Hi,

My son has a 1997 civic came out of work last night and the car would not start, turns over fine, but does not catch...AAA towed it home.

We're thinking its either fire or fuel

Battery is fine 13.9v
Fuel pump fuse (#15) is fine
There are no CEL codes, CEL comes on and goes out after 2 seconds when trying to start the engine and when I short the blue terminal port in the passenger footwell the CEL comes on and stays on, no flashing at all
Pulled the spark plugs, cleaned and gapped them, I see the spark from each if I hold it to the engine block
I think the injectors are OK, they all have 14.6 ohms when tested in place and they have power pulsing to them when starting the car
I'm not sure about the fuel relay, I hear 1 click when turned to IGN, I hear another 2 seconds later when the CEL goes out, I do not hear another when trying to start the engine, however there is fuel getting to the injector rail, I took the fuel filter outlet pipe from the injector rail and put it into a small bucket, there is fuel sent during the 2 seconds between fuel relay clicks and then it stops, when we move the the start position and the engine turns over there is fuel coming out of the fuel filter outlet constantly.

At this point I'm at a loss, I suppose it could be an issue with the fuel injectors being blocked, but would all 4 all block at the same time?

Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Check that the timing belt didn't skip. Take the upper timing belt cover off and check the marks when you turn the crank to TDC (the single notch in the crank pulley).

 

Ok, we took off the valve cover and the upper timing belt cover, set it so the UP was up, and the slash marks level with the head, #1 was up and the rotor was in the #1 position...all seems well.

We also tested the CKP, CYP and TDC sensors for an open circuit, all ok at about 380 ohms.

Can smell gas through the spark plug holes when they are removed, although its not a very strong smell

Is there a way to test the fuel injectors beyond measuring the resistance?

Any other other ideas on why it won't fire up?

Also....created a new problem, broke one of the long valve cover bolts when putting that back on...over tightened it...any tips for dealing with that?

Thanks!!!

PS: Not sure that it makes a difference, but it's an LX not a DX

 

Pulled the plug, it's wet so the injector is working, spark is strong and blue...any other ideas?

 

How many miles are on the odometer? Have you done a compression check?
Here're some other suggestions I found (based on a similar no-start condition with a 97 Civic):

Ignition and spark act similar so its easy to be mislead trying to diagnose a no start problem. Some Hondas use a power relay which is necessary for spark and fuel. Also an ignition module in the distributor can be a problem. Ignition coil can cause a problem as well as the pickups in the distributor. The car is an OBD ll system so a professional scan tool can be useful in trying to diagnose the problem. A code reader is not always good enough.

Source(s):

Retired shop owner.