Ok... In mid-February, I was driving my 94 Civic EX 2-dr back to work from lunch (about a 1/2 mile drive). At one of the stop lights, I noticed after I hit the throttle, it took a second for the engine to rev up. I thought maybe it was because I was crucially low on gas. So I stopped at the gas station adjacent to where I work, and put about 1/2 tank in.

I had trouble starting the car back up, and once it was running I opened the hood and started messing with the throttle by hand. Every time I pressed it, it would take a second to rev up. It sounded like it was choking for air or something... anyway, I drove it back to my parking spot, but before I got there, it just died. All electrical stuff was good, but when I turned the key, I got nothing. The engine would turn, but no combustion.

I had it towed to my house, and started driving my WRX again (which had hit a median and was needing repair). I have been busy and broke ever since, and the Civic has been sitting for a good 6-7 months. So my parking lot is going to be repaved in a week or two, so I need to get this thing running.

I thought it was the fuel pump or fuel filter. I replaced the fuel filter yesterday, and it is pressurizing (we checked the "banjo valve" and fuel leaked out after turning the ignition). The intake is sucking air in, the exhaust is puffing out air and you can smell fresh fuel coming out...

I have been reading a little bit, and I see that some people have had problems with the PGM-FI Relay, but I'm not sure that's the problem as it's supposed to malfunction on hot days. My car stopped working in February, and now it's about 60 outside with light drizzle and no sunshine. I really can't figure out what's going on.

Can someone help me diagnose this problem?

(BTW this is just the first of several things I need to do to get this car back on the road, and hopefully onto the track. I plan to use this thing in SCCA time trials...)

 

bump dude.

 

thanks bro, this crap is making me sad.... and it seems no one knows what's up I don't want to get the shop involved :/

 

check the main relay, plugs, plug wires, distributor, and possible ecu.

 

Plugs are NGK V-Power, wires are NGK blue wires, distributor and rotor are all new, installed about 6,000 miles ago. I could check to make sure the spark plugs are torqued properly... However the car ran fine for about 6k miles before it died.

I'm guessing it's the main relay... is it possible to fail completely while the car is running? From what I've read it seems to work when it's cold, and not work when it's hot... I read that it clicks 3 times, when the key is turned to acc, then in ON, and then once the starter is turning. I think it clicks twice, but not the 3rd time.

 

i would put money on the main relay.

 

Ok, I have sourced a new one for pretty cheap. Should just plug and play, right? Or do I need to reset the ECU?

 

You could reset the ECU for shits and giggles. But I would go back to the fuel pump. If you ran it low on fuel when the trouble started, maybe the pump is weak? You would have to check the pressure on that though. Since you have the main realy, you could try it, as long as it's the same one.
Then I would have the distributor checked (or swapped with another)-even though it's recent.

 

When it originally died, I wasn't crucially low on fuel. It was below 1/8 of a tank, but not near E, probably a good 5-6mm above it. This problem seems pretty complex, as almost everyone has a different answer as to what it could be. Do you think the injectors may have been clogged? The old fuel pump had some nasty brown crap coming out when I pulled it out.

BTW: thanks for the help so far.

 

Nasty brown crap? That doesn't sound good, but it's a major clue!

How does the fuel filter look? If the old ones is still in there, change it out and cut it open to see if it's crapped up.

If that rusty crap got into your injectors, then I would say try some other ones.
Was the tank and fuel system flushed out when the pump was taken out? If not, the new pump will probably be the same way