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So I bought a 1985 1.5L 4 door Civic with a 5 speed manual transmission from a friend about a month ago. It has about 130,000 original miles on it. I let my friend borrow it to drive, and this is what happened.

He was exiting the freeway doing about 60mph and downshifted from 5th to 4th, and the car died (not sure of his RPM's but they couldn't have been too high as he was slowing down from 60mph, probably under 4000rpm). He pulled over to the side of the road, and attempted to start the car again. The starter spun, but the engine would not crank or turn over.

My question is what would make the car do this? At first I thought the problem was with the starter, since the starter spun, but did not engage the engine (flywheel). But this wouldn't cause the car to die. I also thought about the flywheel, but I am confused at what could cause the car to abruptly die, then not crank when attempting to restart. I also tried dumping the clutch (the trick to start a manual with a dead battery). The transmission shifts into and engages in all gears, but the car will not crank or turn over at all. Before I take it to a mechanic, buy a new flywheel or starter, or attempt to fix this myself, I figured I would post something on here.

Hopefully someone much smarter than me has a correct answer. Any explanations/help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to all in advance.

 
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if it's efi yur crank sensor is most likely shot, mut more than likely you've lost spark or fuel, check if you can flood it or not ( try pump starting for carburetted/ see if the injector squirts fuel efi) and if that's gone it's likely your fuel pump if you see flooding or fuel squirting you have fuel, next is spark, crank it and have a buddy see if it makes spark, (same ting for fuel injectors) if so check your coil and / or distributor good luck and feel free to contact me with any questions an or concers: Lonwel

 
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I would check those things listen but they aren't the problem. The engine will not crank, aka turn over at all, eliminating (for now) the possibility of a fuel or spark problem. The starter spins but doesn't engage the flywheel, therefore prohibiting the engine from attempting to crank over. All I hear is a whining from the starter, which is not engaging the flywheel. I would think its either a bad starter or some of the teeth on the flywheel are worn down, but why would either of those problems cause the car to stall and die in the first place? Any other comments/ suggestions would as always be greatly appreciated. Oh, and the car is not efi, it has a carb.

 
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I would check those things listen but they aren't the problem. The engine will not crank, aka turn over at all, eliminating (for now) the possibility of a fuel or spark problem. The starter spins but doesn't engage the flywheel, therefore prohibiting the engine from attempting to crank over. All I hear is a whining from the starter, which is not engaging the flywheel. I would think its either a bad starter or some of the teeth on the flywheel are worn down, but why would either of those problems cause the car to stall and die in the first place? Any other comments/ suggestions would as always be greatly appreciated. Oh, and the car is not efi, it has a carb.

 
Rep Power: 235

Same thing happened to this guy: https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...turn-over.html

What your "friend" probably didn't tell ya is that he tried to start it so much that your starter is shot. You need to take off your starter and check it.

New OEM parts: http://www.bkhondaparts.com/billkay/...ll&ListAll=All

 
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starter solenoid is probably faulty, if hitting the starter helps or engages it (while attempting to crank) that's your problem and if it doesn't help then you'll have to tear apart your starter and see what the problem is, check if you have power to the solenoid in the starter and fix it or replace the starter, i would say check it first because I'm not sure how easy it is to find a starter for those models of Civics so i would start looking now and buy one if you can, and make sure that you have proper voltage to the starter because sometimes low voltage will still spin the starter (just not very fast) but won't engage the solenoid all the way. that's all I've got man, and is it distributed or electronic ignition? to help trouble shoot the dying immediately thing,

 
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Way easy. Just look in the yellow pages under auto parts-rebuilt and find the alternator/starter re-builder in your area. It's usually way cheaper and you can get it back next day most of the time.

 
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in my area it's hard to find good help, o be wary and ask around your area of the shops history of starter or electric rebuilds besides more info is never a bad thing right?

 
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Timing Belt tore aka he is FFFed