FARGIN HONDAS! Halp me DG, you is my only hope!

[milner351]

did you pull the exhaust apart after the manifold or just look for pressure pulses coming back into the intake?

It was not obvious on the car I had that the exhaust was plugged by looking at anything else, but when I pulled the close coupled cat off the exhaust manifold, the car fired right up.

[BBR]

Sudden failure leads me to believe it is something electrical. Do those engines have a cam position or crank position sensor? If so, the injectors may be firing, just at the totally wrong times.

[dieselgeek]

Sudden failure leads me to believe it is something electrical. Do those engines have a cam position or crank position sensor? If so, the injectors may be firing, just at the totally wrong times.

Injector timing makes no difference. Think how many engines are out there running on Batch and Bank fire.

These engines have a crank and cam sensor built into the distributor. If they aren't working, the ECU doesn't try to make spark or open the injectors.

[tardis454]

My guess is a bad distributor Todd. We sell every single Honda distributor we get. EVERY SINGLE ONE!
The symptoms(what our customers tell us)
*Car ran great, died in traffic, won't restart.
*Car ran when parked last night, won't start this morning...
Sound about right?

[dieselgeek]

My guess is a bad distributor Todd. We sell every single Honda distributor we get. EVERY SINGLE ONE!
The symptoms(what our customers tell us)
*Car ran great, died in traffic, won't restart.
*Car ran when parked last night, won't start this morning...
Sound about right?

This is what I told him as well. 99% of the time on my own hondas, when something won't start or doesn't run right, there's no spark. Instead of replacing the dist, I replace the Ignition Control Module (which is still about 75% of the price of the whole distributor, not cheap). But he' s saying he has a hot spark "in the right place"

[nesabo]

How are you doing the cranking tests? I am wondering if there is an issue with the ignition switch itself. When the key is in the "RUN" position you have all three, air, fuel, spark, but in the "Start" position fuel or spark is not happening. I know you are saying you have spark, but is when someone else is turning the key and you are watching? Or when you bump the engine over from the engine bay with the key in the "RUN" position?

[BBR]

That reminds me that I had to replace the ignition switch in my wife's '87 CRX not long after we got married..... IIRC (been a long time) it was fine in start, but not in run.

[Thumpin455]

How are you doing the cranking tests? I am wondering if there is an issue with the ignition switch itself. When the key is in the "RUN" position you have all three, air, fuel, spark, but in the "Start" position fuel or spark is not happening. I know you are saying you have spark, but is when someone else is turning the key and you are watching? Or when you bump the engine over from the engine bay with the key in the "RUN" position?

Both. Its part of basic diagnosis to find out what it has and when, isnt it? All the low hanging fruit has been picked on this one.

[Thumpin455]

This is what I told him as well. 99% of the time on my own hondas, when something won't start or doesn't run right, there's no spark. Instead of replacing the dist, I replace the Ignition Control Module (which is still about 75% of the price of the whole distributor, not cheap). But he' s saying he has a hot spark "in the right place"

I even went so far as to hook up the compression gauge with the distributor cap off so I could tell when #1 was hitting, and it was dead on so its all set up right.

If I ever find out what is keeping it from running, it will have enough new parts on it to run for some time.

[tardis454]

This is what I told him as well. 99% of the time on my own hondas, when something won't start or doesn't run right, there's no spark. Instead of replacing the dist, I replace the Ignition Control Module (which is still about 75% of the price of the whole distributor, not cheap). But he' s saying he has a hot spark "in the right place"

We sell the whole assembly cheap, car shops here hire parts changers, not mechanics.

[moparmaniac07]

About a year ago, my Sebring wouldn't start, or it would start intermittently. I'd hear the fuel pump kick on, and it had spark, but a common culprit was the ASD relay that was supposed to cut fuel and spark in an accident. I gave it a couple taps and it started. Everytime after that that it didn't start, I'd pop the hood, tap the relay, and she'd fire right up. After I changed the relay with a Radioshack piece, I never had to hit it again. Don't know if Honda's have 'em or not.

Another, more recent time of not starting the next morning, I changed the distributor and cam position sensor with junkyard pieces. Still didn't start. Pulled the crank sensor, cleaned it, put it back in, and fired right up everytime for a few months until it got a short somewhere and I just got a new car. I don't remember if it had spark or not that time though.

Definitely frustrating when everythings saying it should work but it still doesn't.

[Thumpin455]

It rained all day yesterday and its sitting outside. Today we did some other stuff and I just got done with it. No codes, nothing. Found the plug to ground for the codes to flash, and found nothing. Ran the valves, some were pretty wide, others right on the money. Set them all to what you said and still nothing.

Just now I hooked up my code reader and it told me that it needs drive cycles to see if there are any codes. I didnt ever clear them, so they werent there.

Lets just say I hate Honda. I hate them with a passion, and I will never look at one again after this crap.

[tardis454]

Don't give up yet Tod, it's a Honda, not a rocket ship!

Check out these posts on the Civic forums..
Honda forums are pretty douchey, but they do have useful 'some' info.

These guys are saying it's the main relay.
Both cars in these threads have spark & fuel but no start like your's.

http://www.civicforums.com/forums/19...not-start.html


http://www.civicforums.com/forums/17...-wont-run.html

[Barry Donovan]

Don't give up yet Tod, it's a Honda, not a rocket ship!

Check out these posts on the Civic forums..
Honda forums are pretty douchey, but they do have useful 'some' info.

These guys are saying it's the main relay.
Both cars in these threads have spark & fuel but no start like your's.

http://www.civicforums.com/forums/19...not-start.html


http://www.civicforums.com/forums/17...-wont-run.html

there ya have it.

I would almost rather a relay..this tells me that there is a bigger power than riding the switch. I just went through that on an old subaru. Added a biugger ignition, followed accel instructions. key got hot. the "on" wire goes through the key switch and not to a bigger power. ignition, everything, riding that rinky dink wire...no relay.

thats like a 1 amp coil signal by oem.

I get mad too, I even go prejudice and declare it asian in general. my only foriegn vehicle..an 80s subaru.

as long as dweebs pretnding smart talk, there is an answer..(I refer to the forums with the brand names of the cars). I left every attempt.

[oldsman496]

that message about drive cycles usually shows up after a battery has been disconnected for long enough to drain every cap in the system.... If its been without juice, the pcm (ecu - puter) is confused, and thats what its sayin' 'bout their not being enough info (drive cycles) to tell you any codes. if there were any, they have been lost, most likely due to no juice for a prolonged period (over 24hrs) - Expensive scanners can read MUCH more detailed info from a pcm. they can even look at what the system is thinking about throwing a code on, without it actually having thrown the code...I feel for ya man. keep smackin' it around. you'll feel like superman when it does get runnin

ed-spelln' - did a skell that rite?