Rep Power: 0

I have a 1991 Civic CX hatchback auto transmission. This car is amazing, drives like a luxury go-kart and always forget the last time I had to fill up with gas. It is really a poor mans Smart Car and I love these Civics

Well...it served me for many many many km with basic maintenance over the years and it still drives straight and lots of pep and now is sitting on the driveway WON"T START

It has a new battery so there is lots of cranking power but it won't fire up.

Here is what it does:

*when turning the ignition I can here the main relay under the dash "click" and I can here a slight hum from the fuel pump under the back seat.
*the engine light comes on then goes off after a few seconds while turing the ignition(I can't recall if the engine light comes on during this process under normal circumstance) anyone know?

Here is how I got it to fire up if I am lucky:

*turing the ignition on and off......on and off..for many times then try starting the car with my foot on the gas peddle. It still won't fire up...
*again same procedure by turning the ignition on and off and sometimes by doing this I can here the engine flutter once(don't know why it does this when the engine is not running) anyone know?
*as mention above if the engine flutter once I know there is a good chance it will fire up. So I try to start the engine while it cranks the engine finally shows signs of life by fluttering and with the foot on the gas peddle it starts

I drive it around the block and it feels and drives normal but if I shut the engine off it won't start. Anyways it was just a fluke the way I got it to start. Don't know if this is a spark or fuel problem, hoping this would be something minor because it would be shame to end my generation Honda that looks great and drives great when it is running. Please help

Thanks in Advance.

 
Rep Power: 0

1st thing to suspect is that the distributor cap is not on right or wiring disturbed. Disconnect one of the HT leads to one of the spark plugs at the spark plug end and place it so that the end is very close to a metal part of the engine. Now with the car in neutral turn the engine over and see if a spark is emitted from the lead. If not that pretty well confirms it is the distributor. Unless your boyfriend undid the clamp that holds the distributor in place the timing won't have changed - but if he took it off and took the leads off and replaced them incorrectly - the firing order could be wrong. I would undo the cap again and make sure it is dry and clean inside - a little squirt of WD40 might help. Your car may be old enough for a rotor arm - if so make sure its seated correctly - if your set is breakerless (no rotor arm) another squirt of WD40 over the rotor body may help.

 
Rep Power: 298

things to check

1. check for spark on all 4 wires
2. Pull off dissy cap and check rotor for burns
3. pull off fuel line and check fuel pump for good pressure
4. Do a pressure check on the Cyl. make sure your compression is good still.
5. if all those check good then it could be a bad MAP sensor or TPS.