To anyone who takes the time to read this. . You're amazing in my book =]

Hey, I just bought my girlfriends Civic because she got a new one.

1999 Honda Civic 1.6 Single Cam.

I got to see what was wrong with it right before it died. . Basically for a few weeks it was running alright, but sometimes when you push the gas it wants to hesitate for about 3-4 seconds, and then haul ***.

Well about last week it started sounding real bad and the CEL would start flashing when you gave it gas (Misfire). The next day driving home, it went from doing this, to where you would have to floor it to go about 30 MPH max (Nessassary to make it home) and when we pulled up to my house it turned off and wouldn't start again.

It would kinda sound like it wanted to start, and once it did (With me flooring it) enough to move the car 5 feet (Going about 5 MPH) and hasn't started since.

I started with changing the spark plugs. I noticed when I pulled the old ones out that 2 were pretty black and wet with gas (From when I had just tried to start it), however the other two were dry and really wern't black at all.

I will illistrate (As if you were looking at the car)
W=Wet
D=Dry
W-W-D-D

That was yesterday, Well today I found that I had no spark, so I decided to change the Distributer Cap.

Please note that after changing it I pulled the wire out of the cylinder and plugged an old plug into it to see if there was spark and my mother was holding it by the top rubber part and it shocked the hell out of her.
I'm not sure if it should have shocked her if she was holding it by the rubber, thats why I'm making this note.

So after changing it, I try to start it up. This time with a few pumps of the gas (Note: That while pumping the gas the entire time it didn't rev at all, only keep the engine on) I got the engine to somewhat stay going but it really sounded like it was going to shut off (Really rough and shakey) and it did. But heres the thing, while I had it going it was starting to smoke and pressure actually pushed the spark plug wire off of the spark plug causing it to shut off.

After repeating that 3 times, I pulled the spark plug out and put the old one back in (The one that shocked my Mom) and this time it did the barely wanting to stay started and wouldn't rev thing, MINUS the smoke and spark plug wire popping off. I then pulled that plug and put the one that I had bought the day before that was matching the 3 that are in there now back in slowly and that leaves me to where I am at now.

After doing that, the car now shows no signs of wanting to start at all, and about every 3 seconds of key turn it sounds like I hear a suction noise of air or kind-of a hiss sound coming from the engine bay. .

Does anyone have ANY advice. I would appriciate it so much. And BTW I definatly plan on staying active on here as I fix this car up =]

 

Have you checked your main relay? Only a guess. Second is the timing belt original? Maybe a timing jump, Is your fuel pump working? You need to determine if it is fuel or gas or both. The main relay controls the fuel & ecu. I think a 99 has a main relay.
Not much help I know, just a couple of guesses.

 

Guesses or not, I appriciate it so much that you replied =]

To start, Each time I try to start the car I smell ALOT of gas. Probably because I keep stomping on it to try to keep it running. I believe that means the pump appears to be working?

Second, I think the timing is a VERY valid guess, because from the time she origionally got the car up until now, it always rev'd low and would bounce depending on if it's in Neutral or Drive sitting at a light. It would go as low as to stall very ocasionally.

But at the same time I have tried loosening the Distributer bolts and tilt it all the way Clockwise, and starting it and all the way counter-clockwise too and neither changed the sound of it while it is barely wanting to stay running.

^^^^Not sure if that can eliminate the the Timing possibility or not.

And lastly, The Main Relay I have NOT checked yet. Mind giving me simple instruction on how to do so?

Thanks again =]



Edit: Also, Since she had the car it had a CEL which was read as a bad 02 Sensor.

 

Sounds like the wires are bad. When they shock someone holding the rubber part, that means the spark is leaking out. Get a good set, preferably OEM ones from a dealer.

Wires popping off the plug means that the plug is not tight in the head or it is cracked. Gas from the cylinder gets into the spark plug tube and pushes the wire out.

 

Thanks! I will replace the wires and update =]

 

Wires did the trick =] Now I'm up and running and running HARD. Hmm, Now to fix the previous problem. . Overheating. .

 

Easy to fix overheating .. Check the thermostat and check if there is a good amount of coolant

 

=\ Not in this one. . It's either the Radiator, or Water pump.

Everything would look fine, and after a while like when sitting at a light it would just go alllll the way up into the red, and then when you start going it would go down.

^^^^^Pretty sure the fan turns on too. .


Everything is rusted reallllly bad cuz my girl always put water since it always overheated. She treated the car very bad. .

 

Make absolutely sure the fan turns on. That is the most common reason for overheating only while sitting still. You can jump the fan switch (on the thermostat housing) to make the fan run all the time the key is on. Test drive like that, and if it doesn't overheat, replace fan switch.

 

Ok I checked today, Gotta leak coming from the (Gooseneck?? (Where the Lower radiator hose meets right under the intake manifold.))
It's not the Radiator hose that's leaking, but the one right next to it attached to the same piece.

The hose isn't getting a good grip because the fitting is rusted out from the inside =\ (Pretty bad huh?)


The hose is pretty old so I'm going to try buying a new one, and if that doesn't work, replace the whole piece.


Also do you know offhand where to find written instructions on jumping the relay to make the fan run anytime the key is turned?



Thanks