Ok Honda gurus....BRAND NEW to Hondas!!! And limited knowledge as a mechanic to begin with. So.....what the hell was I thinking when I bought my frankenstein CRX. 89 SI, Minime swap 91 A6/94Z6 head. I try to do research about it.....just wanna know more I guess....my thoughts so far......I suck *** at mechanic work. I work on computers for a living and it just comes natural.....but this......geeeeez. Its gonna take me some time.......but I might get lucky and learn something. So.......I changed the oil, plugs, wires, distro cap and button the other day, and my idiot friend said I should pour some seafoam in the oil because my heads looked dirty.......he poured maybe a quarter of the bottle in there.......it ran for about 200 miles......like a beast I might add. And now, it will turn over but wont start. So I wonder if the plugs are fouled or something off the wall??? Gonna check for spark tomorrow....... Any suggestions?? Oh.....one last thing, it was hard to get to the screw on the rotor button when I was changing it out so I was gonna get in and turn the key on to move it.....but it wouldnt move......I thought that was strange??? I obviously was able to finally get it....and like I said....I drove it for 200+ miles after all this......any light on the subject would be awesome. And if I didnt post this right or I didnt use the right lingo.......dont get all "greater than thou" and act like a bad ***.......cause chances are......Im better than you at something......Im pretty big so I could probably out eat you......just sayin foo!!

 

Check the screw on the rotor button. Sometimes they come loose.

 

Uhhhhh you do realize that Seafoam breaks oil down right? You're supposed to go a MAXIMUM of 50 miles.

 

91legend.......I didnt realize that but it is what it is. Live and learn thats for sure. Gonna start digging into it this afternoon so I will hopefully know something by then. My first step is draining the oil and go from there.

 

Just so you know its somewhat common for bad things like this to happen when seafoam is used (not always though).

You should know its likely to burn oil (or smoke from the exhaust) for a while after you get it running again.

If I were you I would use regular oil and not synthetic for this oil change.

 

grog......thanks for the heads up bro. That is assuming I ever get her running again. I never have any good luck when it comes to my cars. I wanted to get to it today but family calls!!!

 

If you didn't change the oil yet do it asap and don't run the car til you do.. Then I would only run that oil for maybe 500-1000 miles then do another oil change to make sure you get all the seafoam out. My eyes sea foaming a higher mileage motor is asking for disaster that's just my opinion.. Plugs def need to be changed and would def check the rotor to make sure the screw didn't back out.. Keep us updated on what's going on.

 

Why do people never read the directions on the can?

 

I know its easy to rag on him for this but dont forget about his friends bad advice, It wasn't the OP's idea.
I know when I was less experienced I would have done the exact same thing. I would have just let my freind who was supposedly knowlegeable handle it, beside "he's done it before".

Not sure if you guys can relate to this but groups of people can do stupid things sometimes.

I know reading the directions is always a good idea, but give the guy a break, he was lead astray.

 

Yeah. You could use that argument but ultimately anything that goes on your car or in it is your responsibility. My first car was a 76 Dodge Aspen. Didn't know how to work on cars back then but I had a friend that helped me work on it. The difference between the OP and me was that I just didn't hand my car over to someone and "trust" that he was doing things correctly. I also did the work and didn't just watch.

OP. Change the oil and hope for the best. If I were you I'd take the car to a shop if it starts.

 

Ok grumblemarc........since I'm the new guy around here I will play nice. However, I will point out the fact that your whole statement basically screams troll. It's all good bro.......

"You could use that argument but ultimately anything that goes on your car or in it is your responsibility".......well congratulations captain obvious for stating that.

"The difference between the OP and me was that I just didn't hand my car over to someone and "trust" that he was doing things correctly. I also did the work and didn't just watch".........Sorry bro, way off base......I didnt hand my car over to anyone and I did the work myself.

Geeeez......theres always some hero out there huh???

Now that we're past all the elementary stuff.....I'm still studying up on a few things, results to come when I have time to devote under the hood.

 

Go back to basics. Test if you have spark. Do you hear the fuel pump priming when you turn the key on?

 

It never fails, when I have to work on something......something else comes up. I haven't had much time to troubleshoot this weekend. But Iv'e done this so far......I hear my main relay clicking and I hear the fuel pump priming. I also cracked the nut at the fuel filter to see if I get anything. everything checks out good so far (the filter itself is maybe 6 months old)........I think I will install a fuel pressure gauge eventually lol. The rotor button does turn when I try to crank so no bad cam....correct??? No spark at the plugs......(I even put the old cap, rotor button and wires back on just to see if the new stuff went bad somehow) going to buy a test light and a new multimeter in a few minutes to test the distributor stuff. I found some pretty good troubleshooting tips on here......I hope I'm on the right path!! My buddy wants to come help.......but that ain't happening. I really want to dig into this all on my own (with yalls help ofcourse)!!!

 

All I'm saying that if it was so obvious you should have read the directions yourself. NEVER let anyone work on your car that doesn't have a stake in it. If they screw it up you'll never be able to recoup the damages.
Also. How to use Seafoam.

 

Really??? You jump on youtube to find the "right way"???.........

http://www.seafoamsales.com/cleaning...he-crank-case/

http://www.seafoamsales.com/quiet-no...ic-tensioners/

But back to the real point of this thread.......after looking into the distributor, I wasn't getting any readings with my multimeter so I just replaced the distributor itself. Fired right up and she's good to go........I have two CRX's and have another problem that I feel confident about tackling........kinda similiar to this. May start a new thread if I need help......can't wait to hear what grumblemarc has to say about that one.

 

The "right way" was spelled out on the can that you didn't bother to read.

And how you screwed up a simple cap and rotor change that you had to swap out the whole distributor? I've never managed to do that. Ever.

Hint; get a FS manual BEFORE you start working on a vehicle you have absolutely no knowledge of; even a Frankensteined out one like yours. That's solid advice that no one can argue against.

 

You know what? Lemme apologize right now. It's your car. Do with it as you will. I only suggest in the future you be more careful with who you let touch your car/s.

 

Lol....you're still here??? Did you not read the websites I posted??? I couldn't care less if I am right or wrong but the website for that product states that it can be used in engine oil. As far as me screwing up a simple cap and button install......maybe the distributor was going bad to begin with......maybe that's why I tried the cap, button, wires etc? Anyway you have provided absolutely no help from the beginning........only trolling. Thanks for being such a great assett to honda-tech. You get an A for a**hole.

 

Sea foam will do whatever you use it for (I won't argue about should or shouldn't), and I've never seen a distributor die from a cap and rotor change. Your buddy broke a wire beneath the button with a screwdriver, or more likely, a strange coincidence.

 

this happend to me before a cupple times. one time the screw in the rotor backed out and the other the coil went bad. for some reson ppl from around were I'm from have bad experiences with coils


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+1 for ignition coil. It can test good with a multimeter and still be bad.