My 93 Honda civic del sol had been sitting in my driveway for a couple of months. After I charged the battery, I started my Honda and let it run. It ran
For 20 minutes with no problem. It then stalled, when I attempted to start it again, it wouldn't start. The engin turns over but it just won't start. At first I thought I might have flooded it but even after an hour or so still no luck. Could it be a fuse or perhaps the fuel pump? I appreciate any suggestions. Thanks

Coule be the fuel pump has kicked out, have you tried taking the air filter off and smelling for gas, that's the easiest way to tell. Could be that or a short in the line but I'm leaning more towards the pump.

I read somewhere that if gas in your tank stays for a couple of months, unused, it is best to drain it and fill with new gas. Maybe it clogged your fuel filter?

Start with the easy things looking at the fuses. If they are all OK, move on to the basics, spark and gas. Helps to have somebody else to crank the engine while you do checks. Pull the coil wire and see if sparks when held near a grounded part of the engine. Best not to hold it in your hand. If you don't have spark, start at the smaller wires on the coil which should be hot with the key on. Work you way back to the key checking for power.

If you have spark, check for gas. If you can't smell any, pull the fuel injector or the rail, and point it away from the engine and anything else that could ignite the gas. Crank the car over and see if gas squirts out. If not, work your way back seeing where the problem is.

My girlfriend's '95 Honda del sol has been sitting outside the last two months when she was on vacation. The car ran perfectly fine before she left it sitting in the parking lot. It never gave any trouble until now. We tried to start it a few days ago and it would not start! We went out and bought a brand new battery and it is still doing the same thing. I guess the engine turns over (like its on the verge of starting, all the belts move), but it does not start. I can smell the gas. The weather has been warm with some rain during those two months, I don't know if that has anything to do with it. What should I do? Is it not getting a spark? I am thinking about replacing the spark plugs, but I want an opinion before I do it. Please help! Thanks in advance.

-Dave

Check for spark. Read the FAQ for description how to do it. If it's not getting a spark, it might be a faulty coil, faulty igniter unit or spark plugs.

I bought one of those ignition spark tester tools and I am not getting any spark. I have replaced the dist cap, spark wires, and the spark plugs.

It's PROBABLY a bad ignition coil or igniter unit. Try to find someone with the same engine, and ask them to let you try their coil/igniter in your car to see if it'll work.

Then again, I'm having a problem with not getting a spark on my own car, and replacing the coil and igniter gave me no luck. I guess there's a problem in the sensor that's a part of distributor and manual says it should not be taken out... if it's wrong, I should replace the whole distributor. So do not go buying the coil and igniter right away... try to have them let you test it first.

Is it safe to remove the dist cap and try to start the car to see if the rotor is spinning? I'm a newbie at all of this. No one else has a civic or a del sol, I drive an integra... but I'm too scared to remove anything from it to test it on the del sol... if it possible...

Yes it is safe. Undo the screws, remove the cap, and have someone shortly crank the car. You'll see it if is spins.

I observed the rotor with the cap off and it was spinning... but how fast is it supposed to be spinning? My rotor was spinning rather slow. About 1 rotation per second.. maybe a tiny bit faster... is this normal?

Can someone be so kind and give me a picture of the firing order of a del sol? I want to be 100 percent sure I have the firing order correct. Thanks.

Here you go.

Thanks for the photo. I am assuming the dark dot is number 1 and it goes clock wise in the 1342 matter, but when I look at the dist cap --how do I know where to start? I attached a picture with an arrow pointing to the one I think is number 1. please tell me if this is correct. Thank you for replying so fast.

-Dave

Here's a picture that will help you...
http://img18.exs.cx/img18/7701/b16firingorder2.jpg

How fast should the rotor be spinning?

Check to make sure that a screw that's holding the rotor to the camshaft's extension shaft is securely tightened. If it is, then at whatever rate the rotor is spinning, it's fine.

Hey first of all, thanks for prompt replies and help.

I replaced the rotor today and it still isn't getting spark. The rotor spins and all. I made sure the screw was as tight as possible.

So far, I've changed the rotor, wires, plugs, and dist cap. So I know those little things are out of the way.

