I was driving home a few hours ago when my 1993 Honda Del Sol Si (which was right down the street from my house, thank god) quit accelerating. I looked down at the gauge cluster and noticed that my RPM gauge had dropped to zero. I let it coast to a stop so I wouldn't have to push it as far, then turned it off and began pushing it home. Once I got home I tried turning it on and it would sound like it was thinking about turning over, but didn't actually do it. After that I tried testing for spark. I don't have any spare spark plugs, so I put a screwdriver inside the cable and held it close to metal while I had someone else try to start it. I wasn't getting spark anywhere which leads me to believe that it may be a problem with the distributor or the ignition coil. Now before going and dropping several hundred dollars replacing random parts that might not even fix it, I wanted to run it by you all. Do any of you have ideas on things I should check?

Also, I've seen videos on how to check the ignition coil, but they're all on cars that have a 5th wire on he distributor cap going to the coil. My honda just has 4 wires on the cap, so I'm assuming the ignition coil is connected internally. How can I check it?

 

CEL codes?

Does the fuel pump prime?

Remove the coil and igniter unit inside the distributor. Have AutoZone test the igniter unit. Ohm test the coil (see FAQs sticky).

 

is the starter cranking? pls respond.

 

I would say start at step 1. is the battery dead?
step 2. is the alternater bad?
and so on.... If it doesn't turn over then there isn't enough power to turn over. firing is a different story.

 

a sudden death like that is usually a timing belt.

so that should be your first check.

 

The check engine light never came on. I jumped the plug anyways to see if I would get anything and it stayed solid, so it's telling me nothing's wrong.

I'll go out to check if the fuel pump is priming right after posting this and then edit it. EDIT: The fuel pump is priming.

I'm going to wait until tomorrow to start taking things apart.

I'm not sure how to check if the starter is cranking.

I know the battery isn't dead. I have no idea on how the alternator is, but I'll check into that as well.

EDIT: The timing belt wouldn't be the one under a cover would it? I can see 3 belts on the outside of the engine that probably should be replaced soon because they have some small cracks, but all 3 still work.

EDIT 2: Turns out the timing belt is the one under the cover on this car. After looking into it, I REALLY hope that wasn't it. It looks like best case scenario it completely screws everything up. I was going about 35 mph and didn't shut the car off the second I realized something was wrong. I didn't hear any horrible noises, but neither did the people in some of the posts I just read. If it turns out that wasn't it, I think I'm still going to plan on replacing that ASAP since I have no idea when it was last replaced...

 

The starter is cranking if you turn the key and it spins the engine.

 

I took off the valve cover so I could get a look at the timing belt, and in doing so I've decided that that's exactly what it is. There's a good cm gap between where the belt is and where it's supposed to be. Now my question is how can I figure out if its an interference engine or not. I'm working on uploading some pictures to photobucket right now and I'll post a link when they upload.

EDIT: Here's the album with a handful of random pictures:

http://s176.photobucket.com/user/bam...?sort=3&page=1

Here's a picture of just what I saw concerning the timing belt.

 

Thats your problem, the timing belt. Looks like it skipped on you or broke.

 

How difficult is it to see how badly the timing belt broke everything else?

 

Can you just pull the broken belt up and out?

 

These are interference engines.

R.I.P D16Z6

 

Take the top timing belt cover off and see if you can pull the belt off.

 

It's dark out now, but I'll see if I can do that tomorrow.

 

And don't start the car anymore.....

 

R.I.P Del Sol

 

Rough stuff

Is there no chance that the OP's motor survived the tbelt break?

At least the motors are relatively cheap..

 

~50:50 chance

OP needs to install new T-belt and then compression test the cylinders.

Good luck.

 

 

So I've been considering just selling the car all day. I really don't want to sink more money into the car if it turns out that the engine is screwed and it would need a new one considering I don't have the time, money, resources, or skill to do an engine swap right now. However, if you really think there's a chance that it's not completely screwed, I guess a new timing belt wouldn't be too far out of the question. Any thoughts?

EDIT: I think I've decided on replacing the timing belt next weekend and seeing what happens from there.

 

If you're doing the timing belt, you really should do the tensioner and water pump, too. At a BARE minimum, replace the tensioner, and make sure the water pump spins freely. The Gates kit is cheap, functional, and will include everything you need.

 

RonJ, ive heard you say 50/50 chance before on a tbelt breaking damaging valves, but why is it 50/50? Also, why does it breaking at high rpm make it less likely to damage than low rpm? And finally, how long exactly does the engine spin (assuming tranny is in neutral) after the tbelt breaks? Because damage would be related to that. Maybe my understanding of engines is flawed, but if the pistons keep rotating, and the cam stops, then at least one of the cylinders has the intake or exhaust valves sticking down (to be hit). Once again maybe my logic is flawed. Maybe you can clear that up?

 

Position of the valves in relation to the top of the pistons when the belt let loose.

 

When a timing belt breaks it's instantaneous, you can't do anything at that point.

You can either pull the head and check for bent valves or just put a new belt on and hope for the best. Generally I go with option 2, if it doesn't work you're out the price of a belt, if you took the head off for nothing you're out a headgasket and resurfacing.

Once the belt breaks the damage is already done if there was going to be any.

I don't know why, but it is true.

About as long as it takes to spin down after you shut it off, maybe a little longer since it's got no compression.

 

So the valves no longer move when the tbelt breaks? Isn't there some kind of rotational momentum in the camshaft even after the belt breaks? Or do the lifters just hit the valves and "bounce" back, settling in the center?


EDIT: Not lifters, I meant lobes.