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Honda civic lx timing problem?

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Old Aug 4, 2014
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Exclamation Honda civic lx timing problem?

This is my first post to this site so any help would be awesome and greatly appreciated. I have a 2003 honda civic 1.7.... I bought it off my buddy's dad it's a 2003 honda civic 2 door coupe 5 spd, and he claimed it only needed a alternator. Well the car has 170,000 miles so I decided to do the timing belt and water pump. I followed the steps on this forum and also watched some YouTube videos that really helped out. I'm always working in the garage and am somewhat mechanical. I got the car back together and started it up and it seem to run great and idle fine, I took it for a test drive up the road and it seemed like it was running great. The car sat over night In the garage and I went outside to start it and it wouldn't idle and ran shitty. I realized one of the injectors didn't sound to good so I changed the spark plugs and also the 4 injectors. The car still won't idle and is running very poorly. I plugged it into my code reader and it's saying ,misfire I'm cylinders 1,2, and 4. Any ideas or suggestions?? Is the timing off?
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Old Aug 4, 2014
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Re: Honda civic lx timing problem?

Sounds to me like the timing is off. Replacing the injectors is a knee jerk reaction. Stick to checking on things that you've done since that's probably the problem. How did you set your timing when you did the work?
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Old Aug 4, 2014
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Re: Honda civic lx timing problem?

Originally Posted by BlueEM2
Sounds to me like the timing is off. Replacing the injectors is a knee jerk reaction. Stick to checking on things that you've done since that's probably the problem. How did you set your timing when you did the work?
We'll i rotated the engine until the arrow was facing up and also the hashes lined up with the head. And I thought that I lined up the line on the harmonic balancer was lined with that little line but I pulled it apart and the arrow is up and the hashes line up with the head but the harmonic balancer isn't lining up. How do I fix the timing that I messed up?? Any help would be awesome
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Old Aug 4, 2014
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Re: Honda civic lx timing problem?

No other codes besides the misfires?
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Old Aug 4, 2014
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Re: Honda civic lx timing problem?

Originally Posted by BlueEM2
No other codes besides the misfires?
No only the misfire codes
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Old Aug 4, 2014
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Re: Honda civic lx timing problem?

Set crank to TDC mark.....and cam gear has the word "UP" somewhere near the top.

How far off is the cam gear from its timing mark? (count as in # of teeth off)
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Old Aug 5, 2014
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Re: Honda civic lx timing problem?

Originally Posted by ezone
Set crank to TDC mark.....and cam gear has the word "UP" somewhere near the top.

How far off is the cam gear from its timing mark? (count as in # of teeth off)
The car was retarded 2 teeth I'm hoping it s correct now and didn't harm anything seeing that these engines are very sensitive and are a interference engine. The tdc mark on the crank I'm the line all by itself on the harmonic balancer correct?
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Old Aug 5, 2014
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Re: Honda civic lx timing problem?

Originally Posted by 2003honda5speed
The car was retarded 2 teeth I'm hoping it s correct now and didn't harm anything seeing that these engines are very sensitive and are a interference engine. The tdc mark on the crank I'm the line all by itself on the harmonic balancer correct?
TDC or 0* is the single mark, and they usually have a triple set of marks that are the timing marks, like 14/16/18 degrees or whatever the spec range is on a particular engine (like that would have been spec 16 +/-2 deg).


Just off by 2 teeth won't normally bend valves, but the computer may hate it and shut it down on some of the cars.

As long as you didn't spin the cam or crank around with the belt off...
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Old Aug 6, 2014
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Re: Honda civic lx timing problem?

Originally Posted by ezone
TDC or 0* is the single mark, and they usually have a triple set of marks that are the timing marks, like 14/16/18 degrees or whatever the spec range is on a particular engine (like that would have been spec 16 +/-2 deg).


Just off by 2 teeth won't normally bend valves, but the computer may hate it and shut it down on some of the cars.

As long as you didn't spin the cam or crank around with the belt off...
No didn't do that, it was barely off and I fixed it tonight and still the same problem where it runs great now when ur on the gas but won't idle, I decided to do a compression check mad all 4 cylinders are the same and unfortunately right around 80psi..... I know that's low any ideas why ?
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Old Aug 6, 2014
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Re: Honda civic lx timing problem?

Recheck cam timing again.

All 4 cylinders being even is good, but 80 PSI sounds scary low to me....but I can't evaluate your test equipment or your methods.

When I do a compression test on one of these, I expect to see over 180 PSI on my equipment and using my test methods.
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Old Aug 6, 2014
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Re: Honda civic lx timing problem?

^ Agree -- with stock compression ratio, should be ~100 psi more than what you're seeing...

Hopefully tight valves is combining with tooth-off cam timing, to lift valves slightly off the seat enough to ruin compression readings... if that's the case, redo and confirm your timing again, then check valve clearance on all valves... these 7th gens tend to run tighter, not looser, over time.
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Old Aug 6, 2014
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Re: Honda civic lx timing problem?

Originally Posted by kinakoes2
^ Agree -- with stock compression ratio, should be ~100 psi more than what you're seeing...

Hopefully tight valves is combining with tooth-off cam timing, to lift valves slightly off the seat enough to ruin compression readings... if that's the case, redo and confirm your timing again, then check valve clearance on all valves... these 7th gens tend to run tighter, not looser, over time.
I'm going to borrow a friends compression tester just to make sure my gauge is good, I'll check that tonight
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Old Aug 6, 2014
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Re: Honda civic lx timing problem?

I might see over 200 PSI on some of these engines, but I expect at least 180.


On the tester:
If someone screwed a tire type Schrader valve core in place of the correct compression tester Schrader valve core, the readings tend to be roughly half of the actual compression pressure (from what I've seen).



Core example:


They are not all the same.....There's a whole bunch of different types all with different purposes and specs
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Old Aug 6, 2014
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Re: Honda civic lx timing problem?

Check my signature for setting TDC and how to properly set timing. It's pretty much foolproof.
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Old Aug 6, 2014
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Re: Honda civic lx timing problem?

I was seeing 180 psi on my old Paseo at 200K+ mi @ 9.0:1 compression... so it makes sense to expect at least that on a 170K, 10:1 D17...
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