Rep Power: 0

Hi-
My son's 92 civic hasn't run since march. It was in KC 2 hours away, and since he didn't really need it while away at school I didn't prioritize it.
Well, it didn't start. I went and gave it a quick look over and saw a leaky valve cover gasket, and no spark.
I returned and replaced the gasket-ignitor and coil.
It now has spark-alas
Still no worky.

I had it towed 110 miles here, took off the upper timing cover-- the timing belt is dead on.
It acts like it wants to start but just won't quite do it.
Compression check over 130 psi cold
I hear the fuel pump run, then switch off just as the check engine light switches off, when I turn the key to on.
I disconnected the fuel line from the filter and it pumped fuel-
next step here is fuel pressure check, but chilton's manual gives me no value to check for--

I have cranked the engine a bit, and have a 2' oil puddle near the driver front tire. It doesn't seem to be leaking from the valve cover-maybe under the timing cover? I was hoping there was a common problem you guys could point me to-like a oil pressure sending unit which cuts off the fuel injectors--lol
What I really need is just a bit of help to methodically troubleshoot this thing. I'm disabled, and my son is in Vancouver for school, without a job. Finances are a challenge, so we really need this thing to go another year--

Thanks in advance for your advice--

 
Rep Power: 238

There is no fuel in tank. Doh!
Is the carburetor or fuel injection system failing?
If the engine rotates slowly, very possibly the battery has discharged. See (1).
Battery terminals could be loose or corroded. See (1).
Fuel pump pooped out.
Damaged ignition components, maybe by excess water.
Worn, and or improperly gapped spark plugs.
Messed up wiring as described previously.
If one has a distributor, it might have come loose -- check by turning it until engine starts.
Inspect for bad ignition coil or wires connecting to it.

 
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All good advice yes-but we are into expert (experienced) territory here. I'm no mechanical newbie, nor a newbie to the forums.
That is why I'm here.
1992 civic 4dr

 
Rep Power: 389

I wish I could help you, but dont have any experience with this.

I'm sure someone will come through and bless the thread soon enough- give it a day or so.

 
Rep Power: 0

The car isn't throwing a CEL, correct? A faulty sending unit should throw a CEL, but I can't remember if the OBD-1 cars will do that or not.

Fuel pressure on a 7th gen is 43-44psi stock, I imagine it's close to the same on your son's 92.

Oil by the driver's side tire could be coming from a couple places. You've checked the VC, so that's a no go. That leaves oil pan or crank seal really (correct me if I'm wrong folks), right? There's not much else on that side of the engine that can spout oil unless it's the cam seal. Oil pressure is on the passenger side of the block and the filter is about dead center.

I'm going to think out loud here, so bear with me. Car needs three things to start: fuel, air, and spark. You've confirmed it's getting fuel, have mostly confirmed it's getting spark - plugs aren't fouled out and they spark when the car is turned over right?(in otherwords you've pulled the plugs out and turned the car over to physically see the spark), and I'll assume you've checked to make sure the TB is operating correctly and not clogged.

Will it start with starting fluid sprayed down the TB bore?

I'd recommend heading over to d-series.org and posting this stuff there. They have a lot more experience with the 6th gen and under civics and may be able to give some more precise advice. We're mainly 7th gen (and a few token 8th gen) guys on here.

 
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No cel, it does illuminate when key is switched on, while the fuel pump primes, then goes out.
Ok
I looked at the valve timing -upon preliminary check the white line on crank pulley on mark, cam marks line up-
however------
It may still have shifted at the pulley-yes?

Here is why I ask-

I removed the distributor bolts and advanced the ignition timing to the point where the bolts will not go back in, and the engine really wants to run. in fact, it almost idled. I kinda held the distributor in place with a c clamp for this "test"
I seriously suspect the cam seal has gone (maybe bottom main seal also), leaked a bunch of oil on the timing belt and sprockets, and caused the timing belt to jump, although like I said looking at the " White pulley mark" the timing is on.

I know when I stuck the 347 stroker in my Mounty, the stock pulley had "shifted" at the rubber sleeve joining the 3 peices.
hmmmm,,,,,,

You mention another site--I may go there after I actually pull all of this stuff off the front of the engine and check the actual timing gear alignment.

