Project Suzie (90 civic hatch)
Dead_Bunny
Wagonist
Some of you may remember my post a while back about a White civic hatch. Well, it’s back and under the name of Suzie ^.^
Model: 1990 civic hatch roughly less than 100k
History:
1st problem (right after clicking over 100k miles) the car started acting odd, it would start fine, and as you would drive it. The car (within a mile of driving) would "bog down" and lose all of its power. My friend (who I got the car from) had a local macanic switch out the fuel pump (for nothing shy of 900$...ouch). it solved the problem for roughly 4 days, then led to another problem....
2nd problem, will not start! however, the engine does turn over as if it wants. But it acts as if it's not getting any fuel. Now, my first thought was a bad fuel pump (still not sure, we think the person who switched them might have put in a "used" fuel pump) or distributer (again not sure). my brother worked on the car for about 2 hours. finding the the main relay was fine (it clicks??), but (i'm not sure what the code is) it may be flashing a code.
when he turns the key (to where the radio comes on) the ECU flashes once...and no more...just as soon as he turns the key...BLINK...and nothing more...
Now: still the same issues, my brother and his friend worked on it, and got it to start. Then it cut off again, no longer starting. Yesterday the car was transported roughly 4 hours away from my brother. To…you guessed it me. I picked up a new battery, and the distributor cap has been replaced, new spark plugs, and wires. Main fuel relay seems to be in good shape. Possibly on Thursday, I will be taking the fuel relay out of my wagon, and stick it into the hatch. Will also try the same with the ECU. The theory after those are to drop out the gas tank, possibly needs new fuel (it has been sitting for quite some time).
Current plan: make a long @$$ list of possibilities, and check them off one by one.
1.Main Fuel relay
2.ECU (and combination of relay)
3.Replace fuel filter
4.Drop gas tank and empty
So, I will hopefully have pictures up later today!
Any comments or ideas are more than welcome. Just trying to get this thing running!
Model: 1990 civic hatch roughly less than 100k
History:
1st problem (right after clicking over 100k miles) the car started acting odd, it would start fine, and as you would drive it. The car (within a mile of driving) would "bog down" and lose all of its power. My friend (who I got the car from) had a local macanic switch out the fuel pump (for nothing shy of 900$...ouch). it solved the problem for roughly 4 days, then led to another problem....
2nd problem, will not start! however, the engine does turn over as if it wants. But it acts as if it's not getting any fuel. Now, my first thought was a bad fuel pump (still not sure, we think the person who switched them might have put in a "used" fuel pump) or distributer (again not sure). my brother worked on the car for about 2 hours. finding the the main relay was fine (it clicks??), but (i'm not sure what the code is) it may be flashing a code.
when he turns the key (to where the radio comes on) the ECU flashes once...and no more...just as soon as he turns the key...BLINK...and nothing more...
Now: still the same issues, my brother and his friend worked on it, and got it to start. Then it cut off again, no longer starting. Yesterday the car was transported roughly 4 hours away from my brother. To…you guessed it me. I picked up a new battery, and the distributor cap has been replaced, new spark plugs, and wires. Main fuel relay seems to be in good shape. Possibly on Thursday, I will be taking the fuel relay out of my wagon, and stick it into the hatch. Will also try the same with the ECU. The theory after those are to drop out the gas tank, possibly needs new fuel (it has been sitting for quite some time).
Current plan: make a long @$$ list of possibilities, and check them off one by one.
1.Main Fuel relay
2.ECU (and combination of relay)
3.Replace fuel filter
4.Drop gas tank and empty
So, I will hopefully have pictures up later today!
Any comments or ideas are more than welcome. Just trying to get this thing running!
Comments
good luck!
Agree with Gee- ... Just to the point it starts to melt with a touch of new solder ... doesnt hurt, 5 minutes fix, just do it ...
: )
Mine has a problem starting when its hot/up to temp but if i tap the gas when turning it over it starts right up. Good luck getting her to run tho.
Again sorry i stole your quote but i love it
If you get gas at the fuel filter, that doesn't mean it gets to where it needs to be... you can change the filter, that won't cost much. If that doesn't help, it could also be a problem in the injectors or carburettor (depending on what kind of engine you have)
btw, $900 for changing a fuel pump?!?!? that's ridiculous!
Obviously I'm talking about a prelude and I have no idea if the relay for the civic wagon is the same or not, but jut saying my experience with my prelude/main relay
$900 to flip the back seat up pull back the plastic and remove what like 6 bolts and disconnect some wires? Didnt see that before. :shock:
yeah, double the value of your wagon, get a new fuel pomp
: )
anywho, update:
Swapped out the Main Relay from my wagon to the hatch. still same issue, turning over but not starting. i even put the main relay from the hatch into the wagon, and the wagon started. so cross the main fuel relay off the list.
i'm now starting to think it may be either 1 fuel filters (going to do first)
2 the fuel pump, or 3 (my least favorite) bad gas.
: )
ps. did someone take a piss in the tank, yeezzz
I'm not condoning the $900 charge for changing the pump, because yes that is rediculous, but we are talking about a hatchback here, and you have to drop the tank to take out the pump.
Have you tried changing the distributor yet? Its pretty obvious that it's not the main relay (my 1st guess as well), but it does sound like it could be ignition related (coil or ignitor). I once had the same type of problem, and I even had spark with the plug pulled out of the head, and grounded against the outside of the block. I went round and round trying to find the problem. Turned out to be a weak coil. It still sparked, but it was so weak, it wouldn't fire the engine.
looks like half of it Jake ...
btw, your gold man, i keep skipping, therefor forgetting those things, driving around in
modern and maintained cars.
...
Its a civic hatch ... grrr : )
i'm getting old, what are your excuses for answering this
1. used engine starter, sprayed it, cranked...tried again..till finally we got it to start and let it sit for a few.
2. put in New gas, with the old. it has started fine every time so far. a few mins ago we took it out for a drive.
here are a few teaser pictures. i plan on getting better ones later.
one step at a time though
okay, now that i've gotten that out of the way here is whats going on.
Turn the key and the engine does not turn over. there is a spark, and there is fuel. but no turning over. I'm guessing the starter.
I checked the main fuel relay again, just to be sure.
any idea's?? i may even try to upload a video.
No cranking is probably the starter, you may of killed it by cranking it too much.
man, i feel rather well...silly
But, here is what we figured out over the past a few months (with school, and my limited knowledge, it's been difficult to get things fixed)
1. the main fuel relay is fine
2. it starts fine
now here is the issue
When ever driving at a normal rate of speed, then slowing down quickly or taking a turn (even at normal speeds) or going up a steep hill, the engine will basically stall out...my guess is fuel starvation.
It only does this when there is a little above or at half a tank.
any ideas? my only guess is that the fuel pump is crap, or the gas tank has something wrong with it.
the fuel filter (on the fuel pump) was clean, i'm not sure what to do next
i'm trying to avoid spending 250 on a fuel pump.
thanks!
The rotor was loose and not getting good connection, also check your spark plugs and wire. Try these things first, it saved me alot of money, maybe you too. Good luck.
anywho, i'll let you know what's going on after i get it back, and hopefully some new pics!
Now i'm searching for a low millage 5 spd tranny.