orbanp

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this forum and somewhat new to fixing Hondas!

It is a '97 LX, 5SPM, with about 130 kMiles on it.
The car was running fine, parked for about two weeks, and now cranks, first just two coughs, as there were no fuel, and no start.
The "check engine" light is not on.
I did check the fuel pressure. It is 40 psi, and the pressure holds.
There is spark. I took off the distributor cap and put a grounded wire close to the output of the HT transformer and there is good spark.
The cranking sounds just like before, no change in the sound.

So does it sounds like the injectors are not firing? How would I test that easily?

Any other good advice?

I also need to take off the distributor. One of the screws of the cap snapped when taking it off.
How do I open that multi-wire connector on the side without breaking it? See attached pic.

The car is a Canadian model. In '97 there was no requirement for OBD2 here. The car has the right connector though. Does it have OBD2?
Do I just plug my reader in and see what happens?

(I did find that 2200 page service manual, making use of it, but it is a bit slow to wade through it.)

Thanks, Peter

ezone

If the CEL does not come on when you turn the key on, you need to
A) Make sure the light actually works and is not burned out
B) Check the PGMFI main relay for not powering up the ECM. (wiring diagrams and voltmeter)


You have to remove it from the metal mounting bracket before you can get the two halves apart.

Yes it does, and why haven't you already tried that?

Got a spray can of anything flammable? (Carb and throttle cleaner)
Will the engine fire up on that?

orbanp

Hi Ezone,

Thanks for the help and reply!

I had another look this morning.
The CEL light is working, it does come on for about one or two secs when I turn on the ignition, it goes out after that and stays off.

I guess I figured that the ECU was alive as the fuel pump came on for about two secs to pressurize the fuel system when the ignition was turned on. That is how I measured the fuel pressure.

I did hook up the code reader, it did communicate with the ECU, and reported no error code.
It is a generic OBD2 code reader and not the Honda tool.
Any chance that Honda would have a different version of the ECU code, one for Canadian cars, where there is no requirement for OBD2, and no need to report anything?
It would not make much sense in my opinion.
However, when testing the emission, here with OBD2 equipped cars just take the report from the ECU, while cars with no OBD2 have the tail pipe sniffed by the emission tester. On this car they always used tail pipe sniffing...

I did manage to open the distributor connector, and took the distributor off, and in the process of removing that broken cap screw.

I have not checked the engine with some fuel sprayed into the intake yet.
I probably will use a "manual" spray bottle with gasoline and report back.

Thanks again for the help!

Regards, Peter

ezone

Can you get any live operating data from it, like coolant temperature or throttle position voltage?



It's standard OBD2 for that model year car.

Your local emissions test methods may differ based on age of the car or something, that's all up to your local gov't agencies.

I don't have to deal with testing where I live.

There are other various differences between US and Canadian market cars too.
Will it throw a lightning bolt a good half inch or more?

(I didn't see you mention this) Have you pulled any spark plugs to see if they are wet or dry?
Got compression?

orbanp

Hello Everyone,

The good news is that the engine runs!

The mystery remains that why, or more accurately, why did it not start before, as I could not find anything wrong with it! Everything I checked worked as it was supposed to.

Only thing I can think of is that as I moved/disturbed the distributor connector, and it restored some connection that was failing before.
Interestingly, having seen the insides of that connector, I could not see any sign of corrosion, it seems to be a well designed and weather proofed connector.

So I replaced the distributor (I took it off to remove that broken in cap screw), and did measure the presence of the common +12V line that powers the injectors, the voltage was there.
Then was when I tried to start the engine again, and it fired up!

Again, I would like to thank for all the help, especially for ezone!

PS:
- The gap I tested the spark with was close to 1/2".
- I do not think my OBD2 reader would read things like live operating data, it is one of the cheapest and simplest, it reports error codes, deletes them, and reports readiness data.

Regards, Peter