and msd.

gonna pull my dizzy and check what will match up at my local pepboys or advance auto. for some reason when it was in the shop and they tried to replace the dizzy, the only part that seemed to fit was a GSR dizzy. does that make any sense? i figure the bolting layout is the primary concern for fitment; next being the size engine its for and connector fittings.

 

okay got some results today. when i jump the main relay to send electricity through the system, my distributor/MSD system and fuel issues are solved. checked under the dash and my two grounds are secure from when the dash was removed.

also re-wired my engine and transmission grounds today as well with 8-gauge wire.

this is where I'm stumped. anyone have similar problems in the past?

 

spark plugs, dizzy cap and fuel filter. still no start.

pulled the ecu out of frustration. fried capacitor.

 

removed old electrolytic capacitor and soldered a new one in. now im hearing more bells and whistles when i turn my key to I and II in the ignition.

still no start

not hearing fuel pump prime when i turn the key. pulled up the back seat, tested the connector to the fuel pump. only getting 6V. pump isnt fried though. took two 6V batteries to get 12V and sent it to the pump. pump is humming so thats a plus i dont have to drop the tank.

going to trace the harness from the pump to the front and check my grounds in the harness today.

 

continuity exists from the pump harness to the main relay connection. started testing my connections from the relay to the ecu. green to green on my obd0 wires was good. but blue/white and yellow/black wires appear grounded somewhere within the harness to the ecu. taking car apart to access the harness and check for fried or pinched wires.

question though. i tested all the pins for my A plug in the OBD0 wires. had four grounds which i was supposed to have. a fifth ground was happening in the pin connecting my IAVC to ecu. is the IAVC wire supposed appear grounded?

 

pulled second fuse from under kick panel and the two relay wires stopped acting as grounds. anyone have any ideas?

you're all lookin but not replying.