OK.... my 95 DOHC, 1.6 has been sitting. It was starting and running great then I parked it in the garage for paint and now no start. The starter engages fine but just spins without turning over the engine. The starter just spins freely. I hope that it's not a missing tooth on the flywheel. I'm going to move the car in gear to see if I can change the position of the flywheel later today and smack the starter with a hammer... Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. THANKS

 

It is probably the pull in coil broken, you can check it on service manual on how to test it.

 

My first assumption would be that the starter shaft broke so it's just free spinning. Unlikely that you'd chip a flywheel tooth on an unstressed engine, and for the engine to not turn over at all you'd most likely need to break several teeth.

If it's a manual you can clutch kick it to start in an emergency.

 

OK... I've been busy working on my 62, C20 that's now my daily driver after selling my stock 95 del sol. with Biden waging war on oil I need to get my Si up and running asap. THANKS....

 

That's what I was thinking... these coils actually push the gears to mesh with the flywheel, right? On my old American cars the gears mesh with a twisted shaft that when turned shoots it up to the flywheel but these Honda starters are different. am I getting this right? THANKS

 

Hmm tap the starter, if no changes get it tested at your local parts store or throw it in another car see if problems persist. Sometimes when this happens it means the timing belt snapped or there’s low compression in a cylinder or even a mechanical timing/ ignition timing issue but let’s make sure the starter is good first

 

I bought a new starter with solenoid on ebay for 78.00 free shipping so I'll slap it in and hopefully that will fix the problem. I'm going to take the old starter apart to see if anything is obviously not working.

I didn't look at the timing belt... it was running great before I parked it to paint. this is a recurring theme among cars.. let it sit for two months and stuff magically breaks.

 

installed new starter and solenoid... SAME THING. This car is pissing me right off. After I get it painted and running its going to be SOLD and i'll buy a nice, old, 4cyl Jeep with a carb. no more front wheel drive, fool injection for me.

 

This may not be the case but... did you or someone happen to remove the sparkplugs and drop the boots back in the holes or are they in just not tightened and free floating in on the threads in the head? The motor would turn easily and you maybe thinking it's the starter not working? Have you had someone watch the engine as you crank it to see what it's doing (actually rotating or not) or just you going by ear? Another possibility is a broken timing belt.. Just a thought..

 

yes, i did change the plugs but what do you mean, "dropped the boots back in the holes" ? I loosened the plugs just to see if maybe they gave me the wrong plugs and they were too long and hitting a piston but it cranked exactly the same. and no, i didn't look to see if the belts were turning. Tomorrow I'll videotape while i crank and see if the motor is actually turning over. This is something simple but I can't figure it out. I fixed the fuel line hole and it started up and ran great then I let it sit and changed the plugs and it's doing this. letting it sit and then changing the plugs is the only thing I did after it was running great. THANKS

 

I was just meaning as if you had removed the plugs and put the sparkplug boots back in the head.. Second, the sparkplugs not tightened but that I guess would be obvious as the boots would be raised out.
Just for piece of mind about a broken belt issue (I know unlikely but never know..) pull the dist. cap and note the rotor position, try cranking and see if the rotor has moved. That's if the starter is actually working....
Hopefully it is something simple in the end. Best of luck there Mr..

 

OK, i did some more tests. the starter is turning the timing belt so I'm assuming that it's also turning the crank and the pistons are moving. so I did a compression test and got zero NOTHING in the two cylinders i tested. I drove this car in the garage ! It was running strong.. the only thing I did was let it sit while i did the body work. how can it all of a sudden have zero compression? can the timing belt move but not activate the cam? I'm going to check the other two cylinders. one of them has got to have the valves closed, right? what should I check next?

UPDATE: all cylinders have ZERO compression.

 

The cam must move with the belt or you have some serious problems..
First thing now that I would check is if the belt is skipping as if possibly one of the rotating parts has seized throwing out the timing. (A cam, tensioner, water pump..) could even be the tensioner came loose but you never know..
So, double check the mechanical timing to make sure it's all lined up. Seems like it's off quite a bit and valves are opening when they shouldn't.
I would assume your sparkplugs are tightened already and not in loosely also they are fully seated (maybe pull one just to compare the old plugs to the newer ones and makes sure there's nothing obvious)
If plugs are in properly, that's where the belt problem comes in to play.

