driving down the eway this morning and all of a sudden with no warning lost power, pulled over tried starting, no resistance from engine, new starter, alt and dist. assy. any ideas, also no clattering noise when it stopped running

 

Check whether the timing belt snapped. Take off the oil cap from the valve cover and, while a buddy cranks the engine, use a flashlight to see whether the camshaft turns. Turning of crank pulley but not camshaft indicates a broken timing belt.

 

i guess that would be easier to check it that way than to take the timing cover off on the side of the freeway with cars wizzing by at 75+ mph!!

 

Yeah, another way is to remove the distributor cap and look for spinning of the rotor, although this method has some potential to blow the coil in the distributor.

 

yeah you know i have had lots of problems with the stupid rotor set screw coming off the distributor shaft

 

That would be another possible cause for the engine shutting off. Is the rotor or rotor screw damaged?

 

dont know car is still on the eway cant get to it till tomorrow, the screw problem was on my old dist. didnt have my tool set with me to check it tried to get the timing cover off with me leatherman multi tool, no way!!! needed my wrenches

 

What year Civic?

If luck is with you and the timing belt is fine, then be prepared to check for spark at the plugs and priming of the fuel pump. No spark would likely mean a bad coil or igniter unit in the distributor, wheres no fuel pump priming could suggest a bad main relay.

If you have both spark and pump priming, then the timing belt may have skipped some teeth. You'll need to get the car off the freeway to check for this possibility.

 

89 hatch d16 swap

 

the guy that assisted with the swap was a mechanic at a honda dealership and is very knowledgable about this car and is going to check it out tonight