Civic stops dead

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Hey Folks! Never a dull moment. Wife is at Wal-Mart, '95 Civic auto/w 160,000 quits. After my in-law coached her into runnibg the battery down, she called me and I jumpsed it . . . ran a minute, then quit again. Starter cranks the engine over fone, not too fast . . . so I’m thinking timing belt is OK (it was just done about 35k ago). Oil level fine, just changed last weekend. Battery is OK, just run down from too much cranking, it’s on the charger now. No start, rollback home. Here’s a few hints … it hasn’t rained here in the Poconos for over a month, today it poured (on me, too) and is still raining. This has me thinking igniter. I didn’t check for spark, it was pouring rain on the exit ramp from Wal-mart. Another hint . . . she drives close to empty (fuel) all the time. Every time I get in the car it is almost if not on “E”. This has me thinking fuel pump. Any suggestions? Tomorrow is diagnosis and part order day. Thanks! Rocketman

2

I’m thinking igniter too. But a quick secondary ignition spark test will confirm that.

Tester

3

Thanks Tester . . . by spare plug in the wire to ground? Rocketman

4

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/KD-2756.html

Or for a little over the price of a plug, you can get one of these.

Tester

5

When my 1999 Civic’s tank is near empty, it sometimes takes a couple or three on-off cycles of the ignition key, to run the fuel pump, before turning the key all the way to start. Otherwise it will crank and crank but not fire up.

Something about a low fuel level in the tank seems to cause fuel pressure to drop while the car sits. Just why, I don’t know, but the on-off on-off process has been a cheap and effective answer.

6

Do I understand the order correctly…is it diagnosis, and then changing parts, in that order? This site has some ideas to help you keep that (less expensive) order: http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html and, then, click on the appropriate problem…

7

Yes Kit . . . I’ll try to diagnose and then get the parts . . . throwing parts at the car gets expensive as you probably know. Thanks everyone for your input. Rocketman