'96 EX cranks but won't start
08-03-2017
#1
Registered!!
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2017
Age: 54
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Rep Power: 0 
'96 EX cranks but won't start
Howdy, y'all. I'm mostly a bike guy and barely know how to drive one of these four wheelers, but I've somehow been roped into fixing my friend's 1996 Civic EX.
He called me once 'cause the car had stranded him near me. He pulled the distributor to reach a hose underneath it and I guess screwed up the timing a little 'cause he got it back on and the car ran again.
That was the last I heard of it for a week or so, but then he got stranded at a mutual friend's house. The car eventually started with a jump from the mutual friend's truck, but the story that got to me at the time was just "I'll pay you to replace my fuel pump."
I had him order a pump and a filter and replaced them both, but I knew that wasn't the problem the first time I heard him try to start it. It was catching briefly and then dying. So I called another friend who knows a thing or two about these motors and he said it was the coil or the ICM and I should find the diagnostic instructions on the web. I did, and I went through them, and I'm pretty sure I got the tests right even though a couple of wires weren't the right color. The tests pointed to a bad ICM. We ordered a whole distributor just to be safe.
Today, I brought my timing light over and installed the dizzy. I shorted the service plug near the passenger door hinge and tried to start it. The motor turned over, but didn't catch. I took the jumper off the service plug; same thing. I had read somewhere that this could be a dizzy installed 180º off, but this one only fits one way. My timing light does not turn on when the motor is cranking. The coil fuse is good. I can hear the fuel rail pressurize when the car is turned on.
I have the battery on a charger tonight, but it was at 12.5V when I pulled it and the charger said 80% when I plugged it in. I just found out there's a fusebox in the engine compartment that I didn't know about, but that's pretty much my last hope. Anybody got any pointers for me?
Thanks,
-Kit
He called me once 'cause the car had stranded him near me. He pulled the distributor to reach a hose underneath it and I guess screwed up the timing a little 'cause he got it back on and the car ran again.
That was the last I heard of it for a week or so, but then he got stranded at a mutual friend's house. The car eventually started with a jump from the mutual friend's truck, but the story that got to me at the time was just "I'll pay you to replace my fuel pump."
I had him order a pump and a filter and replaced them both, but I knew that wasn't the problem the first time I heard him try to start it. It was catching briefly and then dying. So I called another friend who knows a thing or two about these motors and he said it was the coil or the ICM and I should find the diagnostic instructions on the web. I did, and I went through them, and I'm pretty sure I got the tests right even though a couple of wires weren't the right color. The tests pointed to a bad ICM. We ordered a whole distributor just to be safe.
Today, I brought my timing light over and installed the dizzy. I shorted the service plug near the passenger door hinge and tried to start it. The motor turned over, but didn't catch. I took the jumper off the service plug; same thing. I had read somewhere that this could be a dizzy installed 180º off, but this one only fits one way. My timing light does not turn on when the motor is cranking. The coil fuse is good. I can hear the fuel rail pressurize when the car is turned on.
I have the battery on a charger tonight, but it was at 12.5V when I pulled it and the charger said 80% when I plugged it in. I just found out there's a fusebox in the engine compartment that I didn't know about, but that's pretty much my last hope. Anybody got any pointers for me?
Thanks,
-Kit
