Rep Power: 0

hello,

I have a 98 Honda civic lx, got in the car day after Christmas, fired up and immediately died. Has not started since. Will make the sound of trying to turn over, although a little higher pitched than if the car has no spark or fuel, but still will not crank.

Originally thought starter....not it
checked for fuel....has fuel
checked for spark...has spark
just to check, checked battery...obviously good
took valve cover off, when try to turn over, everything turns/moves, timing belt turns and pulley turns....still nothing.
Timing belt still intact on pulley, but have not taken timing cove off to see if something there broke.
only other thought is compression, but is that likely to just, go ?
i used a compression tester i rented from oreilly, and on all 4 cylinders it stays at 0 and does not move, or attempt to move when turned over...is that normal?

i am not sure what else to try, other than take somewhere and hope for the best, which is probably the worst
any help is GREATLY appreciated

Jonathan Jolly

 
Rep Power: 518

Your terms are totally misleading. *sigh*





Makes me think it's flooded.

The last time the car ran, was it started and moved 20 feet, then shut off?
You can't do that. It needs to be driven all the way through warmup to operating temperature before you shut it off.


Were the spark plugs wet when you removed them?


A flooded engine will lose compression, but it wouldn't drop to zero. I think your borrowed tester may be the problem.




Since the timing belt is not broken and the valvetrain still moves, I'd verify cam timing.
You could pull the upper timing cover to inspect cam/crank timing marks, or
use a timing light to see if the ignition timing is still correct.
If it's on the money then the timing belt didn't jump time.
If it's off time by like 20 degrees or more, it jumped the timing belt.


If it's timed correctly, I'd go back to suspecting it's just flooded.

Verify spark will jump 1/2 inch gap or more. (If it can't, that's a problem.)

Oil the cylinders, maybe a tablespoonfull per cylinder. Leave plugs out and crank it over a few seconds to spread the oil around the rings and help restore compression.
Dry and clean the plugs or replace them with fresh NGKs. Install.

Install battery charger
Hold the gas pedal to the floor and crank it.
Don't crank longer than 15 seconds at a time, and let the starter cool off for a minute after each 15 seconds of cranking.
You should hear the normal cranking sound return as compression is restored, and eventually it should begin trying to fire as the excess fuel gets cleared out.
Keep working with it, eventually it should run again.