new muffler...car won't start???
 

Okay, so I just replaced the muffler on my 98 DX. I had to remove the B-pipe in order to drill out the broken bolts (thanks to all who helped with recommendations). I also had to saw off one of the B-pipe bolts on the front of the car...PITA! I installed new gaskets on both B-pipe and muffler flanges. All seemed to be good and now the car won't start. WTF!!

The battery is fine. The starter is cranking and the fuel pump seems to kick on okay, I just can't get it to turn over (tried some gas pedal too). Any thoughts why the car wouldn't start? I figured even if I hadn't connected the B-pipe it should still at least start....

Check for spark at each of the plugs. If there's no spark, check the coil and ignition control module in the distributor (see service manual at the link in my signature).

Do I need to check for spark at each of the plugs? The plug furthest away from dist has spark. The gaps on all the plugs are about 0.09 in (roughly 2 mm) and all looked a little rusty.

I don't see how my car won't start from changing the exhaust parts when it started up fine before?!

It's most informative to check spark at all four plugs. Don't remove old plugs to test. Instead, insert a good properly gapped spark plug into the end of the plug wire, and then ground the threads of the plug against a convenient metallic engine part like the valve cover. When a buddy cranks the engine, you should see strong bright blue spark rather than weak orange spark at each plug. If you have weak spark, the coil is probably bad.

Okay, well it was a weak orange spark, but that wes with the old plug. I'll get new ones.

Yeah, if a new properly gapped plug still produces only a weak yellow/orange spark, then the coil in the distributor may be faulty.

Well my plan is to check spark with new spark plugs and change all the plugs anyway. The resistance across all the plug wires seems on par so I'll leave those alone. I'll change the fuel filter (can't remember last time it was changed) and change the oil and go fom there. Any other ideas of easy/cheap things to fix that might help?

So I checked the spark at each plug wire and they each seemed to spark a white/blue color. I went ahead and changed the fuel filter, oil and oil filter and the spark plugs.

The whole distributor was replaced earlier in the year by a mechanic. When I got the car home it wouldn't start right the next day and they hadn't set the timing right. That was fixed and it's been okay since.

Also its had a CEL for a while with some kind of catalyst code (read by Autozone). I never really looked into it though. This is where I'm at now.

I may just disconnect the B-pipe from the down pipe and see if she'll start to rule out any obstruction after the downpipe. I didn't look in the actual muffler tailpipe and other side to see if there was any packaging in there. I looked in the tailpipe last night and it's clear, but not sure about the other side that connects to B-pipe. Any ideas are welcome!!

What specific code was thrown? You can retrieve the code yourself at home without a scan tool (see link in my signature). If the code is P0420, the cat is bad or there is an exhaust leak.

That code sounds familiar to me. I think that code may have been it. So can this cause the car not to start? I though it should start even if there is a leak. What's the best way to troubleshoot this then?