cdfccf

Hello all

I was driving home from work a couple days ago and the civic just died, no warning, no unusual noises, rattles nothing.
'After getting it home, some basic troubleshooting showed the following:
* The timing belt is not broke ( although it is due to be changed ~ 55,000 since last change)
- this was verified by removing oil fill cap and seeing movement on visible rocker
while the wife cranked the engine.
* I pulled all 4 plugs individually and verified spark at each using spark tester
* I listened when putting ignition in "on" and can hear the relay click and the fuel pump start
and then turn off after 2-3 seconds.
* I also went out an bought a OBD2 tester to look for any codes that might have been
thrown - nothing

I need help in further diagnosing the issue, I do not want to just start replacing stuff blindly and hope I get lucky.

1. Can the fuel pump relay go bad in a way that it will allow the fuel pump to start for the
2 seconds to pressurize the line, but not allow power to the ecm?
2. Is it likely that the crank position sensor is faulty and telling the ecm to shutdown the
fuel pump?
3. there is a test connection "tee" in the rubber lines going to the fuel rails, it has a cap
over it. It doesn't look like a typical "schrader" test connection and because it is
rotated toward the firewall I cannot after taking the cap off tell if it has the depress-able
stem. - How / where do you connect a gauge to check if fuel pressure is getting to the
rails?


any advice or help provide will be greatly appreciated

thanks

Dave

ezone

Does it try to fire off then die immediately, or just not fire at all?

Did it run out of gas? Did you just get gas like 2 miles before it died?

When you turn the key on, what does the green key symbol on the gauges do?


Will it fire up on alternate fuel? (spray can of carb and throttle cleaner)

Pull out a spark plug, is it wet or dry?


Timing belt might not have broken, but did it jump time?
Got compression?

Maybe intermittent, but not real likely it would ONLY do it at that specific time.

You say you have spark, so I don't think it would be bad.
Don't even try it, that is not a fuel line. That's an EVAP line.
Fuel line is plastic and uses quick connect fitting on the injector rail.

d17a2mmm

I have the same dam problem everything you mentioned and still cant figure it out...let me know what you have cheked please

cdfccf

Thanks for responding!

in response to your additional trouble-shooting questions:
1. It does not try to start at all, just cranks
2, It is not out of gas, gauge initially 1/2 tank and I poured additional approx 2 gallons
into it just to be sure got appropriate change in fuel gauge
3. All plugs were clean and dry when I pulled then ( i did not verify correct gap )
4. I will pick up a can of starter fluid and a compression test gauge/hose and fitting on the way home
to test/verify compression, and see if it fires on alternate source of fuel
--> as far as verifying that it hasn't jumped time - where can I find a procedure for that?
5. I will also check the green key light when starting it
( is this to see if the imobilizer is shutting it down?) - what should I look for?

thanks again

Dave

ezone

Green light comes on for 2 seconds when you turn on the key, then goes out.
If it flashes rapidly while you try to crank the engine, that is a problem.

Light should flash slowly for about 5 seconds after you turn the key off.

Ether might be too violent but it works.
Jumped time checks, refer to timing belt installation and setup guides. You would have to remove the upper timing cover to see marks.

bsmiley

Thinking out louf. You have spark & fuel... if it jumped timing, you wouldn't have compression. So that would be something to check. But I don't think you can tell if your timing belt has tension by just taking off the upper cover. You can compare the upper & lower timing marks, which should give you an answer....so that's what I'd do at this point.
I just did my TB (first one, I am no longer a TB virgin!) And it wasn't hard.

DJPurdue

Hello all, I have a 96 civic CX (hatch) with a B18c motor. Same thing happened to me. I was driving on the highway and all of a sudden the engine died like it ran out of gas. I had just over 50 miles after filling the tank.

I have the same symptoms. There's fuel, checked it at the fuel filter, there is spark. Engine just cranks but does not start. Since I was just going 60mph on the highway and not even pushing the car I doubt the timing jumped.

Timing has jumped in the car once before but it still ran but really bad. This is something else.

Please help with valuable advice.

ezone

You mention fuel and spark.....What about compression?

What does the gas gauge say?
Fuel pump, does it operate during cranking?
How large a gap will your spark jump?
Verify cam timing?
Plugs, are they wet or dry?
Spray can of flammable stuff, will the engine run on that?
Does the ignition switch supply power to the important stuff?



'Pushing' the car has little or nothing to do with how the timing belt acts. When it jumped time before, was the belt replaced or just realigned and reused?

DJPurdue

Thanks eZone. I was able to start the car today. It appeared that it was air locked in some way. I checked that the fuel was coming on the feed line into the fuel rail and then checked it on the return side. Tightened everything back up and it fired right away. Did not change any parts at all.

Still not sure what happened but its running great now. Drove it around for an hour or so, both highway and city. Works like nothing happened.

To your question, it was a Gates timing belt that had been put in a month before when I swapped the motor so reused the same one. Its been on there for about 3 years now.

ezone

I might suspect the PGMFI main relay, but it's really tough to point at something and declare it "bad" while it is working.




Next time it loses power/dies/stalls out, watch the dash gauge cluster for

tach needle while the engine is still turning, is it still indicating engine RPM as it lost power or did it drop right to zero (lost ignition/igniter/trigger/primary signal)

all the warning lights coming on when the engine stops (if the dash stays dark like someone turned the key off, suspect ignition switch)



make sure the check engine light comes on when you first turn the key on
make sure the fuel pump runs when you first turn the key on
(main relay runs both of these items, either half can fail)