I am doing some work on a friend's 92 civic hatchback 1.5L. It wouldn't start last week, so we replaced the very dead battery (had been dying for a while), replaced the spark plugs and wires. The distributor cap and rotor are in good condition and there IS spark getting to the spark plugs. We also pulled off the fuel rail and there is plenty of fuel as well, I don't see a problem with the fuel system. The starter works, but the engine won't turn over. Is there some kind of sensor on the 92 civic that could be keeping the car from starting? It doesn't even act like it's going to start. Any help is very much appreciated....THANKS!!

 

when you turn the key does it even make any kind of noise like a whining sound or clicking because I had a friend with a 95 civic and it did the exact same thing and we had to replace almost everything in the electrical system to get the car to start and its still having some problems but at least its running

 

check timin belt for giggles who knows!

 

the starter is crankin, it's trying to start, so everything electrical seems to check out as far as i can tell makes all of the necessary clicks and whirrrs... i'll give the timing belt a check, but as far as I know the car didn't die on him, it just won't start.

 

it has been dying on him recently i guess...like whenever he's not in gear...but just idling at a light or something. I don't know if it's related. I appreciate the help so far!

 

Dude, I really hate to keep suggesting this (esp. since it hasn't yet been the right suggestion) but sounds to me like could be the main relay.

My understanding is that on civics, some anyway, the fuel pump will still work but the injectors themselves don't get power.. or something to that effect.
Different, to my knowledge, from what normally happens when the relay fails/acts up on other hondas.
Obviously it could depend on exactly where on the relay certain cracks appear in the solder joints or whatever so I'm not saying this is always the case with civics.

 

I'll certainly check it out.

 

as far as the main relay issue I have a little experience with this myself. I had a '93 delSol Si that had main relay issues. However, mine wouldn't die it would just not want to start. Like stated above the fuel injectors wouldn't get power. I had to turn the key to accessory and then off until I heard them then it would start fine. I never had an issue with the car dying though after it was running (like when idle at an intersection).

 

I really don't know if the main relay will actually cause a Honda to die but if another problem causes that (such as ignition) and you've been driving for a while then you can have a situation where the car won't start back up due to the relay itself, even if didn't cause the stall.

Things don't suck nearly as much when you can take it one problem at a time but we aren't always that lucky:happysad: