Matthewd73

I have a 99 civic ex i am working on for a friend of mine. About a month or so ago she overheated her car due to a radiator leak.... The car died on the turnpike upon approaching the ticket booth. I towed the car back to my house and proceeded to remove the head.. I took the head to a machine shop and had them mill the head and do a valve job on it. While the car was apart i went ahead and replaced the timing belt, tensioner and water pump. New radiator, plugs, wires, and complete cylinder head gasket kit. I set the timing, adjusted the lash on all of the valves, and reassembled the motor. The car ran fine for about a week. One day on the way home from work late one night the car just died on her. She described it as if she ran out of gas. Also, it was raining really hard when it died but the car has certainly dried out since (telling you to highlight the possibility of a short maybe). I then towed the car back to my house. There are no DTC's. I have strong spark at the plugs and I can hear the fuel pump running. The fuel pressure is approx 42 psi, engine off, pump primed. I pulled the valve and timing cover back off to check the timing marks and everything is still in time. I did a compression test on the cylinders and i have about 130 across the board. I rechecked the lash on all the rockers. I ever put a squirt of oil in each to see if the compression changed much and it only made a 10 psi difference. I even went as far as dropping the down pipe to ensure the CAT is not clogged. NOTHING.... I got fuel, air, spark, compression, correct timing. Out of despiration i even bought a used distributor from a junk yard near me incase a sensor or module in the distributor went bad. I also got a used PCM... Nothing!!! I even took the car to the honda dealer to be diagnosed but they could not come up with anything after charging me 250$.

Now... What leads me to think it is flooding is this.... When you first try to start the car it will sputter for a half of a second and then nothing, like it is flooding right away. Then, if i then unplug the fuel injectors the motor will sputter for a second like it is clearing itself out, and then stop after all of the excess fuel has been expelled. The motor will continue to attempt to start if the injectors are continually plugged and unplugged between cranckings but will do nothing otherwise. I am completely stummped.

I really feel that the car is flooding. I pulled the injector rail out to verify visually that all of the injectors are all firing and that none are stuck open. The fuel pressure is good. So the only thing else i can think of that could cause the condition is incorrect fuel pulse width. From my understanding the fuel pulse width is controlled by a combination of the IAT, ECT, MAP, BARO, etc... To be honest i just want to scrap the F***in thing but can bring myself to it after dumping so much money into the car. Not to sound concided but I know my shiz when it comes to cars and i am totally stumped. PLEASE, GIVE ME SUGGESTIONS

Thanks guys
-Pulling my hair out

Mishimoto

I remember some of these 90's Hondas having issues with the main relay for the fuel injection system. Have you checked the main relay?

teahou

I heard one of the old techs in my shop once talk about something he called "small car syndrome" He said it usually occurs when you start the car when cold, shut it off right away, then try restarting shortly after, and it will just crank/no start. Essentially it floods because it dumps a bunch of fuel due to being cold and expects it to be burned off, but the car gets shut off, so it don't

Anyway, he said the way to check is to put the accelerator to the floor, which will shut off all the injectors, then sit there and crank the $#&% out of it, eventually it will start, though you may need to put a charger on.

Don't know if this helps. Either way, as it sounds like you know, flooding is just a symptom of something else. Good luck to you and I'll let you know if I think of anything else.