New member, thanks for having me, figured this would have to be the place to go for a possible answer.

Yesterday I bought a used 1990 SI, and it's got an issue I thought I fixed with a new alternator.

Went to look at it, it started right up, spun it around for a few minutes, paid for it, started it back up and drove it back home to a friends house (20 minute drive) to show it off a little bit and have a couple of drinks. Went to leave and it wouldn't start, so they jumped me, we figured it was an alternator.

Jumped it this morning to pick up an alternator (left it running while I ran in the shop), then a little later it sputtered to a stop. Figured the battery just ran out of juice, had him jump me, went to his place and installed the alternator, cranked up just fine. Drove home, about 10-15 minutes, and about 500 feet away from home it started sputtering again and died. I get the clicks when I turn the key but nothing close to turning over.

Battery, fuel delivery, ECU, a bad belt somewhere - any ideas? It has the 1.6L engine, and it wasn't advertised as having any special transmission so I'd have to assume stock. The valve cover gasket does leak a little but nothing extreme.

Might try to swap the ECU from an 88 DX I have to see if that helps, but would appreciate any guidance before running a fools errand.

 

Have the battery tested.

 

The battery is only four months old, I doubt that would be the problem.

 

I've bought brand new alternators that have put out 0 volts, age is not an accurate gauge of how good something is. Test the battery and get back to us.

EDIT: Test the battery with car off & check battery voltage with car running.

 

When we installed the alternator the battery charge immediately began to climb.

edit: Going to go to the parts store to test both alternators and the battery, I'll update.

 

Alternator and battery tested fine. Hard wired the alternator to the battery to bypass possible issues, starts every time now and holds a charge.

Still will drive for about 100 feet before it sputters out, but it can be restarted no problem.

 

Will it rev up? I had this problem once and it turned out to be clogged fuel injectors. They have tiny filters in the top of them and can get clogged. See what the filter on the firewall looks like when you dump it out (look for rust) and you might have to clean the injector filters?

 

ignitor in the Distributor is going to konk out soon and it won't start at all then.
It is warning you of its failure mode.

get a new ignitor, and replace it, that will fix you up.

 

Alright, ignitor and distrubuter are on the list to look at tonight.

Any idea if those parts from a 1988 DX with the 1.5l would be compatible with the 1.6l?

 

So I was able to get in contact with an owner of this car prior to the individual who sold it to me. Said he'd installed a new fuel tank and pump, only to find that it doesn't want to run without more than a half tank of gas. Figures that it was sold to me with about 2/3 of a tank, enough to get home. Indicative of a larger problem?

Kept it topped off and it's run fine, with the exception of starting. It'll always click. Played around with in gear, in reverse, brake on, brake off, little gas, no gas, letting the battery run for a minute, nothing seemed to do it.

Last handful of times I've started it I went three or four times in a row, not letting the battery off, just try to crank, crank, crank, and it's worked the second, third or fourth time every time.

Is it still the distributor (I have a used one to install if so), maybe spark plugs/wires, ignition?