hey, i just recently bought (pickin it up in a couple days) a 88 integra that im gonna use as a daily driver. problem is the car wont start. the guy i got it from said the mechanic he took it too thought it either needed a new head gasket or a new distributer. heres the problem...

turn the key and the motor cranks, but wont initially start..after cranking the motor for about 5sec the engine startes turning a little faster and the motor starts for just a second then dies.

the car never overheated or had any signs of coolent leak ect. the guy said it just started acting up and finally it wouldnt start back up so its been sitting for a month or two.

Any suggestions of things to check out? since i havent got the car i havent got to go over things yet but im just tryin to get some ideas. thanx

 

check dipstick .. see if its foamy/has coolant on it. also a compression check and leakdown will tell you pretty much whats going on... blown HG's dont always leak oil down the block or spill coolant into the pan. sometimes its cyl-to-cyl. which you will be able to easily tell with the above mentioned tests.

I'd also check fuel pressure... might be a shot pump.

i had an 89 Integra briefly and the igniter went out on me in the middle of winter in a blizzard. so i'd check the igniter and coil too... might be a likely suspect. on my teg it would crank and sputter for a couple seconds.. die. replaced the igniter in -20 degree weather and it fired right up.

another reason id sight the igniter is they are classic for starting up cold and then NADA when its hot.

 

thanx for the ideas, im gonna get the car this weekend and do a compression check and see how that looks. i checked the dip stick and took off the coolent fill cap and neither of them looked like anything out of the ordinary so hopefully its not a head gasket.

 

i towed the car to my house today and pulled the plugs and they were covered with carbon and some oil. after i put a set of plugs in i had extra from my other car it started up and drove but ran pretty badly. white smoke it coming out of the exhaust pretty steadly, and the car seems to had a great lose of power so im guessing that its a bad head gasket. im going to run a compression check in the next day or two and hopefully narrow it down.

 

white smoke generally = head gasket

welp have fun.. hope you dont run into too many rusted up bolts.