Hello everyone, so recently I had my 1998 Civic EX 5 Speed manual coupe running with the radiator cap off to bleed any air that might have been in the system, and while doing so, I was spraying into the radiator with a hose to attempt to give it a rinse (I know now this was probably stupid of me) and it sprayed water into the engine bay and at one point, the car started to sound like it was running rougher and started bogging down until it stopped running. From then on, it will no longer start. It will crank over (kind of) but it only tries to start a little bit and then it’ll no longer have the power to start. I had someone help me by checking the battery voltage before and while I tried to start it, battery was at 12.67 volts before, then while trying to start it dropped to either 6 or 9 volts while cranking, and then once cranking was stopped it went back to normal. Also, I replaced the spark plugs, I’ve checked for spark, all cylinders have spark outside of the engine, but if I take the spark plugs out and crank the engine, it doesn’t have compression obviously but it does seem to have no issues with the power dropping while cranking, it’s only when the plugs are installed and plug wires are hooked up that power seems to short out or something. I’ve checked the PGM-FI relay already too and it looked good, no broken solder connections, no burnt looking parts or anything. I’m stuck and it’s frustrating me beyond belief not being able to get the car running again. If anyone has any suggestions or advise, id appreciate it greatly.

 

Usually water reacts poorly with electronics. Possibly the starter, distributor, alternator? You might need to have the items checked.

You used to be able to bring your starters and alternators into O'Reilly's or AutoZone so they could bench test them. Not sure if they still do that.

 

How long ago was this? Has it had time to dry out? I wouldn't expect your battery to drop that much while cranking, so first thing I would do is try another battery, or at least try jumping that one. Underhood components are manufactured with the expectation things will get wet, they shouldn't be sensitive to the point you fry anything from a little water.

 

so where it seems I’m not getting power is fuel injectors. I’m not certain but there’s fuel at least going to the rail when I checked.

 

This was about two or more weeks ago at the point. I’ve tried another battery, and same issue.

 

The battery should not go lower than 11.6v or so while cranking. check again with the other battery to confirm it's in good health. slow cranking is battery->power/ground wires and connection to starter->starter/solenoid. ...assuming there is no abnormally high internal mechanical resistance. That's somewhat unlikely, but since it did die while running you can double check by turning it over by hand with the plugs out and in neutral. should be relatively easy with a 10-12" long ratchet handle.

If the water is what killed it then it would have to hit something that would normally be protected/sealed. I have made a habit of washing down the engine on any and all CCW Hondas over the past 20 years, only consciously avoiding direct spray on the distributor (the caps are usually sealed but better not to risk it). It never caused the engine to run rough or stop unless there was an underlying issue (vacuum leak, bad plug wires, damaged sensor...ect).

you're getting spark and you have fuel pressure- you need compression and fuel in the cylinders confirmed. I like to check all the grounds in the engine bay and verify cam timing before I get too deep in a no-start troubleshoot. easy to do a visual check on all the wires and connectors on the engine harness too so you can flag potential issues early. If injectors are pulsing when you try to start, you should see fuel on the spark plugs right after.

 

the fact that it is dropping so low on any battery that I try is kind of what leads me to think that maybe somehow something is now drawing the power and shorting when I try to start. A friend of mine says to test the alternator. If it’s any relevance, the whole time I’ve had the car, it would occasionally just shut off entirely while I was driving, but the weirdest thing was that when that happened, if I just restarted it, but held the key a bit extra forward in the ignition, it would stay running fine, and sometimes I’d have to keep holding it like that, or it’d cut off again as soon as I let it go, sometimes it was a really quick fix then went back to normal, but sometimes it seemed like forever I had to hold the key forward. Could it maybe be the ignition switch itself?

 

From that description I'd say go ahead and take care of that ignition switch before you spend time on anything else. even if there's another bigger issue, that's going to cause headaches trying to diagnose any other electrical problem.