Dear fellow forum members,
I brought my Civic to a neighbor mechanic because it won't start. I had a friend tow me.


The mechanic called me when the car was ready for pickup. He said the problem was flooding.
DaHonDa: Flooding?
Mechanic: Yes, flooding with gasoline.
D: What was flooded with gasoline? The gas tank?
M: No, the engine.
D: Hmmm... How did gasoline get into the engine?
M: Not sure. Maybe you kept cranking the engine even when the car won't start.
I asked him how he solved the problem, but couldn't recall or understand his response.

Mechanic charged $30 for what he said was a half-hour job.



Could anyone help me understand what happened? And how he solved it. And how to prevent this from happening.

 

Gasoline will only burn when mixed with air in certain ratios. If too much gas goes into the cylinders of the engine, it can't burn (just the same as not enough), and the engine will not start.

Flooding out is very rare on fuel injected cars though. The fuel injection system uses a computer to almost always put the proper amount of gas into the cylinders.

 

Not sure I understand it either unless there is a leak allowing the gas under pressure to leak into the cylinders.
Drive it & see what happens.

 

Before you took it to the mechanic, does your car take longer to start than normal?

If all cylinders were flooded, when was the last time you replaced the spark plugs?

I ruled out spark plug wires because I doubt they're all bad, one good one is all you need for your car to start.

If spark plugs are good I'd check within the distributor. You have an ignition coil, which can easily go bad after 150,000+ miles, and igntion control module. I haven't had a problem with this.

Either of these go out you will get get any spark to the plugs, and it won't start.


Ask the mechanic what he thinks it is, have him tell you what he did to correct the issue.

 

Yes, I've been having problems starting the car.

There have been several instances.
One instance is when I returned from a 3-month trip (summer 2012) abroad. I couldn't start my car. My friend charged the car's battery. I don't remember if the boost was sufficient or whether we had to do something else.

We had just replaced all 4 spark plugs in December 2012 (last month), or 4,000km/2500miles ago.

When the mechanic checked the spark plugs, he said he saw sparks. (This is good.)

My friend had just replaced the distributor and rotor in December 2012. We bought a "new" second-hand distributor from a wrecker.

Yes, I plan on asking him this Monday.

 

I believe you have a honest mechanic and 'very' reasonable rate on labor..

 

droopy128, thanks for your reply.
My good friend also thinks this mechanic is very honest. But may I ask what made you think that our mechanic is honest and has a reasonable rate on labor?

 

He didn't start just replacing random things and charged you for only a half hour labour instead of a full hour or more.

Good guy honestly.