Recently I did my own replacement of the head gasket on my civic and after the repair It had started properly and was able to be driven, but I had misplaced a VC Bolt and wanted to get it shipped before driving it out. 9 Days later, my car battery was dead and after checking my connections, found oil inside one of the connectors under the distributor. After using some contact cleaner and charging my battery my car was trying to start but the engine wouldnt fully start. I replaced the battery and one of the clamps broke before I got to test it. The issue is that the way the engine is trying to start up doesnt sound like what happens with a loose clamp and I want to know if there are any signs that I need to look for before I spend a ton of money on parts. I’m thinking the starter might be bad? I don’t even know if the starter would be effected by a short thats not connected to it. Please help.
Welcome to Car Talk…
I may not be understanding your issue, but if you mean by clamp, the battery terminal end, and it broke removing it to change out the battery or charge it, then the terminal was bad to begin with…
Replace the battery terminal end(s) and make sure they are both tight and can not be twisted by hand, then let us know if it starts… Make sure all connections are clean…
Describe this better. If you mean it was cranking over just fine, but wouldn’t fire up and come to life then you’re battery power is not the issue.
Shoot some starter fluid into to the throttle body, and if that make it run so long as there’s starter fluid, then you have a fuel supply issue. Double check all of the fuel line connections and those for the fuel pump.
If the starter fluid doesn’t help, then it’s time to check to see if you have spark. There are several ways of doing that - just look it up.