Ok so my kid is driving home in civic 1.5 pfi carb dx. it stops suddenly with a wine and a sound he describes as a bag caught on a weed eater. I tow it home battery is dead of course now. i charge it up and it fires up fine for about 30 seconds. there is a slight odd sound from the opposite belt end of engine like a bearing maybe going bad. it stalls out. Car turns over fine but will not start. It trys to start best on the first time after setting a while. i checked the rotor cap and found the coil pin all but missing. repalaced. not it. i changed the plugs after putting a bit of oil in cylinders. it fired up and smoked for about 30 seconds but quit. wires look good spark a bit yellow. someone told me it flooded so bad it washed the cylinder walls down and had no compression. thus the bit of oil i put in. i have changed the oil since then. it appeard a bit thinned. ps. the kid was like 1 quart low or more on a car that hold 3.7 quarts dummy! it sounded ok while it ran shortly.

I suspect it is the ignition module. any ideas????

 

oh yea the fuel filter is fine. i tried starter fluid with no results and it appears to have plenty of fuel coming in by the bit of a spray mist from the open throat of carb.

 

I suggest that you inspect the timing belt -- it may have slipped a tooth. You might also consider compression testing the cylinders.

Based on the weak spark, the igniter or coil in the distributer might be bad. Here's how to test the coil:

 

have you considered the main relay? Although most people said that when the main relay is not working properly it does not start. check the web. the solder joints on them get old and many joints have cracked thus leading to no connection.

 

the belt visually looks ok. it all but kicks off to start. best at first time after sitting. can a rubber belt jump a tooth wo destroying itself?
where is the main relay located?

 

Yes, the timing belt can slip without breaking. You would need to check whether the cam and crank are perfectly synchronized at TDC. Information here should help:

http://hondatech.info/downloads/Auto/Manuals/Civic/

By the way, is the alternator belt broken or slipping?

 

ok so here is what it was. evidently the kid hit a bump and knocked the catalytic converter guts loose cloging the pipe. thus no run but a bit. it must have backfired and screwed up distributor. after a new distributor 125.00 and a cleaned pipe and new muffler all is well. a hard one to diognose.

 

Glad you got it figured out. Yeah cat guts blocking the eshaust, prob from running to rich burned out the cat. Doublecheck your timing belt, and your timing to make sure everything is in spec. Then make your kid take you out for supper or something for getting the car fixed