OK so I was driving today and all of the sudden it just makes a popping sound and dies, then it won't start. Tried pushstarting it, still won't crank over.

I thought it ran out of gas so I went and got some more, still nothing.

I have no idea what is wrong with it... so far I checked:

Pulled spark plugs, getting spark every now and then (put a thin peice of metal in there and put it close to a ground bolt and a spark will arc across every couple of tries, but not too often.)

Pulled the cap off the distributor and the rotor is still spinning (pretty slowly).

What else should I check?

Thanks!

 

check the igniter. my boys si did the same thing. the pop sounded like it was coming from the intake. whenever he would try to start it would just make the loud pop sound. he switch the igniter with a friend and it was the culprit.

 

Thanks a lot BigMig... I was thinking it might be the ignitor (after reading a few old threads here)... How much do you think they run?

Yeah it was weird I was at a stop sign and as soon as I started to give it some gas it made this loud "POP" kind of bassy sounding and I first thought my intake tube popped off the throttle body or something...

Anyways thanks a lot I think I am going to take it to AutoZone tomorrow and see if they can test it for me.

 

dont forget that the main relay is usually the cause of the car not starting. it wouldn't be a bad idea to take it apart and resolder the joints on the board.

 

Where is the main relay? I don't know how to desolder things if it's a chip... otherwise I guess I can try it.

I have a voltmeter if someone can explain to me how to test things in my distributor...

Thanks for the help though guys.

 

Make sure nothing is broken in your dizzy cap, I just went through this last week.
Was driving along, car bogged and stalled. Couldn't get it started. Rotor had fallen off, so I got a new cap and rotor...and eventually dizzy. Ran great for a few hours, then died again, same way. Rotor fell off again, part of the dizzy cap was broken. So I replaced the cap, got the rotor on the right way, it it started right up.

One other thing to check is your timing. Maybe it jumped? the sound could be your compression going back through the intake, but i doubt it. I bet the dizzy is going bad....

 

Tiggs, thanks for the advice.

Would bad timing cause it not to start?

I tried taking the distributor off today to take a look inside but couldn't get the damned top bolt off (got the 2 lower ones no problem)... it's kind of hard to reach and seems easy to strip. Any tricks to get it off?

Or should I just leave it on (does it need to be connected to test with a volt meter?)

Thanks in advance!

 

Do you hear the fuel pump prime when you turn the key on? Lean your drivers seat all the way back and as soon as you turn the key to the on position stick your head over the rear locking compartment behind the seats. If you don't hear the pump prime then it is your main relay, or at least the relay is part of your problem. You can find the main relay under the drivers side kick panel. Here's a link:

http://www.crxsi.com/resources...elay/

 

That top bolt is a pita. Mine is almost completely rounded off, haha. I use locking vice grips to get it off. Try to turn it a little at a time. Although, most of the things you'll check can be done by just removing the dizzy cap which are only 3 like 7mm or 8mm (depends on the cap) screws.. Take that off first to check the rotor etc.

If your timing belt got loose, or maybe is old and ended up loosing a tooth, your timing could be off and that would cause your engine not to start. line up all the timing marks (unfortunately to check this you'll have to take off the crank pulley)

Check what crxtreme89h said before checking the crank timing (unless you have airtools avail to take the crank bolt off) cuz it can be tedius, or easy.

 

ur rotors screw came out put the screw back and crank it up thats wut mine did,i was goin on freeway ************ cut me off i downshifted got on it and it made the pop noise and just died wouldnt start for **** would get spark once in a while same thing then i opened the dizzy cap look and the screw for the rotor was sittin in the cap hope i helped...

 

Sweet thanks a lot guys, now I have some things to check...

I'll let you know if any of that tells me anything.

I don't think the rotor screw fell out, 'cause I took the cap off and looked around in there for a minute and didn't see anything... but you never know so thanks.

 

OMG I am stumped!!! Someone please help me!

Me and my uncle messed around trying things like all day yesterday but couldn't find anything...

Still won't start, no spark. He got the ignitor to spark manually a few times by tapping it with something metal.

I thought for sure it was the ignitor but we followed the steps in my HELMS and it said there was a bad ground...

Thing is, all the grounds seemed OK. Where are all the grounds located? Battery, Valve cover, thermostat area (<-- I think that's the one that may have a problem but I can't seem to find it to be able to test it), where else?

