So I pulled the swap from my girls car the past weekend to replace transmission, timing belt, etc, and I have the car back together now. It will not start!


I have spark from all plugs, (they are new)

Some fuel coming from return line ( a little sketchy)

I never messed with the valve adjustment or the distributor timing.

The mechanical timing is dead on. What am I missing?

The car cranks over, and the plugs are covered black ( I replaced them new as well) which tells me the injectors are firing.


The motor is grounded on valve cover and transmission as well.


Thanks guys. Gonna try replacing the main relay and fuel pump tomorrow only because it was the original fuel filter and may have worn down/out the pump.

 

Forgot to add, the fuel filter is new as well! Pretty much all maintanience items are new.

 

Car information is required. Did you mean D16Y7?

 

Edited and tittle didn't change. Yes D16Y7 in a 97 civic hatch. I'm stumped.

I've checked the pins on the ECU harness and they look fine as well. (I pulled the harness out from the cabin when pulling the motor.

 

thermo ground?

 

Does the engine start with starting fluid? If not, check for weak spark (orange or deep blue rather than bright white), and compression test the cylinders.

 

Thermostat housing ground was never taken off so I didn't mention it. I had a busy and dissappointing day yesterday. I checked again for voltage on injector clips and verified spray from injectors again.

I had checked spark from plugs wires without plugs by putting a screwdriver in and grounding it. This time around I checked with a plug in the wire ground out. Spark looked fine, but I went ahead and tested coils… those were good.


I didn't bother with the timing because I had already verified it twice the day prior.

I tested the fuel pressure and it came out fine as well with a tester today… this left one thing I ASSumed was good and never questioned until a few hours ago. Compression.

I did a compression test dry and wet and BINGO… low compression on cylinder #3 and #4. I don't remember the exact numbers, but 3 and 4 were barely over 50 dry and about 55-60 wet. 1 and 2 were 180+.

I still haven't done a valve adjustment, and checked again, I'll verify them in the morning/afternoon tomorrow. I never messed with the valves and there is no way anything dropped into the cylinders when I pulled the motor. The car drove fine to my home before I started tearing into it. No idea what happened at this point. I'm dead tired and rather not make any irrational decisions.



Anyway, I wanted to say thanks for your help guys. It is appreciated.


I'll update tomorrow night hopefully.

 

Sucks bros

 

The next step is to leakdown test the two bad cylinders. You need to know where compression is lost before you tear the engine down, if that's the eventual route you have planned.

 

Did a leakdown the other day. #3 Exhaust cylinder and #4 intake were blowing out air.

Tried cheaping out and letting the valvetrain soak in marvel mystery oil, didn't work. Lol.

Ended up pulling the head earlier today. The cylinders are progressively worse in terms of carbon buildup from 1 to 4. #4 was so bad it looked like mud on top of the piston and tar on valves.


Can't blame it on my GF, (she's only had the car 4 months tops) or my (lack of) mechanical ability. Probably blame it on a lifetime of cheap gas and the fact that the fuel filter I changed looked like the original one (there were no tool marks noted on Fuel filter bolt).


Dropping the head off at the machine shop for a cleaning and resurfacing as well as inspection. ordering an OEM headgasket, intake manifold head gasket, exhaust manifold gasket, and headbolts(I didn't keep mine in order)


I'll also be cleaning off the tops of Pistons with a clean towel soaked in gasoline and a soft brush.


Any tips I may be missing? Seems really straightforward and removal was fairly simple other than the hoses/wiring under the intake manifold. Found the head bolt pattern and 4 step torque sequence. Any tips are appreciated.

Thanks guys.