Honda Civic 1993 will make the starting sound(starter motor cranking up), but will not start the engine.

My mate, pulled out one of the sparkplugs holder and tried to see if any electricity will spark when touching the engine as I try to start it but nothing.

Is there a test procedure I can do, to find out what the issue is?

I am thinking it could be the distributor, but that would just be guessing.

 

Have you checked the main relay? it controls the fuel pump & ECU. If you search here you will find how to test. They were a part that failed & are good for 100,000 miles. So if it has never been replaced I would start there.

 

I think the fuel pump works, because it got flooded, when I tried to start the car. You could smell the fuel from outside the car. If the relay is not working, would the car get flooded with fuel if you try to start the car?

 

The spark plugs would still fire even with a bad main relay, so since they don't it's not that.

Check that the CEL cycles on and off when you turn the key on and don't crank. Pull the hand brake up and confirm that the BRAKE light stays on while cranking. Install test jumper and see if there are any ECU codes. Take distributor cap off and hold a grounded test wire near the spring on the coil and see if sparks fire there. If there are only weak yellow sparks, the coil is bad.

 

I had a 1993 Honda Civic DX D15B7 1.5 Liter a year or so ago. It sounds like you may have burned your ignition coil from trying to start it. You may have flooded it, and when it didn't start kept trying, and burnt the ignition coil. I did exactly that one time.

Take a spark plug out, plug it into the wire, hold it with rubber insulated pliers, and put the spark plug tip near a frame bolt. Try to start it and see if it sparks. If not, it could be your distributor or ignition coil.

If it only does it when it is hot or cold or raining, it is your fuel relay. These are easy to fix, just re-soldier 2 points and it will start every time.

Worked like a charm in my old 93 Civic D15B7.

 

OK I have a 93 civic and had head gasket replaced and the timing belt and distr replaced.. Now it wants to start but wont plugs have spark when i try.. What do I do to fix this problem? could someone give accurate directions on what to do or simply give me a place to look online like an online manual?

 

Welcome to the forum. It's better to start a new thread when you have a new problem.

Did it ever start after the work was done? The rest of this discussion assumes that it did not.

The first thing I would check is that the spark plug wires are connected in the proper order. Looking at the distributor cap from its top (the right side of the car), the wires should go to cylinders #1 #3 #4 #2 going clockwise around the cap. Cylinder #1 on the engine is furthest from the distributor. #1 is on the back of the cap, (7 o clock or 10 o clock I don't remember which), it should have a mark.

The other area that was worked on, the timing belt, could be done wrong. Take the upper timing belt cover off and double check the timing marks. Remove spark plug #1 and probe in the cylinder while turning the crankshaft by hand (counterclockwise, with a socket wrench on the bolt in the end) so you get the crank to TDC, piston all the way up. Then check the marks on the cam pulley, the two slash marks at the sides should be even with the top of the head with the engine at TDC. (If "UP" is at the bottom, go all the way around with the crank again). When you have the engine at TDC1, remove the distributor cap and confirm that the rotor is pointed at wire #1. It is sometimes possible to put the distributor on engaged 180 degrees out of time.

If someone adjusted the valves, make sure they are not too tight. There should be a position of the crank/cam that gets each rocker arm to go slightly slack.

 

I don't know how to make a new forum im new to this.. um how do you tell if the distributor is pointed at number one.. Cuz the wires aren't marked or at least i didn't see a mark i know aboslutly nothing about cars a buddy told me to get on one of these things this is my first honda and it seems more complicated than my other cars lol

 

Hi,

I had the same problem. No spark going to the plugs. Replace the distributor and job done.

Honda have discontinued making those, but they can be picked up easily enough from scrap dealers/car wreckers.

Some of those older model civic's do not have a fuel relay. The D15Z1 engine for example. They can be tricky enough but the majority of problems that I have come across with the D15Z1 engines was the distributor.

Let us know how you get on.