90 civic hatch, won't start.

changed distributor, have fuel and spark

starter cranks fine, engine won't turn over.

thoughts?

 

Is it getting air?

 

if you're asking if the throttle opens partially when starting up, yes. otherwise please elaborate.

 

Do you have enough fuel and enough spark on all 4. Have you done a compression test? ALso try starter fluid, spray it into the TB with throttle open.

 

i was under the impression holding it wide open floods the engine.....i also don't have access to a compression tester, but the pistons, rings, and head are all new as of last october (dealer installed). so i severely doubt it's that. the guy parked it cause he had a flat, went to fix it, it doesn't start.

 

How's the t-belt....loose, broken, jumped timing ???

 

well, you're either not getting one of these:
1.air
2.fuel
3.spark
your first course of action should be to see which of these you're not getting.

how did you check for fuel and spark?

 

changed the distributor, pulled a wire, and it had plenty of spark. pulled a plug, smelled like gas. timing belt is fine also......i had him crank it with no distributor and watched the camshaft turning.

 

okay so we have a new distributor, new plugs (which reek of gas), and a new battery. i don't understand how a DPFI car can not be getting air......can someone enlighten me please? thanks!

 

heres what you need to do. take the plugs out and spray starter fluid in each of the holes. Once sprayed have someone turn it over....be sure to disconnect the main starter harness. Ive had this happen to 2 swaps ive done. Give that a whirl and let me know if that works...

 

so how does one turn it over with no harness on the starter? or am i just disconnecting it while i spray in the starter fluid? from what i remember, the starter is what turns the flywheel and actually gets the engine going, so taking off the harness (thus removing its power source) would cause it to not work, right? i'm feeling a bit confused now, but it was probably me that did it.


[Modified by SlowRedTeg, 12:55 PM 1/31/2003]

 

no you disconnect the harness to the distributor. It will still turn it over. You will see the liquid shoot back out in the firing order...actually pretty cool to watch. THe starter is powered from somewhere else. Distributor does exactly what it says, distributes one signal into four.

 

are you 100% sure the timing hasnt skipped a tooth?
run a compression test

 

Kamin--i don't see any way the timing belt COULD skip a tooth if the car just sits in a parking lot for 2 days......he never moved it; he had a flat tire, parked it in the lot, went back 2 days later with the tire fixed, changed it, now it won't start. i also don't have anything with which to test compression and don't get paid for another week.


who00knows--so when you said disconnect the starter harness you were talking about the distributor harness.....so then what would spraying starter fluid into the chambers, leaving it all out, and taking away spark do? other than get starter fluid everywhere.....i guess i'm still not seeing the point.


[Modified by SlowRedTeg, 3:36 PM 1/31/2003]

 

It cleans out oil sediments and other crap that could be the cause of it not starting. Give it a whirl. I promise it should work. When you buy a motor, for a swap from japan or somewhere, 90% of the time you have to do this.

 

haha.....you promise it should work, eh? lol.....jfwy. now i get it, and we'll try it tonite. thanks for the explanation bro.

 

Check your ignition fuse.. thats what fixed my car when it didn't start.. I ended up paying for a full tune-up when all I needed was a ******* fuse!!!

 

which fuse is it on the EF? i'm not familiar with the platform (not my car).

 

If there's a blockage in the fuel line you'll still get plugs that smell like gas, but not enough gas to keep the car running. To test if this is the problem, prime the pump 8 or 9 times, then try and start it. If it starts, stutters, and then dies, it's a fuel pump blockage issue.

To test if the pump's not working correctly, disconnect the fuel feed line, put it in a can or bottle of something and prime the pump. Fuel should spray out in a powerful stream.

Just having plugs that smell like gas doesn't mean much.