Rep Power: 0

Ok, so here it goes... I have a 99 civic ex i am working on for a girlfriend 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. I have strong spark at the plugs and I can hear the fuel pump running. I did not put a pressure tester on on it but when i crack the nut at the fuel rail i have pressure. I pulled the valve and timing cover back off to check the timing marks and everthing 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. If the car sits for a little it will sputter for a half of a second when you first try to start it up and then nothing after that. It does not even want to sputter on starting fluid. 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 am completely stummped, Honda has not even been able to help me. If there is anything that anyone can think of that i have not, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys
-Pulling my hair out

 
Rep Power: 0

I have a similar problem, i am starting at CRANK POSITION SENSOR ($ 80ish).
then spark plug and coils and then everything else.

I will let you know. im 2003 civic ex 4dr

 
Rep Power: 518

You say starting fluid does nothing.
Try to fire it up, let it stall, then pull a plug out.
Is it wet?
With fuel?

Maybe my first steps:
If you were to put a scanner on it, would there be any codes?
If you had a GOOD scanner, what would the coolant temp sensor read? How about other pertinent data?


Load of crappy fuel?

Define: "Strong". How large of a gap will the spark jump across? It needs to be able to jump a good 3/4 inch gap.



130 PSI seems quite low. I expect 180-200, all plugs out, and I don't quit cranking until the gauge stops climbing.

 
Rep Power: 0

The only time is does ANYTHING!! is for a BRIEF millisecond when you first turn it over. It does this regardless if there is starting fluid in it or not. Yes the plugs are wet. My $300 actron scanner shows no codes. The live engine data on the tool is limited but as far as i can tell all the sensors that it does read seem to be operating correctly. As far as how strong the spark is, i dont know exactly. I would describe it as being normal. A 3/4 gap seems pretty extreme but regardless it makes a nice strong blue spark on all plugs. Iv been working on cars all my life and my experience makes me think it should deff be enough to get this ***** going. I am not sure on the exact condition of the fuel. The car was low on fuel when it died on her. I brought her a gallon or so of gas but that was not the problem obviously. It did not happen upon filling the car up or anything so i assume fuel is not the problem. Like i said it will not even sputter on starting fluid. I thought 130 sounded a little low also and it very well may be, but talking to the honda dealers and reading other forum posts leads me to believe 130 should be enough for the car to run... It was running before and just quite all of the sudden so i would highly double compression is my problem.

 
Rep Power: 518

I was dead serious about that. The coils like to burn a hole through the side and arc to the metal shield when demand is high, instead of sending spark out through the tower. If the spark can't jump a 25kV gap but will only jump a 5kV gap, then the coil is bad and the car won't run right or at all.


ECT and IAT agree and are reading roughly ambient temps?
MAP and BARO are the same at KOEO?

Since you make it sound like it is flooding repeatedly, I'm thinking either compression is too low, too much fuel (or it isn't really gas), or lack of spark. Or the exhaust is plugged completely. Timing would do it too, but you said you checked that.

Also, if it is flooded, that would explain the super low compression.

I have had to oil the cylinders to restore enough compression to fire off and run after they lose the coil. Same for a flooded engine for any reason, they are damn tough to get started no matter what.
Gas pedal to the floor, hold it there, keep cranking it like that until the battery or the starter dies. LOL.

But what caused this to flood (or whatever it did to stall and die) in the first place?


Random guesses and thinking out loud here.
HTH