Hi all,

Please be so kind to help me.. I am a new owner of 92 Civic SI 5spds with 110k miles. Unfortunately, the previous owner didnt tell me one problem with the car, it has hard time firing up the engine (during cold start)

If I were to let the car sit for a while (more than 20 min), it seems like my engine having a hardtime to fire up. When i turn the key, cranking sounds normal, but engine simply would not fire up.. It would take about 5 ~ 9 tries (crank, stop, crank, maybe give it a little gas, repeats). If i kept cranking it, i would just keep cranking without engine firing up (once a blue mood, it would fire up that way, but very rarely)..

Once the engine fired up, i can stop the engine and fire it right up with 1 crank (which is what it should be, start up immediately)... The car would drive normally...

I use only 91 octane gas (yup CA special) after i got the car..

Can someone please help me... What might be the problem? What should i be looking into?

Bad ignition wire? spark plugs? bad cap & rotor? bad fuel pump? Bad/weak battery? (fuel filter was replaced a while ago.)

Any help would be greatly appreciated... Thanks in advance..

-jc.

 

Hm..... Sounds like a fuel pump is going but at this point you should just do the trial and error - see what's problem. After 100k you would want to do a tune up any way so go from there. Change plugs and wires, air filter, go to Sears or AutoZone and have them check the battery for you, should be free. If the problem persist, at least you'll be left with less potential parts. Hope it's something small, good luck.

 

Have you checked for spark? It would help if you know if you are getting spark or not when it isn't fireing up.

Do you hear the fuel pump kick on and then off (prime itself) when you turn your key to the on position?

Is your car leaving a CEL? (check engine light)

 

Have you checked the timing belt? I had the same problem. I changed the plugs, wires, disty cap, rotor button, fuel filter and it still wouldn't fire. I removed the valve cover and i discovered the timing belt broke. I was lucky no valves bent.

 

I wouldn't start replacing things, you will end wasting a lot of money replacing parts that could very well go for another 100k. put the effort into properly diagnosing the problem.

My guess is that it is your PGM-FI relay. It is a common problem for older civics.

What you need to do is turn everything off and roll up the windows so you can hear the car real well. when you first turn the key the CEL will light up and you will hear a click, the fuel pump runs for a second and then another click and the pump and CEL turn off. If this doesn't happen when the car won't start but does when the car will start, that is your problem.

There are plenty of threads on how to fix the relay if you search.
or http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/mainrelay.html

 

HI all,


Thank you so much for all your help. I brought my car to a shop, and pull CEL (check engine light) code #8.

It turned out to be bad crank position sensor. So, i ended up change distributor, that fixed the problem and occasional CEL..

thanks!

-jc.