I read your posts about the main relay and the solution you gave about checking the main relay checked out. When the key is in the II position, a humming sound starts and the check engine light goes out and makes a loud click noise. So I am pretty sure its not the main relay that's crapping out.

Should I somehow check the coil next? I was looking at the coils on advance auto parts and they were around 70 dollars or so... before I buy something expensive, I need your expert advice. How do I go about testing the coil before I buy a new one? I have a circuit tester tool. Are there any other ignition components that I should look at?

This car is really making me mad :mad: .

Thank you so much for all your help.

-Dave

Ignition coil is easy to test. It is explained in the FAQ. You should remove the distributor cap, unscrew the 2 screws that are holding the 2 wires attached to the coil, remove the wires and measure resistance between + and -. You should get around 0.7ohms. I measured 1 coil from a working car and got 1 ohm. I measured one coil from a non-working car and got 1.2 ohms. Then measure resistance between + and secondary winding terminal (it's the round thing on the "front" side of the coil. You should get around 12kiloohms. First time I measured mine, I got 18 MEGAohms... so then I scratched the connecting part on the secondary terminal and got a 12 kiloohms measurement. Another working coil showed 12 kiloohms. If you get infinite resistance somewhere, it would mean the coil is bad. Just make sure you measure right, and try scratching the connecting side of the terminal if you get too much resistance.

Hi.

I tested the ignition coil today and here are the results:
Primary Terminal: 0.6 ohms
Secondary Terminal: 11.72 kilo-ohms

Does this sound about right? It is very close to your measurements so I assume it is in working condition.

What can I test next? Thanks for your help.

-Dave

Ignition coil is in excellent condition!!

Let's go over this again. The car won't start. Main relay is working fine and you hear a humming noise and hear a click when you turn the key to II. You can also smell gas at the exhaust tip when trying to crank it. Rotor is spinning so it means the timing belt is intact. Ignition coil checks out fine.

Have you tried getting a cheap used igniter unit and replacing it? Yesterday I managed to fix my car not starting up for 2 months... turns out it was a bad igniter unit after all. Try having someone lend you an igniter to check if it will work with it.

Does your car have a fuse box under hood? It should be at the passenger's strut tower. Check all fuses there (mainly the Ignition one - I think it's 50A fuse).

I will check all the fuses and the ignitor this afternoon and let you know how it goes.

Is there a way I can use the circuit tester to test the ignitor without getting a new ignitor?

Thanks.

-Dave

First, are you sure the car is not getting a spark? Have you tried pulling one spark plug wire off, attaching a known working spark plug to it, make contact between the tip of the spark plug and the strut tower and observe for sparks while someone is cranking the car? Watch out to hold the spark plug by it's top to avoid getting jolted by electricity :)

If all that fails, and your igniter unit has 4 wires attached to it (I'm not sure if there are any differences between 88-91 Civics and Del Sol), then check the FAQ on this forum for instructions how to check the wiring around igniter unit. If the coil is working fine, if all fuses are OK, if ECU is working right and tests for wiring around igniter unit test out fine, then you should replace the igniter unit. Also, try getting someone to loan you a known working igniter - it is the easiest method to test it.

Hi. I was able to test the ICM and here are the results:

1. Black/Yellow + Ground = ~130 mV
2. White/Blue + Ground = ~170 mV
3. Blue + White/Blue = 2.076 K-Ohms

The Haynes manual (the manual is horrible!) says there should be voltage on test 1 and 2.. and there was. The 3rd test should be between 1.1 and 3.3 K-Ohms... and it was.

I haven't checked the fuse yet... I need to figure out how... sorry I'm new at this lol. There is a fuse box on the passenger side under the hood. I saw ones that were screwed down in the box and ones that were smaller and colorful. The ones that were screwed down had numbers written on them like 50A and so on, but the ones that were colorful had smaller numbers like 17 and 10, etc. There were two big ones with 50A on it.

Do I unscrew them to test them?. I pray that its just a blown fuse or something because I am getting angry at this car. If it doesn't start soon I may just have to get it towed or something and fork over the cash.

The car isn't getting any spark. I tested with the spark tester on each of the wires and none of them did anything. I tested it at what it said I should have it set to on the package. I even tried moving the gap on the tester to serveral different distances just to be sure.

