Accelerated through a stop light and the car died.
The fuel pump is working, I have good spark, the engine is timed, and noid lights indicate that the injectors are being pulsed.
The car won’t even pop (even when starter fluid is sprayed into the intake manifold).
Unable to detect raw fuel smell at tail pipe.
ECM doesn’t throw any codes.
I’m stumped.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Do you have compression?
Sounds like the classic jumped / broken timing belt. A mechanic can remove the valve cover, set the crankshaft on O TDC, and see if #1 cylinder valves are at TDC compression position, to see if the engine is in time, or out.
When you say the engine is timed, are you referring to the ignition timing or the camshaft timing?
How many miles on the car, and has the timing belt ever been replaced?
Well, I think so.
I don’t have a compression gauge, but the crank was extremely difficult to turn manually at the crank bolt until I removed the spark plugs.
I suspected this too, so I removed the valve cover and the upper and lower timing belt guards and found that when cylinder #1 was at TDC during the compression stroke that all of the timing marks lined up.
What I mean is that the cramshaft is clocked correctly to the crankshaft (i.e. the timing belt is not broken and has not slipped out of time).
The car has 120,000 miles on it.
The timing belt was replaced about 20,000 miles ago.
I’m not sure what you mean when you differentiate between the camshaft and ignition timing.
I am still learning about cars and appreciate your help, can you explain?
I figured that because the rotor in the distributor is driven by the camshaft that the ignition timing would naturally fall into line if the camshaft timing were set correctly.
I haven’t put a timing light on the engine yet (is this what you mean?)
But, if this is what you are saying it would imply that the distributor had rotated from its original orientation wouldn’t it?
I don’t think this has happened, but I will check when I get home tonight.
Do you take the distributor cap off and check that the rotor rotates when the engine is rotated? Does the rotor align with the #1 post on the distributor cap? Grasp the rotor and ensure that it is firmly attached to the distributor shaft.
To check if the lack fuel is the problem, spray a burst of Starting Fluid (or, similar brand) into the intake tube. Crank to start the engine. If the engine starts and runs a few seconds, then dies, the problem is fuel.
Press the center of the tire-type valve on the fuel rail. Does fuel squirt out? If it does, there is some fuel pressure.
Yes, the ignition timing is controlled (partially) by the position of the distributor. I agree it’s highly unlikely the distributor moved, I was just asking for clarification.
I’m wondering if the fuel filter is clogged and fuel is not getting to the injectors. Just because they are pulsing doesn’t mean they are spraying fuel.
So far, all the posts above should be able to nail the problem. I don’t see anything missed, if your distributor drive shaft isn’t broken, and assuming the engine is in time, and you have spark, you almost always get something to happen when you squirt the intake with starting fluid. Are you squirting on the intake side of the air filter? I’m assuming so, but don’t laugh, I’ve seen worse. Is there spark at the plug’s themselves, or just the wires? I’ve seen where a plug was fouled with dried, contaminants from gas from being flooded, but not 4 plugs at once.
I have checked for fuel in the fuel rail.
I uncapped the fuel rail and started the fuel pump.
Fuel gushed out of the fuel rail when I did this.
No problem with volume. I don’t have a fuel pressure gauge and haven’t checked the pressure.
I did disconnect the fuel pressure regulator vacuum hose and kink it off without any change luck. This should cause the regulator to be fully closed and allow pressure to build up in the fuel rail. Perhaps the fuel pressure regulator is stuck open?
I don’t think this is the problem, however, because I sparayed starter fluid directly into the intake manifold without even a pop. Doing this should bypass the injectors completely shouldn’t it?
Could the problem be that the crank position sensor is bad?
How does this sensor play into timing and ignition if at all?
If this is a condition that the ECM can detect, it should throw a service code.
No service codes are being thrown by the ECM.
Just grasping at straws.
I have already taken it to one shop and they gave up.
I have removed the distributor cap and the rotor is turning with the engine.
I have not yet, but will set cylinder #1 to TDC compression stroke and verify that the rotor aligns with the #1 post on the distributor cap.
I have already tried spraying starting fluid into the intake manifold without any result (not even a single pop).
I have looked for the tire like valve you indicate but my fuel rail doesn’t seem to be so equipped. I have checked for fuel in the fuel rail and it is present…at what pressure, I don’t know.
I assume this is a multiport injection system? Since the ignition timing is driven by a distributor, the CPS signal would only be driving the injectors. If it were bad the injectors would typically not be pulsing. And the engine should fire with ether (starter fluid).
I’m just grasping at straws too.
Go to this Web site for some ideas. It may contain something that we’ve forgotten: http://tegger.com/hondafaq./html Then, click on the appropriate problem.