I'll try to make this as short as possible. I bought a 91 civic for $100 with 90K miles on it. I was driving it home, it made it about 40 miles before it crapped out. Before I bought it, I picked up a distributor from a junkyard in order for it to start. I had it towed home and replaced the battery because I'm sure it was old. When I would try to start it after that, it would just crank, and then it would have a "ping" noise that sounded like it was coming from around the gas tank. The ping would happen every 4 or 5 seconds when cranking the engine. Everybody that I've talked to said the problem is the main relay, go replace the main relay. I took out the old main relay and tried to start the car just for the hell of it. It would constantly crank, but the "ping" noise went away. I put the new main relay and it went back to cranking with the "ping" noise every 4 or 5 seconds. Sometimes with the relay in, it sounds like it wants to turn over but just doesn't do it. I have no idea what the problem could be. This is my real first attempt at working on a civic, but I really need to get this thing running. Any help or ideas that anybody has would be very helpful.

Thanks,
Jon

 

you know i had this same problem... and the only thing that i did.. was redo my firing order.. make sure that you are getting spark to each cylinder... and then check the firing order one more time.. also it could be your ignition coil inside the distributor... check all those and lets know the results.

Bryan

 

When i replaced the distributor with the one from the junkyard, it started up fine. So i don't think the coil wouldn't went bad in this one after just one start? I don't know much about these things, i'm trying to teach myself. Thanks for your input. I'll try what you said. If you have any other ideas, please let me know.

Thanks,
Jon

 

I don't know if this means anything, but I noticed when I try to start the car, everytime the "ping" noise happens, the main relay clicks.

 

I would make sure you have the correct distributor first, and check your firing order again. I'm thinking it might be the fuel pump going? Do you hear it "humming" for a few seconds when you turn the ignition on? Check your dizzy, though, make sure the rotor isn't hitting the cap. I wouldn't trust a junkyard dizzy though, Lol.

 

When your car died did it sputter when you hit the gas and then die? If it did, then it could be the fuel pump. Just like riceboy said, check for that humming noise when you have your key in the on position, it's your fuel pump turning on. Also make sure your CEL turns off after a second or two.