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Car won't start...

Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 10:54 pm
by bk7794
So this is more as a place to kind of bounce ideas off of just incase something goes haywire.

However, here's the story. So 2000 civic. Drove it 180 or so miles yesterday. Car ran great and pulled up all these hills. Moved my car this morning and it started and ran fine. Went to move it again tonight and the car started and immediately died. Went to start it again..didn't start. Engine sounds like it has no compression. Belt didn't break as the valves move. I'm thinking skipped timing belt or something.

Re: Car won't start...

Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 12:34 am
by IMBoring25
I wouldn't think the belt would get slack enough to skip without breaking.

If it's the original engine and computer, a 2000 Civic shouldn't have an immobilizer, but an immobilizer going bad can absolutely do that. Have you ever had a green flashing key on the dash?

A computer generally going bad can also have that symptom (though my experience has been they're usually more gradual...I had a vehicle that would run once started and start when the computer was cold for months before the computer finally truly gave up the ghost).

Re: Car won't start...

Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 9:40 am
by theholycow
Before you go straight to "sounds like no compression", have you checked for spark and fuel?

Re: Car won't start...

Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 11:21 am
by Squint
theholycow wrote:Before you go straight to "sounds like no compression", have you checked for spark and fuel?
Yeah, one time my Civic wouldn't start and it was because the ignition coil decided it didn't want to live anymore. I would check the usual air, spark, fuel before anything else if a vehicle won't start.

Re: Car won't start...

Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 3:36 pm
by Rope-Pusher
Squint wrote:
theholycow wrote:Before you go straight to "sounds like no compression", have you checked for spark and fuel?
Yeah, one time my Civic wouldn't start and it was because the ignition coil decided it didn't want to live anymore. I would check the usual air, spark, fuel before anything else if a vehicle won't start.
Lick the spark plugs while someone cranks it and if you don't get a shock, it could be a diesel.

Re: Car won't start...

Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 3:47 pm
by bk7794
Reason I'm going straight to compression is because the cranking sound does NOT sound normal.

Sounds like this.



Did exactly that. Compression and almost started...now it sounds like this.

Re: Car won't start...

Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 9:09 pm
by bk7794
Turned out the motor was flooded. I guess Hondas have an issue where if you short trip the car, it tends to flood. Who would have thought?

http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solvin ... ompression

Scroll down to where it says flooding.

Re: Car won't start...

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:55 am
by potownrob
bk7794 wrote:Turned out the motor was flooded.
didn't realize the storm was that bad up there... :? :( :cry: :?:

Re: Car won't start...

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 9:34 am
by Squint
potownrob wrote:
bk7794 wrote:Turned out the motor was flooded.
didn't realize the storm was that bad up there... :? :( :cry: :?:
I think he's referring to flooding the engine with too much fuel, not water...

Either that or you have really weird storms in the NE...

Re: Car won't start...

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 2:46 pm
by tankinbeans
potownrob wrote:
bk7794 wrote:Turned out the motor was flooded.
didn't realize the storm was that bad up there... :? :( :cry: :?:
Engine...

Re: Car won't start...

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 10:32 pm
by potownrob
Calm down; was a joke kids... :roll:

On a serious note, check main relay. At least on older Hondas that main relay was a fraggly rascal.

Re: Car won't start...

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 10:37 pm
by AHTOXA
Rope-Pusher wrote:
Squint wrote:
theholycow wrote:Before you go straight to "sounds like no compression", have you checked for spark and fuel?
Yeah, one time my Civic wouldn't start and it was because the ignition coil decided it didn't want to live anymore. I would check the usual air, spark, fuel before anything else if a vehicle won't start.
Lick the spark plugs while someone cranks it and if you don't get a shock, it could be a diesel.
I laughed.

Re: Car won't start...

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 11:30 am
by Squint
AHTOXA wrote:
Rope-Pusher wrote:Lick the spark plugs while someone cranks it and if you don't get a shock, it could be a diesel.
I laughed.
If your tongue just gets really warm is it a diesel?

And yeah, I laughed too.

Re: Car won't start...

Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 2:02 pm
by bk7794
potownrob wrote:Calm down; was a joke kids... :roll:

On a serious note, check main relay. At least on older Hondas that main relay was a fraggly rascal.
Right. But I knew 100% that this was a compression issue. Engine did NOT sound the same as it did on a usual day. With some research I Found it was the case and that Hondas are notorious for flooding the engine when you move the car only 15feet and turn it off.

Re: Car won't start...

Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 6:46 pm
by Rope-Pusher
Engines can be so picky sometimes,....but then there was the "Technical Oddities" story that one engineer wrote in to SAE magazine. He had taken the carburetor off his intake manifold for some reason or another, but in the course of whatever he was doing, he was going to bump the engine over to get it to stop in a different position - just planning to make momentary contact to run the starter motor by twitching the ignition switch.

Somebits started up and ran at high RPM...with no carburetor!

Fuel line was spraying fuel in the general direction of the opening in the top of the intake manifold where the carburetor had been and gas got sucked in along with the unthrottled airflow. Somehow, the mixture ratio of fuel to air was good enough for the engine to start and run.

These "Technical Oddities" stories were sometimes the best part of the monthly magazines.