I have a honda civic 2000, and it wont start. I can hear the starter trying to turn the engine over, but wont happen. Anyway, I gave it a jumper, still nothing... that tells me that battery is good; however, no current is making it to spark plugs. And also I noticed that it didn't have any oil. But just to be sure.. would the car lock the engine if it doesn't have any oil?

Thanks

 

Yep - without oil, the engine will become automatically locked. Some people call it "seized", but it's probably a matter of semantics.

Fortunately, if your starter is turning, it means it's turning the flywheel, which is attached to your crankshaft. If your engine was seized, the crank wouldn't turn, the flywheel attached to it wouldn't turn, and neither would your starter. Seriously, get some oil in that car before you turn the key again.

Then check the connections on your battery terminals. Make sure they're free of blue corrosion and fit tightly. If you can get a volt meter, take a reading at the battery to make sure it's good.

If all else fails, start looking at the fuel pump and the fuses for it.

 

just to clarify, the engine won't turn over?

engine needs to turn over before it will start

if it won't turn over your battery is weak and/or doesn't have a good connection, your starter is bad, or you're engine is seized up

if your engine turns over but doesn't start it could be from old bad gas, your spark plugs being fouled, your spark plug wires being bad, your cap and rotor needing replacing, your distributor or your ignition control module inside of it.

you can make sure your fuel pump is working by simply turning the key all the way before it starts, listen to a whine. That's the fuel pump priming.

 

How do you know it is lack of spark? I would suggest checking over the distributor/wires etc. When was the last time they were replaced?

It may be a fuel issue (like ChristianL said). Do the plugs look wet after cranking it? If so, I would assume that is fuel and the motor is getting that correctly.

+1 on checking the battery connection and making sure it is tight. My car(s) have just randomly stopped cranking before. Jiggled the battery cable and I was good to go. haha

 

Does the engine turn, or not? Do the pulley and belts on the left (driver's) side move? Then take the oil cap off and confirm that the valves move up and down.

But, like the other guy said, put oil in before you turn the key again. When there isn't enough oil to reach the dipstick and it hasn't been changed in a long time, any remaining oil will be in bad shape. It's a good idea to drain it all out and replace with new oil.

 

yes, the valves move up and down, and the spark plugs were wet, so that discard the fuel pump problem. I'm pretty sure is the spark plugs or the distributor.

Thanks

 

^^ then most likely it's your distributor