I have a 93 EX with a manual transmission and the car has 126k miles. I went to McDondalds this morning and ran in real quck to get some coffee and I left the car running and when I came back out it wouldnt start. I tried using ether/ starting fluid to get it going and the intake caught on fire. luckily it wasnt that bad and I put it out before it really did any damage. The car has been blowing black smoke out the exhaust for some while and recently it would stall out when I would shift gears after driving it for a while, especially after driving on the freeway. I was going to do the ignition system with new cap and rotor and wires and plugs and change the fuel filter but before I could do it my luck ran out. another thing too is I ran seafoam in it before to help clear out the motor sometime ago, maybe about 6 months ago. Im thinking that some of the problems could be a pluged catalytic converter, bad ignition, or low fuel pressure. Im pretty sure im going to need a new MAP because of the fire in the intake manifold and i plan on taking off the manifold and cleaning it. Also the battery is dead from desperatley trying to get the car started. Any advice you guys can give me would be greatly apreciated and the sooner the better because I need my car.

P.S. Idk if it makes much of a difference but I put a after market air filter on it because the old air box was rusted shut and but a breather on the crank case vent.

 

Is the CEL ON?

If the MAP sensor is damaged, the engine won't start.

Check for spark and listen for priming of the fuel pump. Missing either will prevent starting.

Check whether the timing belt snapped. Peer into the oil cap hole while a buddy cranks the engine. If the cam doesn't turn the timing belt snapped.

If you have spark and fuel, then check whether the timing belt slipped.

Given the oil burning, also check compression in the cylinders.

 

the CEL did turn on once while driving, but most of the time when the car bogged down or stalled it didnt pop on. I was also wondering too if the main relay could be going bad, I've heard that on older Hondas the soilder points on them can become bad. I also changed the timming belt at 90k miles but still it is a possiblity it could have slipped. I wish I had a fuel pressure gauge to see if the car has enough fuel pressure, and a timming light would be nice too but unfortunatly I'm a broke college kid.

 

1) Pull the CEL code from the ECU using the method described at the link in my signature. This can be done using a short piece of wire or a paper clip.

***Keep in mind that you may need to replace the MAP sensor/wiring if it was damaged by the fire. The car simply won't start without a functional MAP sensor. Therefore, you may now have at least two problems that will prevent starting.

2) Main relay/fuel pump:
Turn the ignition key to ON(II). You should hear the low humming noise of the fuel pump in the rear (gas tank) for two seconds. If not, you might have a bad main relay.

3) Spark:
Remove a plug wire from a spark plug and insert a spare plug into the end of the free plug wire. Ground the threads of the spark plug against a metallic area of the valve cover while a buddy cranks the engine. If you don't see bright blue spark at any of the plugs, then you may have a bad coil or igniter unit in the distributor.

 

Well strangley I was charging my cars battery to perform some test and for the heck of it I cranked it over and it started up. It wasnt idling bad and was about 1500rpm when I started it cold and it lowered to about 700rpms after it warmed a bit( give or take a bit cause i doubt the tach is dead on). I took it around the block and it ran suprisngly good. To make sure it wouldnt die I let the car sit and idle and when I came back out after a few minutes it died and wouldn't crank over. Idk if this info will help diagnose the problem but I figured this info couldn't hurt. Im going to go out in a bit and pull the spark plugs and check thier condition to see howthe motor is running. I will also check the main relay and see if there is any CEL codes

 

For clarification, the starter cranks the engine fine, but the engine won't start. Is this correct?

 

yeah the starter is working fine. i can hear a puffing sound when i try to crank it and give it gas when it wont restart.

 

I forgot to mention i can hear the fuel pump kicking on when I turn the key on acessory.

 

charge the battery really good. your alternator may be going out and not charging the battery at idle. If the battery is on the harry edge of power it will crank the engine, but not have enough power to spark the ignition. Also check your grounding and cables as that could also be the reason there is not enough current passing through the system.

 

Well it can't be the alternator because i let the car sit for a few hours after the last time it died and I just went out and it cranked over wihout a problem. I also ran every accesory i could in the car and had every light on and turned the wheel and hit the brakes to put load on the engine and it didnt stall. I took it around the block and it drove perfect, even with the intake being on fire earlier in the day it had no affect on the performance. I couldnt get it to die out again I waited a while too to see if it would and nothing. the car was at operating tempature too. I also popped the hood open and looked to see for any arcing and there wasnt any. The check engine light hasnt came on again either since a few days ago, and that was the only time it ever came on while I owened the car. Im not very familiar with OBD1, does it store fault codes from the last time the check engine light came on even though its not on currently.

P.S. I can hear the fuel pump turning on when i turn the key, it sounds fine to me.