OK, so last november, I put my '89 Si in the garage for the winter. It ran perfectly and had a little less than 1/4 tank. I go out to fire her up last night and the battery was dead. Put her on the charger and she fired up fine. ran perfectly. Just like when I put her away. Take her out and drive around the neighborhood. No problems whatsoever.
Go inside for roughly an hour, eat, clean up and go back outside to get a carwash. Car starts rough, sputters, backfires, and dies. Turn her over a couple more times and starts up but runs really rough. seems like its really struggling to keep running. I'm thinking its bad gas so I go to the gas station and fill her up. Try to start again, sputters but wont "catch". Battery dies again. Get someone to jump me but the car just sputters and backfires, but won't start (more like a "pop" from the exhaust, rather than a backfire)

No check engine lights. WTF?


Modified by BAZ at 11:50 AM 2/24/2004

 

I'd do a tune up...change cap/rotor/fuel filter/plugs...or just check each one that I mentioned to make sure they're good.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EF_LSVtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'd do a tune up...change cap/rotor/fuel filter/plugs...or just check each one that I mentioned to make sure they're good.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I was going to do that anyway, but Its kinda weird that it ran perfectly an hour prior.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BAZ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> (more like a "pop" from the exhaust, rather than a backfire)</TD></TR></TABLE>

probably not this but ill throw it in anyways....

check to make sure the rotor screw didnt come loose in the dizzy. i had that happen like 3 times last year(should have fixed it right the first time!). but it made a faint pop pop pop pop from the exhaust when trying to fire it up afterwards..

it ran for 2 years on that cap & rotor then just came loose one day...thought i blowed er up! cause she went BOOM then started backfiring & **** then died. then i did it at night and molten pieces of my random tech. cat blew out the back of the exhaust.

 

Hmmm. I'll check it out

 

Maybe you had some bad fuel, and it was towards the bottom of the tank.

-Eric

 

Thats what I was thinking, but for some reason, when I put the new fuel in it still wouldn't start

 

My friend at work had the exact same problem it was moisture in the fuel from sitting he went and got gas and after ten minutes of driving it ran great afterwards

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by timnparts &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My friend at work had the exact same problem it was moisture in the fuel from sitting he went and got gas and after ten minutes of driving it ran great afterwards</TD></TR></TABLE>

...Well, I drove it around for a while and let it run for about an hour and now it runs a little better, but still sputters at low RPM's. I was looking over everything and noticed a little corrosion on the plug wires. Still gotta pick up a new set but I'm pretty sure thats whats up.

 

sounds like a rotor problem to me too....loose screw....on older civic's its a common problem...

 

did black smoke come out the exhaust? that equals to rich condition = insufficient spark means replace sparks, plugs and that sorta thing...

What you have is a popping out the exhaust = lean condition...

you have debris in your fuel line... check pressure from pump, replace fuel filter, check fuel reaching cylinders....

fs

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dgonzals &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sounds like a rotor problem to me too....loose screw....on older civic's its a common problem...</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by filthy_shovel &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">did black smoke come out the exhaust? that equals to rich condition = insufficient spark means replace sparks, plugs and that sorta thing...

What you have is a popping out the exhaust = lean condition...

you have debris in your fuel line... check pressure from pump, replace fuel filter, check fuel reaching cylinders....

fs
</TD></TR></TABLE>

OK, I'll check these all out. Thanks for the suggestions guys!

 

Update:

Replaced fuel filter, cap and rotor. She runs mint now. The rotor was so torn up that I wonder how it ran at all.