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Okay! Here is a final update.
As strange as it may seem, the car is running now. There is no apparent problems to be seen after all.
I ended up calling a mechanic and he was able to start the car.
He first checked that there is spark, then sprayed brake clean in to the throttle body. But the car still won’t start.
He then took one spark plug out, inspected it, cleaned and re-gap it. He then asked me to crank the engine while he controlled the throttle. The car was able to start after some struggle. After that, the car can start up with no problem. I was like, WTH??? He told me that the engine was flooded and the spark plug was contaminated with fuel. He told me that maybe moist got into the cylinder during the heaving raining in the two weeks that the car has been sitting. That’s why it won’t start for the first time, I then flooded the engine for cranking it too much. I also told him about my compression test. He said my result was not accurate cus there is no way the car can start and run with that low PSI.
I did try the clear flood mode before but with no luck.
Anyways, I am happy that the car is running now.
Any afterthoughts?
Thanks for everyones help![quote=”CordiaMad” post=156759]you have checked if it sparks?
eric has great videos like this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K78XIhhjAQ%5B/quote%5DAll four spark plugs sparks.
It wouldn’t let me upload the picture. Keep giving me a 500 error.
Here is a google picture share link.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8YUmPDRlkq-M2FPU1lwSTF0UE0/view?usp=sharing[quote=”DaveNewbie” post=156690][quote=”NATHANSB” post=156661]A little more info about the car.
It is a EX model with a manual transmission. It has 240K.
Also I forgot to mention that the engine oil was really low to my surprise. It’s blow the lower dot and barely made it on the dipstick. I have just changed the oil in October. There is no substantial oil leaks to be seen. The coolant was also a little low.
While the car was parked, it rained pretty hard for a couples of days. But I really doubt it has anything to do with the weather.[/quote]Did the car blow a lot of smoke when it did run?
Eric has a big section on diagnosing this issue
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/no-start-faq/solving-automotive-no-start-problemsand I’d go through that. He does list a “mechanical integrity” on his list and the symptoms of low oil and coolant lower has me thinking that you may have that issue.[/quote]
One correction, its a DX not EX.
The car never had smoke coming out from the tail. It has always been clean.
I have check the compression on all four cylinders. There are compression but kinda low. Dry test reads 60 30 60 90 psi.
Timing marks also lined up.Here is a picture of the spark plugs. It looks normal to me but one is darker than the rest. the darker one came from the 90psi cylinder.
I have pretty much gone through the diagnose and don’t know what else I am missing.
A little more info about the car.
It is a EX model with a manual transmission. It has 240K.
Also I forgot to mention that the engine oil was really low to my surprise. It’s blow the lower dot and barely made it on the dipstick. I have just changed the oil in October. There is no substantial oil leaks to be seen. The coolant was also a little low.
While the car was parked, it rained pretty hard for a couples of days. But I really doubt it has anything to do with the weather.Just use something round that is slightly bigger than the pin but still fits in the hole. Hammer it out… May take some effort.
A final update.
It turns out that I got very luck or what. None of my valves are bent. A friend of mien who also had slimier experience with the same type of civic convinced me that my valves are not bent. He said that bent valves usually happens to the DOHC but not to sohc civics. So I put a new belt on and did a dry compression test. The result came out to be close across the cylinders around 140 to 150PSI. That too convinced me that my valves are actually fine. After putting everything back to together, the car starts right up and drives just like before. I am a very happy man for that day! B) I’ve been driving the car for two weeks now.
I think part of the reason is also because my block is a D15B2.
Thanks everyone for the input! 🙂Most likely I will be doing it myself even if it needs a head job. I had put in a rebuild transmission not too long ago. Not ready to give up the car just yet. If fixing it cause too much, I would probably go for an engine swap.
BTW, water pump and tensioner all spins freely. The belt itself doesn’t seem to bad neither. Not sure what cause the snap.
So it is a broken timing belt. I need to find out how bad my valves are. My plan is to install the belt and do a compression test and go form there. Taking advice!!
Ok. This solve the mystery so far. After I removed the head cover, the timing belt is completely gone. This explains why I’m seeing the inside out belt at the bottom. So it is a timing belt failure. However, the crankshaft is almost at the TDC position already when I open it. If the belt breaks when the crankshaft happens to be at TDC, does it mean that the valves are ok? I am hoping it is!!!!! Let me know your thoughts !!