 

I did a compression test on all cylinders all were zero compression. the needle never moved. i then tried another compression tester with the same results. so there is zero compression on all cylinders. the cams are moving with the belt. it was running fine when I pulled it in the garage.

 

They move, But... is the timing good? Would suck if something stuck, belt skipped teeth and you have possibly bent valves.

 

Your engine is out of mechanical time. You need to remove the valve cover and upper timing cover, rotate the crank pulley counter-clockwise until the TDC (white) mark aligns with the pointer on the lower timing cover (it is located at about the 11 O'clock position if your crank pulley is a clock face). Once there, your cam gears have marks that should align in a flat straight line parallel to the top of the head casting... from left to right, it would be EX cam 9 O'clock to 3 O'clock and then IN cam 9 O'clock to 3 O'clock and the spoke with the "UP" casting mark at 12 O'clock. IF both gears are pointed with the "UP" mark facing down (6 O'clock), rotate the crank pulley one full revolution and back to TDC so that the gears are facing UP. If you are not aligned, this is why you have ZERO compression.

 

the cams are moving with the belt. What type of compression tester are you using. If its the threaded end type, make sure you have a good oring on the end of it. take out all the plugs and blow compressed air in the boot holes to clean the mating surface. Then do another test.. Im not saying your findings are impossible, Ive had timing chains break literally in my driveway as I turn off the engine (ford 302) But that is HIGHLY unlikely. IF zero compression on all 4 and the cam is spinning then that means you jumped more than a few teethe. Is it possible that the tensioner or water pump pooped the bed and the belt jumped.? Is the belt tight? Just because it spins doesnt mean its where its supposed to be.

 

i tried TWO different compression testers. I'm sure that I have zero compression in all cylinders. the timing belt is tight and looks new. no issues there.

I've come to the conclusion that I have some stuck valves from letting the car sit and the gas going bad. it was running great but the last few times i started it, it was only for short periods. I THINK that's what got my valves dirty. This is the only reasonable conclusion. what's the best way to unstick valves without taking off the head?

 

Your valves are stuck open due to the cam pushing them open at the wrong time. No way are they all sticking... Did you even check the alignment marks to confirm they are in the correct position?? Of course your belt will be tight, just something to look into...
If you really think they are all sticking, confirm this by removing the valve cover, and check with a feeler gauge your valve clearance when the lobe is on the opposite side of the rocker so guaranteed the cam is not making contact between the rocker. If your clearance is large and out of spec then yes they are stuck but check all of them. If they do measure large and out of spec, ***check the alignment of timing marks!!! Make sure you didn't bend valves.

 

no, i didn't check the alignment marks. I'll look at it in a bit.... I'll check the clearances too. but the reason I think it is sticking valves is because I drove it in the garage and it was running fine. maybe I don't remember something.... thanks!

ok, so to check the timing marks i have to get the top two cam gears pointing "UP" and then the timing marker on the crank pulley should be aligned with the mark on the block, right?

 

With the valve cover off, yes, rotate the cams until the "UP" on both cams sprockets are at 12 o'clock also the level lines on the sprockets flush with head surface then the crank pulley has 3 lines close together for timing only and a further away single line which will be your #1 tdc mark- that's the one you want to align with the timing belt cover V-groove and pointer below it to confirm its all in sync.
Remove your spark plugs to make it easy to rotate and feeling for any binding but may not feel binding if the valves have bent already.

 

ok, going to remove the wheel to get at the crank nut. it's really hard to see any timing marks on this 1.6 dohc but I'll see what I can see. THANKS.

 

When they are hard to see, I usually go over them with a marker (MarkLine permanent paint marker "the Pumper") that has ink like a white out dabber. I use white on the #1 tdc mark, red for the center line of the 3 marks and yellow for the 2 that are on the sides of the center. Makes it nice and visible for future.

 

ok... here's the timing marks with the two cam sprockets in the "UP" position the static timing mark is pointing up with the sprocket marks. and the dynamic timing marks are off to toward the front of the engine aligned with that bar which I'm assuming is a pointer for the timing marks. the static mark is aligned with an indented circle mark. to my untrained eyes it looks like the timing has not jumped. THANKS....

 

Quick pic i found.. should be like this.. If your timing is good then what's causing your problem is a head scratcher for sure.