Forgive me, I'm not too familiar with these cars.

Background: I'm working on a friend's 1991 Integra that she recently bought. The car died while driving and wouldn't start again. She wanted to get it running and take care of anything else it needed. I started by replacing a few things that were clearly bad. The battery wouldn't hold any charge, had it tested (bad) and got a new one. Replaced bad wires, plugs, cap, and rotor. The spark plug holes had oil leaking into them, so I decided to replace the valve cover gasket set. When I pulled off the valve cover, I found the timing belt very old and very loose, and the cams were off time by 1 or 2 teeth. So I replaced the belt, tensioner, and water pump, and reassembled. Now it cranks but will not start.

I'm 100% sure the cam timing is correct.

No CEL/MIL. Comes on for 2 seconds then goes off. Tried jumping the connector also, but no codes.

I'm getting great spark on all 4 plugs. I don't have a timing light here today to check the timing.

The fuel pump is "priming" when I turn the key to run. I see and smell some fuel on the plugs after cranking. I also connected a spare injector to all 4 injector connections while cranking the engine and felt it firing. I have not checked the fuel pressure yet.

The tachometer is not moving at all when I crank the engine. The owner says it never worked right before, it moved erratically.

The wiring harness looks like it might be in bad shape (electrical tape, etc). I cannot find the ground(s) that should be on the thermostat housing (according to everything I've seen). I've looked all over the engine from above and below, and the ONLY ground I see goes from the battery down to the body then to a bracket on the transmission. It looks rough but it ohms out fine. There's also some "extra" grounds (RED 10ga wire) added by the previous owner. One from the battery to the body, and the other from the battery to the cylinder head.

I don't see any blown fuses under the hood or under the dash.

I've tested the resistance of the CKP, CYP, and TDC sensors and they check good at about 380 ohms.

Help. I know it's a long post, but I'm trying to give as much information as I can.

 

It's impossible for you to have spark at all 4 plugs AND a tach whose needle doesn't move. Unless there is aftermarket-related damage to the electrical system...

Hook up an inductive timing light to the #1 plug wire, then operate the starter. Where are the timing marks on the crank pulley relative to the timing belt cover? Or does the light not flash at all?

 

if it cranks and you got both fuel and spark, my guess is when you did the timing belt the timing got messed up, or the distributor is 180 off..

and also, if the only ground you have is on the trannsmission theres a problem, the car shouldnt even crank unless you have a ground on the starter.

 

Well I know it's odd, but it certainly is possible because I've been observing it the past 2 days. Spark on all 4 cylinders, but no tach. Like I said, the tach didn't work right before, so it may be a separate issue inside the cluster.

Today I put an inductive timing light on it while cranking and I get NOTHING. I can pull the plug, ground it, and watch it spark what seems very strong, but the timing light will not pick anything up. Timing light tested and works fine on another vehicle.

 

Shoot a shot of carb cleaner or starter in the intake and turn in over and see if it will fire over for a second...

 

After messing with it a while, I got the timing light to somewhat work on the car (works fine on my car). The inductive clip has to be right near the distributor for the light to flash at all. It's not flashing consistently though. I think that is the timing being very inconsistent but it's possibly the timing light. Advancing/retarding the distributor doesn't change anything either.

 

Say what??? There is no ground to the starter, the starter grounds through it's case when mounted to the engine/transmission.

The cars main ground(s) are as mentioned, from batt. to chassis, [under batt.] from chassis to engine/transmission, this is a single cable on G2s.

There is a VC ground but it is mostly for noise suppression for the radio.

As for spark and no tach, it may just be a bad tach or a connection problem between the distributor assembly and the tach.


I agree you need to confirm valve timing and you definatly need a timing light to check ign. timing, checking fuel pressure on a 21 year old car is also a must.

You will also need to find the thermostat grounds, engine will not run without those leads grounded.94

 

Thanks for the reply.

The car has definitely been running without those grounds on the thermostat, so I suspect they're grounded somewhere else that I can't find. Like I said in my first post, I think the harness has been messed with. Maybe it's not even for this car.

I have tried to check the timing with a timing light, read my last post (right above yours). I will try to check the fuel pressure tomorrow. What's the best way to hook up a gauge on this car? Of course I don't have a fitting to go right into the test port on the top of the fuel filter.

 

the ignition is probably too weak.
buy an HEI tester and use that. groundingthe spark plug outside the cylinder puts absolutely no resistance on the ignition system. inside the cylinder, that .060" or whatever it is, is comparable to a 3.00" gap, under the resistance of cylinder pressures.
get the HEI tester. install it. confirm. takes 2 minutes and costs next to nothing.

also, on a 91, to check codes, you have to pull up the passanger carpet to gain access to the ecm. on the ecm there is an led. KOEO, the led will flash any stored codes. no need to jump the service connector