{EDIT} It was the non-stock distributor. Replaced it with a stock one from a junk yard and its running agian.

Hello! I've been lurking on here for a wile and that was enough to not need to bother anyone with my questions. (The searching on here is a rabbit hole of info)
Now I'm stumped.
I bought this car from an older guy a few towns over. I wanted a very common car that had not been abused. It had just
over 300k and needed a head gasket. (And a cleaning)
I have done many rebuilds on Harleys and stock-ish small block V-8s. I love to polish the piston tops and the exhaust ports, but we will come back to that.
Got it back together and have been systematically replacing old, tired stock parts with quality aftermarket ones.
About a week ago, I noticed my water pump was making a noise like a 6-71 blower.
Easy fix.
New pump, Timing belt, tensioner and also the fan switch while I had the coolant drained.
I lined up the crank markings with the cam lines. It was spot on. I then turned it over by hand to make
sure nothing made contact and then double checked the timing marks.
I had the opportunity to buy a completely new distributor as I've been fighting cheap ignition control modules. (It has a lifetime warranty)
Got that installed and made sure that the rotor pointed at cylinder one on the compression stroke. Turned it over by had some more and it was right back where it needed to be.

Now for the weird part.
It cranked over and only backfired one time, but nothing else. My oil catch can that's in line with the pcv valve popped open from the pressure.
Did a compression check.
(all numbers are "about" and please remember its on a cold engine)
Cyl 1 - 30psi
Cyl 2 - 90psi
Cyl 3 - 90psi
Cyl 4 - 90psi
I used my bore scope to see whats going on inside.
Cyl. 1, 2, 4 where wet with unburden fuel and caked with carbon while Cyl. 3 was dry with a tiny amount of carbon. Polishing seems pointless now.
I think the valve lash needs to be rechecked, but I need to buy a new set of feeler gauges.
I'm super worried that I bent a valve somehow.
Your thoughts?
Car is a 1995 Honda Civic LX with a D15B7 and an s20 5 speed.

Cyl. 1, 2, 4

Cyl. 3

 

Leak down test will help you isolate why no compression in cyl #1.

#3 is likely dry as it was probably the one that fired (backfired) so burned the fuel the others did not get to.

I still think your mechanical timing is off.

 

Great post.

When you replaced the head gasket, did you also happen to clean some carbon off the top of the pistons with WD40?

I think piston ring 1 or 2 in cylinder 1 may have seized in the groove due to carbon build up, leading to loss of compression to the crankcase.

The leak down test result should prove interesting.

 

What do you mean? I'm new to timing belts, but not timing. It "seemed" correct.
That's a literal square in front of the cam gear.

 

You can also use the two timing marks located on the rear side of the cam pulley. They yield unambiguous results.

 

In your picture, it was not possible to see the "UP" and the side timing marks of the cam gear in relations to the level of the head for the D15B7.

Usually when the car is good prior to timing belt and won't run after timing belt the mechanical timing is off. This might not be the case with your car.

 

Update
I did the valve lash adjustment and got cylinder one back.
Also is attached a better pic of the cam gear. Sorry about that.
The up is at the top, its just faint.
Now I'm thinking its flooding or something to do with the ignition timing is off.
The rotor points to each cylinder on the cap when its finishing the compression stroke.

 

OP, you didn't mention whether the cylinder head was gone through by a machine shop or not. It is common when one has a blown head gasket, a machine shop bumps/cuts all valve seats and surfaces the cylinder head mounting face. When the valves are re-installed, they sink deeper into the head and thus REQUIRE a valve adjustment after the cylinder head is mated to the block.

Save your original distributor housing for later. The sensor pick-ups and the housing itself are vastly superior to what you purchased. ALL low-cost auto part store distributors may have a Lifetime warranty, but it is hard to get them swapped out on the side of the Interstate in the middle of the night a hundred miles from the store. OE Igniters rarely fail, and although the price from the dealership is hard to swallow, chances are good you would never replace it again. Coils fail about ten times as often and there are reliable aftermarket choices.

 

Cold engine compression is now 90 PSI on all cylinders but still no start?

What mark on the crank pulley does the pointer align with when the cam is at TDC1?

Basic no-start tests
Have you checked for spark and its quality at all 4 plugs?

Does the engine start if your spray starting fluid in the TB?

 

My apologies. I did the full clean and rebuild, then drove it for over 20k miles. I numbered and lapped each valve to its specific port. No shops near me that did not want over $300 for basic head work.



The crank lines up with the single line like in the first pic.
All 4 have spark.
Oh a related note. I figured out that the new distributor had the cylinder position (+) and (-) where backwards.
So now when you try to start it and give full throttle, It actually tries to start. Not running but very close.

 

Why did you replace the distributor? If the old one still worked, put it back on.

