Hey folks, got an issue here. I have a '98 Civic CX hatch and recently pulled the head to replace the head gasket. Try to give you a quick rundown of the steps I followed below, but as of now it won't start. Seems to have fuel (can smell fuel on the plugs), spark is fine and ignition and mechanical timing seem to be correct. I've read alot on the forums and it feels like I've done it correctly, but here I am.

1. Set engine to TDC.
2. Removed air intake manifold.
3. Removed exhaust manifold.
4. Removed valve cover.
5. Marked with paint pen, positions on the distributor and cam sprocket/belt.
6. Removed head bolts in correct sequence, head with cam, sprocket and lifters removed intact as one unit.
7. Cleaned mating surfaces, installed new head gasket (correctly facing up).
8. New head bolts installed and torqued in correct sequence.
9. Reinstalled head, intake manifold and exhaust manifold.
10. Went to slide timing belt back onto cam sprocket and had an incredibly difficult time, so since I'd marked them, I knew where it was supposed to line up. I was able to get about half the belt on and used a rachet on the crank pulley to rotate the engine and guided the belt back on the sprocket. Paint marks lined up on the timing belt and cam sprocket, so I assumed good. (I am now aware of the access port for the tensioner adjustment, doh!)
11. Went to reinstall the valve cover and noticed one of the holes for the valve cover bolts was very stripped out. Attempted to fix but that went poorly so I hit up my local junk yard for a replacement valve train assembly and took one off a similar year and model engine. D16Y7.
12. Removed the original one and placed down the junk yard one. (Junk yard one actually was in better shape) Was there anything additional I missed on replacing this part?
11. Reinstalled the distributor and spark plugs and wires according to the manual. (I'd marked the distributor as well so I knew what original position was)
12. Reinstalled the battery, primed engine (removed spark plug wires and turned the engine over a few times).
13. Reconnected everything, grounds, coolant hoses, vacuum lines, etc...triple checked everything for tightness and connection.

Not starting, just turning over. When putting the engine to TDC, the timing marks on the cam sprocket and crank (white mark) line up perfectly. Are there additional ways for me to check mechanical timing to make sure it's correct?

Any advice or guidance or slaps upside the head are greatly appreciated!

 

Quick update as I continue to check over things...

Went to try cranking it again, and it ran for about 3 seconds (rough but it ran) then it shut off. Thought maybe the distributor rotor might be pointed to the wrong cylinder at TDC, but that was not the case. At TDC the rotor was pointing at the #1 spark plug cable.

Went through the fuel injector wiring order again to ensure it was correct...#1 brown, #2 red, #3 blue and #4 yellow.

Started messing with the ignition timing, but cold cranking isn't ideal but not sure if I'm wasting my time there. With my timing light, it doesn't seem to be very close to the red mark on the crank pulley no matter how far I adjust it, so not sure. (I jumpered the blue maintenance plug).

Planning on doing another spark test and compression test tomorrow, so I'll report back with my findings.

 

Based on your explanation above... you may be using the timing light incorrectly. IF your timing light is static (zero advance), and you have jumped the service connector, then the RED mark on the crank pulley should align with the timing pointer on the lower timing cover if the distributor is properly set. IF you have a timing light with a dial back **** or buttons... set the timing value on the timing light to 16 degrees advance and move the distributor so that the WHITE mark on the crank pulley aligns with the timing pointer on the lower timing cover.

 

Marked with paint pen, positions on the distributor and cam sprocket/belt....... What about the crankshaft sprocket. It sounds to me that the crankshaft moved when you were installing. The engine will start if you are up to about 4 teethe off time, after that its not happening, Do a compression check. (Im willing to bet you will have weird numbers) Pull your cam/crank cover of and verify that the timing marks align. Then pray you didnt bend any valves.

 

Yes. My timing light is static. When I’d used it before doing the head gasket, I had aligned it with the red mark. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Good to know.

 

Gotcha. I'm planning on pulling the valve cover off today and I'll take it back to TDC and check the alignment again. Keep you posted. Thanks for the advice!

 

Ok, double checked spark via inline spark tester between the plugs and the cables connected to the distributor.

Also checked timing again, set engine to TDC. See video for details. I tried to get everything in focus, but the cam sprocket (UP) and the timing marks on the cam sprocket line up with the head when the white mark on the crank pulley in lined up to the pointer on the timing cover perfectly, so can I say that this engine is in time correctly? Or am I missing additional checks/steps?

I used a filler gauge to validate that the side timing marks of the cam sprocket are indeed aligned with the head. The intake side one looked off to me in looking at it from that angle, but it is dead on the money.

 

Ok, another update. After sitting overnight, it did fire up again for about 5 seconds but was running very rough and I couldn't get it to fire up again after that. Second time I've experienced that behavior.

Next, I ran a compression test with the throttle plate fully open on all cylinders and it was abysmal. #1 30 psi, #2 10-15 psi, #3 10 psi, #4 10 psi.
Not sure how much this would impact the results, but the car has sat without oil or being cranked for a few weeks. But I've read about adding oil to the cylinders before doing a compression test if that would be relevant for my situation?

