I have a friend who worked hard and just bought his first car, an 01 civic lx 150,000 miles. He is leaving for college soon, and i wanted to help him do some routine maintenance to make sure his car would serve him well at school... things are going poorly now... i need help... this is long, i've tried to be very detailed, please help me as i try to help someone else!

before we got stated his alternator apparently went out (car wouldn't start, after being jumped it would die at red lights) so we added it to the list of things to change, here is what we did and what the car is now doing:

We replaced all belts, timing belt (made sure it was TDC), alternator belt, power steering belt
installed new alternator.
installed new water pump and tension-er
installed new thermostat
flushed radiator
cleaned throttle body (did not disconnect, used throttle body cleaner and toothbrush)
replaced air filter in cabin and air box
replaced valve cover gasket
installed new spark plugs (gaped correctly)
charged battery (it was drained, but has a date sticker of 6/14 on it, it tested good)


upon finishing all this work
we went to start it up (very excited) and it seemed flooded (probably from throttle body cleaner) pressed gas petal to floor cranked it again, and it started the next time! Power steering sounded like heck, i looked in the reservoir and it looked as if it were boiling, i turned the car off we went and got dinner came back and hour later, cranked the car and it started fine, and the power steering sounded fine.

test drive
Check engine light was on, not sure why... figured i'd get the code read tomorrow morning.
we went around the block as i was driving it seemed fine, unless i really got on the accelerator, when i did the car would stumble, both accelerating from a stop as well as accelerating from about 40mph... this concerned me, my friend said he never experienced that before, although he also said he had never really "got on it" either (he's a very timid guy/driver... very new and nervous so i don't doubt he's never really punched it). I had him drive it and he said it felt "normal" or a little better/smother than it did before... it never stumbled when he drove it (until i made him accelerate heavier)

after returning home and finishing up a few things he went out to the car to take it home, and it just clicked once when he turned the key... ugh... i found the negative battery terminal was very loose, i tightened it and he when to start it and it just turned over, and over and over but never fired... ugh again... shouldn't be flooded... put the petal down again...still nothing... just turns with no firing... i popped off the oil cap on the valve cover to ensure the valves were going up and down when cranking, and they were...

I have no freaking clue what the heck is going on... I'm super frustrated and worried...any tips? this is all i know... let me know if you need more info,

 

Make sure the key icon on the dash is not on (immobilizer system). Pull code(s). Then disconnect battery to reset everything, try again. Check the timing marks the belt may have skipped.