We tried beefing up the battery and valve cover grounds, but that didn't work.

Ignition coil is fine.

Main relay could be messed, like you said above.. how do I check that? I heard it clicking when I turned the key.

Could it be something in the fuel system? I highly doubt it but HELMS says to check that stuff first. But I don't know why I wouldn't be getting any spark.

I didn't take the rotor off, so I don't know if anything is under there or not... the cap looked fine.

Any advice? I need my car back on the road ASAP so I can get to work and school, the bus freaking sucks!

 

there really isnt a way to check the main relay by looking at it. the best thing to do is to take the cover off of it and resolder all the joints on the board (there should be 15 or so). to do this, simply re-melt the old solder joints with a soldering iron and add another drop of solder once it is melted. i did that to mine last year and have not had a single problem with it since. goodluck man

 

the thermostat ground is rigth on the thermostat. yes theres the battery ground but theres also a tranny ground that runs along with the battery so just keep following the wire on the battery ground and it leads to the tranny ground.

how do you know the coil is fine ? did you check all your fuses ? theres steps in your helms manual to check the main relay to see if its good.

any codes on the ecu ?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shiznattik &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Thing is, all the grounds seemed OK. Where are all the grounds located? Battery, Valve cover, thermostat area (&lt;-- I think that's the one that may have a problem but I can't seem to find it to be able to test it), where else?

We tried beefing up the battery and valve cover grounds, but that didn't work.

</TD></TR></TABLE>
all the other answers are on target but if your ground was bad it most likely will still push start but you should have that one on the valve cover and thermostat but run extras from your trans to your block, block to valve cover, valve cover to body, trans to body, block to body. if you do that i guarantee you won't have ground problems

 

yeah that hyperground kit thingy is always a good investment

 

Hmm... this thing is so weird. The more I think about it the more I get confused.

I'm starting to think it has to be the main relay, gonna check that out in a minute.

Throwing no codes, all fuses have been checked.

Coil's resistance was checked with an ohm meter and is fine.

Thanks for the help guys I'll get back to you with what I find out... planning a swap in the next month so I need to get this fixed so I know everything is working for the new one.

 

what year is your civic ?

im assuming when you tested the coil you went through that steps in your helms manual, same with your ignitor. and when you try to start it you dont see the coil arcing with anything.

have you tried to switch the ecus with a known good ecu ? have you tried switching the dists with a known good dist ?

 

My CRX is a 91 HF...

Yeah I checked the ignitor and coil as per HELMS.

Ignitor has no continuity between WHT wire and body ground, and BLU wire and the body ground. Which says there is a poor ground (thermostat one... couldn't find it, can anyone help?).

The coil's resistances were within spec.

I replaced my ECU with another one, no luck.

I'm going to take apart the main relay and check the solders...

Thanks again guys, you are great help!! I am hoping I don't have to tow it to a shop and pay tons of money... as I don't have much right now.

 

lets start with location first. follow your lower radiator hose to the engine, that takes you to the thermostat. now to the left of the thermostat cover there should be a ground wire with a little 10 mm bolt. this groudn wire is not mroe then an inch away from the cover so look for it within that

 

ANyone have a pic of the difference?

On my parts car (89 CrxSI) I have adjustable springs and tokiko blues. Now I want to bring both onto my daily driver (89 Si aswell on stock suspension)

BUT

My mechanic told me over the phone that it couldnt be done when both cars were at his shop getting the windshields swapped.

Is it possible that one of them is an 88?

TIA

 

lol wrong thread buddy

 

Heh... yeah could be wrong LCA's, 88 are different.

Anyway I can hear my fuel pump prime, as long as that sounds like a wooshing back there then when its done a little click kind of noise.

Anyhow I looked for the thermostat ground and cannot find it.

Where is it in these pics?




Thanks!

Also, this is the main relay right?


How do I take it out?

Thanks!

 

try and take the wiring harness out of that clip, then take the clip off, then try take a pic of that, your probably see it then.

that little box is not the main relay. take out the coin try, that little thing that flips open, then look to the left of that, the main relay is a good 3 to 4 inches long.

 

Nevermind, I'm stupid. Found the damned Main Relay. That thing is a pain to get out... here's a pic of the board, think it's fried? Should I re-solder them all or get a new one or what? Thanks!



Will try this then if it doesn't work I will look for that thermostat ground some more. Man I suck at cars... hehe.