Then, I removed the valve cover and rocker assembly again to inspect the valves for any bendy boys, but I didn't notice anything glaringly off about them.

Assuming my previous post showing the timing correct, is indeed correct...I don't know what to do next, guess it's off to the shop.

 

Mechanically, your timing certainly appears to be correct. The issue doesn't seem to be timing... LOW compression across all four cylinders is a big problem. Was a valve job done when the head was off ? Have you done a valve adjustment ? Both of these could cause low compression if they are done incorrectly. If you insert a small amount of oil in each cylinder and test again... and the compression numbers increase significantly... then you have piston/ring/cylinder bore problems.

 

the only way to 100% verify that you have the timing marks correct is to remove the crank pulley and associated cover so you can see the block timing mark and the crank sprocket timing mark. Ive seen crank pulleys that have spun, so what happens is the car will run, but put a timing light on it,, the timing mark will be way off. The engine will run perfect but according to the data, it shouldnt.. With that said, on the cam, there should be a mark or the word UP, by chance do you have the cam upside down? Is the head torqued down properly? Did something get stuck between the head and gasket (dont ask how I know that one)
Low compression comes from a leak somewhere. Since the car ran before, we know the piston rings are good. So that leaves either valves or gasket. Since you pulled the head and did not adjust the valves (dont do that yet, just wait) we know that the valves SHOULD close at the proper time.. Me? I would pull the head again and put a straight edge on it just to make sure the head didnt warp. And then verify all the work

 

The engine did run pretty well before replacing the head gasket. I will admit that from my first post, and the original installation of the new head gasket, upon reassembly of everything, I noticed that there was a stripped valve cover bolt hole. Instead of drilling it out and tapping it, I replaced the rocker assembly with a different "used" one off another D16Y7 from my local junkyard. The condition of the "used" assembly looked fine if not better than my original one. I simply swapped it out. I'm assuming there's a facepalm moment here and there was additional steps I should have followed?

 

I will make sure to get the timing triple checked on the crank sprocket as well. Before doing all that I will perform a leak down test as well to see if that offers any additional clues. Thanks sir!

 

Hmmmm... so, you replaced the upper cam bridge, rocker arm rail/bar, and rocker arms ? If so, this is a NO NO. Repair the damaged hole in your original assembly and re-install it.

 

I replaced the rocker assembly with a different "used" one off another D16Y7 from my local junkyard


wait, you replaced ALL the rockers, as in the complete assembly? Rocker shaft rockers as in the whole thing? IF so, then check the valve adjustment at the rocker tips

 

@youstolemybeer @JRCivic1 Correct. I replaced the whole assembly with one from another D16Y7 from my junk yard. I thought I would be able to remove the part I needed to replace the stripped/mangled valve cover bolt hole with just the same piece from the junk yard one, but I don't see how it disassembles without pressing it apart?

So my two options would be to put back on the original and somehow repair the bolt hole or keep the replacement one and do a valve adjustment? Just want to make sure I'm track. Apologies if that was an asinine thing to do. Trying to learn but I understand that I'd prefer not to damage the engine in the process.

This is a project car me and my son are working on rebuilding. I really appreciate you guys hanging with me and keeping the advice coming.

 

adjust the valves (look up how to do it, there are millions of videos on Youtube. Also take a picture of what bolt hole you keep speaking of,

 

Will do. I'll give them a peek and see what's all involved.

For the bolt hole, I'll update the thread with a pic but it's the #3 labeled hole on the rocker assembly where the bottom center valve cover bolt screws into. When I got the car, it noticed it was stripped during reassembly.

 

In the SOHC engine, the camshaft pathway is drilled with the cam bridge attached... in which the lower half of this path is found in the cylinder head casting and the upper half is cut into the cam/rocker bridge. Although they will all appear "similar", the truth is that each cam/rocker bridge is machined UNIQUELY to the original corresponding head casting. Swapping one from another head may cause mis-alignment in the cam channel. Long term effects could be cam wear (galling) and tight clearances in the cam channel... either condition can cause the cam to lock up in the cylinder head and destroy the engine.

Repairing the original cam/rocker bridge IS the correct way to solve your problem. Time-sert the damaged hole for the valve cover bolt and move on.

 

Quick update here as I progress. Ended up taking the car to a shop to have the bolt hole fixed as that kinda work was why beyond my comfort zone. Going to have them do a few more things while it's there. Keep the thread posted once it's back in action, hopefully.

Again, greatly appreciate all the help and guidance!!

 

Hopefully it will be a cheap repair, good luck

 

Just wanted to drop in and update this thread.

I do believe that my issue was related to the replacement rocker assembly that hadn't had a valve adjustment on it. Ended up taking the head to a shop and had them adjustment. So after all that, new head gasket, got everything back together, it fired up first crank. Huge thanks again to the folks on this thread that were able to offer advice!