Hi all I have a 2001 Honda Civic EX. I recently changed the timing belt. Upon starting the car, it ran good for about 2 seconds, then sputtered and died. Now it will not start at all. Any idea what could have caused this? I was pretty certain that I had it in time when I replaced the belt (until the car died lol). Is there anything that could have happened or something I forgot to connect that could cause this? I am sure I got the cam sensor and crank sensor connected when finishing the job. Any help is appreciated.

 

I think my timing might have actually been a tooth off. Is there anything special I need to do in order to release tension on the timing belt? Last time I just took the tensioner off and replaced it, but I know it was a big deal to not pull the grenade pin until I was done on the new one. Is there anything I need to worry about when messing with the tension on a pre installed tensioner?

 

I have taken everything apart and back together. I would bet money that everything is on correctly and timed. However, I get nothing when trying to start. Engine will turn over but it won't even attempt to start.

 

I have the exact same problem on a '01 LX.

Disappointing to see no answers or suggestions.

 

If I remember right, you have to disconnect the alternator. Not sure if this would cause the problem, but I'm wondering if the alternator wiring is re-attached? Also, can you hear the fuel pump kick on when you start?

 

I can tell you what mine ended up being. Mine apparently jumped time. How I'm not exactly sure but there was a piece of rubber gasket from the dust cover in there that I'm thinking could have caused it. But anyway, just a tooth or two was enough to crash the valves into the pistons. My first clue was popping the valves cover off and noticing that every other rocker arm on the intake valve was very loose. Like quarter of an inch loose. Then I did a compression check and that confirmed it because I had no compression. I replaced the head and now the car is running great but it Was an expensive mistake.

 

The alternator is reattached and I hooked the wiring up. I didn't read anything regarding that but I'm open to trying that. I do hear the fuel pump turn on when I turn the key on prior to starting. I have fuel pressure. All fuses and relays check out good. I have not checked fuel pressure as I don't have a gauge.

I hand cranked the engine through multiple times to make sure the valves and pistons were not making contact. Everything moved through without stopping and I heard no metal to metal "tap" or "clank" prior to buttoning everything back up. The engine did fire the first time I turned it over but then ran rough and slowly died.

 

Man, that's tough. To me, it's one of those two schools of thought. The first is that it ran before the timing belt, now it doesn't. The second is the red herring - you think its the timing belt but the truth is there is some other issue that coincidentally happened. Just tell you what I would do but I'm not an expert:

1) Check and double check ALL electrical connections (little one under the air intake comes to mind)
2) I would pull the valve cover, put a feeler gauge on the block, up to the cam marks, and make good and dang sure the timing is right. Just me.
3) If the timing is good I would count it out as the cause and assume that some other little part got jealous of your timing belt and decided to crap out.
4) Check for fuel pressure - sounds like it may have had fuel pressure for a second, then lost it and died (not sure how long it ran).

That's all I can think of at the moment. Hope I don't throw you on a wild goose chase. Did you change the autotensioner out?

 

Did you remove the sensor when doing the belt? If not you will probably need a new one. If it gets wet or you spray cleaner on it to clean up coolant on the side of the block, it destroys the sensor.