Forgive me guys-this is the first Honda I have wrenched on. I appreciate all the support I can get. And, I'm very willing to learn. This old dog likes new tricks

As for the spark-yes I have witnessed a nice blue spark on all the plugs-and to be honest, I forgot to switch the key off while I pulled the distributor once. Yeah-I was reminded of my mistake. it hurt, so I assume the spark energy is good!

This problem occured very randomly--if it helps at all. Car was running fine-one morning wouldn't start.

To me, this is when a timing belt would jump, if it in fact did.
I know I am assuming things-I will report back as soon as I can. I move kinda slow, so you have time to post any advice you can think of--

thankuverymuch-

 
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Well, what do you know-
I jacked it up, pulled the front wheel and lower valance. Then I supported the engine. My back was hurting and I said, "you know what-screw this"

I bumped the timing as mentioned before, and with the advice from "up the street guy" i just kept cranking it while it sputtered. I mean, cranked for at least a minute--
It did finally catch and hold an idle.
Hmmm
So, I bumped the distributor back to midway, and she fires right up.
The "up the street guy" said it was fuel sludged from cranking against the no spark earlier. Either this is the case. or the car took me seriously when I started tearing into it--
OK
Now the oil leak--

Seems like I didn't prep the cam seal area well, it was dripping from the junction of the inner cover valve cover area. Some RTV ought to cure this.

 
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OK, the pulley shouldn't shift - crank or cam - because it's held in place with a woodruff key. So TDC at crank and TDC at cam = TDC. If the belt jumped a tooth or two, you'd be able to tell since one TDC wouldn't line up with the other.

Unless the key got spangled somehow and the pulley position is just held by the cam/crank bolt. I don't think this is likely though. Checking the cam sprocket is easy enough, crank is a bit more difficult since you have to have the Honda crank pulley tool to hold it still while you take the bolt off.

Ummm........Have you checked all the vacuum lines to make sure none of them are cracked/severed/leaking? There should be a passel of them (at least five if I remember correctly) on the intake mani. I don't remember if the 92s had a vacuum advanced distributor or not, like the 85-87s did.

I'm running out of ideas here.

 
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Ah!! Fantastic that it runs again! Good to hear it, I'm sure your son will be very happy that you fixed it for him!

 
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Well, good and bad news--
The ignition timing is set-on the red mark-
The distributor now seems to be oriented as it was before this ordeal began--
It will start right up-and probably move under it's own power-but for some weird reason the cam sprocket is rubbing on the inner cover-timing guide thingy--and this movement is seen at the gasket junction--in other words, it makes a pulsating leak-WTF? The RTV didn't work real well, either.
Cam bearing worn, allowing the cam to ride slightly lower?????

 
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We don't have cam bearings, it just sits in a journal. Which means something has made the cam wear the journals unevenly. Probably the easiest thing to do at this point is to simply swap the head. Since the journals would have to be somehow filled and re-ground, plus machining to the the cam, it's probably much cheaper to get a new head.

It's a D15B engine right? Lots of folks pretty much throw those heads away in favor of better flowing heads. Head on over to d-series.org, they will help you and you'll probably be able to pick up a replacement head from one of those guys for a lot cheaper than you realize.

 
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Thanks Speedfoos!!

Is it ok to paste a link to this thread-just to keep the story short?

 
Rep Power: 291

Subscribed... I like seeing old-timers(just playing around) trouble shoot cars. Good luck jtsmith.

 
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Schools on, and I'm hangin'

Maybe some improvements can be made to this car in the attempt to repair it.

 
Rep Power: 228

In order to make a good seal with the cam you need to pull the cam caps off along with the cam gear and replace the old seal with a new one. Before you install the new one clean out the seat where it sits at and apply a small film of silicon around seal. this will require a little more work, but will insure a proper leak free cam seal.

 
Rep Power: 389

We dont have any rules for you posting links to our site from other sites, but the other site might, but its doubtful. As long as you post some words with the link, they shouldnt mind, as we wouldnt.

As for the second quote above that I quoted... sounds like your on the path to modding your sons car.. lol, thats really cool!