Not my integra, the CRX I just bought.

Everything was going fine and I was driving to work, and I turn on to the street by my work and the engine slowly loses power and revs down and dies from about 40mph... I tried flooring it but eventually it had no power and just died. I pull over and stop. I try to start it again and it starts for a sec and then dies. If I keep the throttle floored and start it it will start for a sec but once I let off the throttle at all it dies. After doing this a few times, it would not stay running at all EVEN with the throttle floored.

It really felt like an electrical issue to me. Car has 1/4 tank of gas according to gauge. I initially thought it was the spark plug wires or something but they are fine and connected. The distributor wires were done REALLY ghetto by the previous owner and are twisted together and taped, but they look like they are making connection and not shorting out. Could it be the alternator? I know it is not the battery because the car really wants to start... it just does not.

Any ideas? The car is now parked on the side of the road and I am waiting for a tow truck.

Dustin

 

It sounds like fuel to me. Electrical usually just dies, no slowing or sputtering. Just silence. Here is what I think:

First Guess - You are out of fuel. My CRX did the same thing. I dumped 2 gallons into it and it fired right up. I never imagined the gauge could be off but guess what . . . since the float goes down as the fuel drops it isn't completely uncommon for it to stop before it hits the bottom of its travel. Wherever it stops is how much gas it will tell you there is . . .

Second Guess - Fuel pump died. Check the fuel pump and/or ECM fuse first. When you KOEO do you here the pump priming? Does it sound healthy? Try shooting some carb cleaner into the throttle body. If it starts up and runs for a sec then you know it is a fuel problem

Third Guess - Mr. Happy Ignitor (module to us dumbestics) took a steaming ****. I had an ignitor catch the distributor of my second CRX on fire. Funny thing was I put a new cap/wires on and it ran again. Vacuum advance was shot but so what. Those late 80's-early 90's Tec ignitors have a rep for smoking themselves at inopportune moments. Electrical? Yes but remember - what sends the on/off signal to the fuel pump? Modules/ignitors can be tricky because they can appear like an electrical OR fuel problem.

Update: One Final thought: Honda used bronze bushings in their distributors back in the late 80s-early 90s (and I think they still do). Over time they wear out and the round hole becomes oval. Once this happens the distributor shaft ***** sideways. As a result the rotor whacks **** and either breaks stuf or breaks itself. The reluctor wheel will invariably break its veins off on the pickup and **** the pickup in the process and any number of spinning things can cut or damage wires to the ignitor. I have only seen the severe cases twice but I have caught it before serious damage occurred about 12 times. The tell-tale sign is a gold-brown colored dust piled up in the bottom of the distributor cap. If you see this grab the rotor and see if you can move the shaft up and down or side to side. The fix? For $150 you can get most distributors new from Honda minus the cap/rotor/ignitor/coil. Or you can get a junkyard distributor for about the same price. The problem there is that the used distributor may have the same problem.




[Modified by Cobra, 1:51 PM 8/8/2001]

 

1) I had the gauge past E on the last tank with no issue. I have been watching the fuel level drop these past few days and it has seemed constant and linear. I could be wrong though... I will probably try putting fuel in it first

2) I hear the fuel pump pressurize the system when I turn the car on.

3) Definately could be the ignitor... when the car is cold it runs a little bit rough (hesitates) at low RPMs and felt similar to how it did when it just died. I am not exactly sure which distributor I have (I would guess the ZC is different from the CRX Si motor) so I am not sure which one to get. Know any way to test the ignitor?

I will check out the distributor and see if it looks OK.

Dustin

 

Replace it and see if it fixes it. Ignitors are the hardest thing to diagnose without a known good spare. A bad module can test fine. They suck!

Also, just because you hear the pump run doesn't mean it is providing sufficient pressure. You need to check it at the rail.


[Modified by Cobra, 2:21 PM 8/8/2001]

 

I'll take the return line off and see if there is fuel in it. I guess I could also install a fuel pressure gauge on it, but mine is on my integra and I am at work now. I had the car towed to my work. They wanted $7 a mile to tow the thing to my house 25 miles away. Yeah right.

Dustin

 

Lemme know what you figure out! I will keep thinking about it.

 

I found out what it was.

I took the cap off and somehow the rotor got caught and started spinning on the shaft in the distributor. Since it is plastic it melted and the rotor is melted on the shaft and is off about 30 degrees from where it should be. The rotor turned so much that the set screw is now UNDERNEATH the plastic!

Now I just need to find out if a ZC distributor is any different and whether it will take a standard honda rotor.

Dustin

 

A way to test an Igniter and Coil pack would be to find out which out which color wire on the distributor housing is the ground signal coming from the ECU...
Set the #1 cylinder at TDC..
Ground the ECU signal wire ( dist. side,connector plugged in) to battery ground, don't hold the wire there, just "tap" it on the negative battery cable.. you should then see spark at the #1 plug wire..


[Modified by BreakStuff, 5:22 PM 8/9/2001]

 

But how can you tell if that spark is sufficient? It is not uncommon to have an ignitor sending the signal to the coil but it opens the circuit too early re-saturating the field. A partial collapse of the field will still create a spark but not enough to create combustion. This I have seen before too . . .

 

But how can you tell if that spark is sufficient?

Same way you always would... stick yer tongue on it!

 

Same damn thing happened in my 89 b16a CRX. I thought my timing belt had broken or something.