i have a 99 civic ex...D16y8....I recently changed the air intake manifold gasket to repair an air leak i had at the same time i changed the timing belt, however when everything was said and done my car would sputter for a quick second as i rev'd my engine. i.e. i push gas pedal...sputter...vrooom! Today I was looking at the car and decided to disconnect a spark plug cable, i know that when you do that the car sputters until you plug it back...however mine just simply turned off. now it won't start, it seem like it wants to just doesn't crank, finally I took my oil cap off and a lot of air came out, and it smelled like gasoline inside the head...so i want to know if the problems are related or if i havemultiple problems on my hands...

 

are you sure you connected back the same way the spark plugs wires where before. If they aren't connected right the car will misfire

 

you could have flooded the motor.... are you SURE you got the belt on thier with the crank and cam lined up correctly? and did you adjust the timing after replacing the belt?
if ya flooded the motor to much you might wanna pull the plugs out and let the gas just evaporate over night or a few hours....
if flooded to bad the gas could have gotten around the rings and into the oil...... if its noticable by smelling gas on the dip stick then i would change the oil ASAP.... gas in the oil can trash the bearings just as easy as no oil....

 

I only pulled out One cable...the first one...as soon as i did that the car turned off...i was afraid of a flooded engine...also i got the timing belt done at a place so i don't know if it was put on right... let mego try to check brb

 

okay dip stick doesn't smell too bad...any chance it could be the coil?

what would be symptoms if the timing belt was put incorrectly?

and whythe sputtering everytime i rev the engine?

thx for prompt responses btw, greatly appreciated

 

What would cause my car turn off when I pulled the spark plug cable out, is my main concern?
I have never seen that happen before...

 

if the belt is off 1 tooth it wont run right and shouldnt take to much to stop the motor... and it would flood easy.

pull the covers off the timing belt and crank pulley and other belts to see the lower crank mark... it needs to point to the oil pump indicator mark and also lined up on the cam shafts TDC marks on the inner cover and pulley...

if its off just fix it... and then recheck. before puting all the covers back on and such... then bolt it all back up and time the motor... because the old belt could be stretched alittle so the timing wont be perfect even if you had it in the right spot...

and if it still wont start after fixing the timing belt and your SURE its lined up right... then i would look into otherposible problems

 

Good ideas ^^^

 

I agree that the original engine sputtering may be a timing issue; however, the fact that, after pulling the plugwire, the car won't start at all, hints that there now may be no spark at the plugs. I think you should check this possibility. If there is no spark, you may have a bad coil, as you already mentioned, or a bad ignition control module (ICM) in the distributor. Also check whether fuse #9 (controls ICM circuit) in the under-dash fuse/relay box is blown.

 

Okay guys...here's the update...timing was off, by a couple degrees, thus the sputtering, and i replaced the whole distrubutor, for a little over the price of the coil alone ...so thx for all the help greatly appreciate all the responses. My car runs awesome again...i love it!!! peace.