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My friend is having two issues with his 1990 Honda Civic 1.5 manual trans around 80,000 miles. I briefly looked at it the other day.
1st: I hear a minor miss. It needs a new distributor cap. I plan on changing the plugs and rotor while I’m at it.
2nd: It has an intermittent no start issue. Unfortunately I haven’t witnessed it and he is mechanically illiterate (so trying to figure out the symptoms is difficult.) When I had the distributor cap off, I didn’t see any oil or rust. There was a fair amount of corrosion on the striking points on the rotor and cap. Two out of the four times that the engine stopped running, the accelerator was being depressed. From what I gathered, it abruptly stopped running, it didn’t sputter out. When this happens, the engine turns but does not start. After it sits for an amount of time it will start.
My strategy is to do the tune-up, then check the fuel pump relay, voltage as close to the pump as I can get, fuel pressure, ignition switch and connections, etc.
Any input on common problems with these cars would be appreciated. I’ve heard distributor issues are common on these, but my cost for a reman distributor is $170. I don’t think my friend can afford this.
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Ignitor problems are not uncommon, they also frequently have issues with the main relay (fuel pump). Take a can of starting spray along, and the next time it stalls and won’t start up, spray a bit of starting spray into the air intake. If it fires up on that, then it is pretty likely a fuel supply issue. Check / replace the filter, and pull that relay out and give it a good once over. There are several BIG solder joints on it. They supply the power to the fuel pump. Desolder them, and then melt some nice new solder in their place, and you should be good to go.
If the starting spray doesn’t get it done, check for spark, which I am assuming you will not have, then diagnose whether it is a problem with the coil, or ignitor, or something else (less likely) all together.
Thanks bud. I’ll try resoldering that relay. For some reason the relay kept popping out to me, even though I hadn’t witnessedthe problem in action. I’ll let yu guys know what I find.
I haven’t witnessed that problem in action either, but I’ve heard about it and read about it often enough. Often, the relay is heat sensitive. When it heats up, it craps out. Give it a while to cool down, and it will work again for a time. I’ve even read that leaving the car parked in the sun can sometimes heat it up enough to keep the car from starting when the relay is the problem.
Certainly, it doesn’t cost you anything really but time to go ahead and solder that up. I would still hit it with the starting spray the next time it dies, just to be certain that you are looking at a fuel delivery problem, and not an ignition problem, no sense looking in the wrong direction for your issues.
Aftermarket distributors are a known problem on Hondas. I would suggest you do not install an aftermarket distributor on that engine. It’s also common for people to shotgun a distributor anytime a Honda has a running issue like that. A mistake in my opinion.
That said, Honda’s do have issues with coils and ignitors causing issues similar to what you describe. The way to determine which one is the problem is to do this test during the no start condition.
In addition to that you can find more info on the miss and other Honda issues here.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-performance-issues
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-idle-problems
Good luck and keep us posted.
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