Check that there is slack in all the rocker arms when the cam is turned so that valve is closed. Valves too tight will cause loss of compression and hard starting.

Probe in cylinder 1 to check the piston position and confirm that the crank really is TDC when you think that it is.

Not starting but backfiring usually means the timing is way off, or the spark plug wires are connected in the wrong order. Timing can be observed with a timing light while cranking even if the engine doesn't start. It should be near TDC when trying to start.

 

The old distributor was not stock and as I said, I've been fighting it anyway.


I tested TDC when I did the head gasket. Turn the engine over by hand until it touches and mark the harmonic balancer. Then you turn it back the other way until it touches and mark it again. Lastly you measure between the 2 marks and you have exactly TDC which lined up with the single mark already there.

I did not think about the timing light while cranking, so thank you for that idea. I'll do that when my wife gets home and can run the key.
It only backfired one time sense I put it back together. I could work with constant or even some sort of backfire, but it's not doing anything.

 

I'm sorry I doubted you. I took the timing belt completely back off and reinstalled it to make sure I was close. Then moved it one tooth back. Nothing.
I moved it one tooth forward and then one more and it actually tried to start.
I also added 6 grounds from the body to the engine. (overkill, but it wont be an issue later)
Video of what its doing now. Thoughts?

 

You have every right to doubt. Your follow up pic shows the marks in line with your head via the L square you set on the head edge. And you indicated you double confirmed the crank was TDC.

Your mechanical timing is/was dead on.

I believe you are on your way to finding the issue and I suspect it's electrical being you found wires switched around on plugs with the distributor etc. I'm hoping the ones found are the only ones tampered with.

I wish I had a deeper understanding of the ECU systems operations and how they all work together. As it stands now, I know you won't get injector pulse if the ECU doesn't receive a signal from the distributor but I am not sure if that signal also affects spark. If you have spark, does that automatically mean the ECU is receiving the signal from the distributor? I will let the gurus advise.

I do know for idle and start up, I find centering the dizzy is fine until you can purge the air, warm up the engine so you can then do the ignition timing. The other thing to check is that you have the correct firing order, if you plug the wires onto the wrong posts of the distributor, it will not fire more often than not.

 

im thinking that distributor is no good.

 

 

Well fudge.
I stopped by the local you pick and pull yard. I found a 91 crx with what I think is a D15b7. The block has D15 stamped and the valve cover looks like my B7.
Would the distributor from that fit if it's still good? If its the same, I might get the whole car and have a spare engine and trans for if/when this one gets to running and dies.
(mine has 322k)

 

I don't believe so, I think the distributor on the 91 CRX maybe an OBD0 while your's is an OBD1.

The D15B7 takes the TD41U.

You can take a look on the casing where the 3 main bolts go through the distributor to the engine, that's where the number is stamped on OEM OBD1 distributors.

 

Ok, so perhaps I have no idea what I'm talking about...
If I could get the whole car for cheap, would it be worth rebuilding it as a spare? I'm not super attached to my D15 as most of the exterior bolt on parts will swap over. (I think)

 

if that is actually a d16a6, it is worth buying. they're great engines. however, your distributor, alternator, intake manifold, wiring harness are all different. that said, your current engine accessories and harness will all fit on the d16a6. the transmission in the junkyard car is a cable trans, yours is hyrdaulic. all you can really make good use of is the engine, but if that is a crx and has a clean black interior, they resell for a minor fortune. if you don't want to pull it all, some of the more valuable parts are the front seats, climate control, and door panels.

 

Ok, Thanks. I want to say its got tan interior. If I got the whole car, I'd just swap everything. The hardest part would be keeping my ABS system working and getting power to the basic systems like lights and heating. (The ac system is gone anyway) I don't mind going backwards in technology if it will still easily work and has good replacement parts still available. This is just a daily driver, so I'm not worried about boosting or racing later on.

 

not worth the headache or expense to switch to a cable transmission or trying to convert down to obd-0. to make the accessories work will require hacking together the two engine harnesses, etc.

 

Sorry to go this long without a progress update.
I put my older distributor back together and installed. It's now back to one big backfire through the intake and popping my oil catch can apart.
If I can ever get someone home when I am, I'll try the timing light while cranking. I count it as some kind of progress, as the "new" dizzy did nothing,

 

Are the plug wires installed in the correct firing order on the cap?

With the engine set at TDC1, does the distributor rotor point at plug wire #1 in the cap?

FYI: You can reassemble the distributor with the end gear 180-degrees out of phase.

 

Just to be double check, the plug wires go 1-3-4-2 going clockwise looking at the outside of the distributor. And plug #1 is the one furthest from the distributor.

Test the three distributor sensors with an ohmmeter. That will detect most possible problems with the distributor sensors. If the sensors all check good, unplug the ECU and measure the sensors again from the ECU plug end so you are testing all the way through the harness wiring.