Thanks for your help.

-Dave

Ok, so the ignition coil is working right, and wiring around the igniter unit is fine. I would say you should just replace the igniter unit.

Fuses are just pieces of wire. Check to see if they're burned through. You can see it by looking from above.

I'm 95% sure it's the igniter unit. As I said, TRY to get a known working one and try it out. If it throws a spark after you put it in - buy a new one (or a known working used one).

Hi there.

I placed an order for a new ignitor unit and it will be here on Sunday.

While I was out, I bought a new fuel filter and replaced it because it hasn't been replaced since we got the car. I tried to start it anyway and still no go.

I hope the new ignitor will start it up and if it doesn't then I'm returning the ignitor and just having it towed unless you have more suggestions.

I will let you know how it goes when it arrives.

Thank you for all your help.

Oh.. do you know if the clock in a del Sol uses a fuse because the clock not been working since we've gotten the car.

-Dave

I know that 88-91 civics use a fuse for the clock. But it's the same fuse that is used for the gauges lighting, turn signal lights, back-up lights, speed sensor, automatic seat belt control unit and some other things. I'm not sure about del sol, but I guess it should not be any different.

Check your fuses under the dash... there should be writing on the panel that you take out to access fuses saying which fuse is used for what.

Hi.

I got the ignitor unit today. I tried to remove the old ignitor by following the Haynes manual (it told me to remove two screws and pull the unit straight out). My question is, which two screws because I see like 3 screws and 1 of them is very difficult to get to. Anyway, I tried to remove the screws, but they were on there so god damn tight. The screw driver started to strip the screw so I gave up.

Which two screws am I unscrewing?

I can provide a picture if you want one.

-Dave

You can provide the picture if you want to.

2 screws are 7mm screws. You can take a 7mm wrench or a socket, and undo those. I don't believe you can undo them with a screwdriver if this is the first time in a long time that they're unscrewed. The third one is keeping the wires tightly to the igniter unit. You HAVE to undo that one with a screwdriver. Try spraying some WD-40 on it and trying again.

One other method I've found good is this: Spray it with some WD-40, then take a small hammer and hit it a few times. Not too hard because you might screw something up, but give it a whack or two. It might loosen the nuts some. Do it a few times - spray and whack it. It should come off easier.

----- EDIT -----

I am attaching a picture of a distributor off a '90 CRX with D16A8 in it. You can see 2 holes with 2 screws missing in it. That's where the 2 screws that are holding the igniter unit to distributor are.

Hi.

I was able to remove the old ignitor and install the new one. I put everything back the way it was and the car still didn't start. :mad:

What should I do now?

I will have it towed this weekend if it doesn't start by then... the car is pissing me off.

Hi.

I was able to remove the old ignitor and install the new one. I put everything back the way it was and the car still didnt start. :mad:

What should I do now?

I will have it towed this weekend if it doesnt start by then...the car is pissing me off.
Are you certain you connected the wires back to the igniter in the correct order?

Hi.

I doubled checked the wiring and it is all in the right order. I tested the ignition fuse and it tested okay and when I put the fuse back in the alarm went off hehe. I did find a broken fuse, a 7.5, and the lid said it was a "backup". What is that fuse for? I am replacing it anyway. Anyway, the car still isn't starting. I double checked the wires by making sure they are plugged in tightly, checked the gapping of the spark plugs again too.

-Dave

I replaced the fuse and it fixed the clock lol. The engine still doesn't start... :mad:

The backup fuse is to reset the check engine codes. As far as your larger problem, I've just had the same problem and replaced the ignition coil ($75 at Pepboys). Started right up.

IT'S THE MAIN RELAY! Under the drivers side dash and to the left. Get it from a Honda dealer, NOT an auto parts store. It absolutely makes a difference. My 93 del Sol stopped running and the Honda relay got it started again but I am also having pressure problems in the fuel system, the fuel pump runs continuously while the engine is running. Still need help with that if anybody has any ideas.

Help I have a 95 del sol.. where is the main relay location at.. car will not start.. getting fire and fuel .new timming belt. New this and rotor fuel pump.is new speed censor is new all fueses that you see are good.. turns over like a dream just won't bust over .I love my cockroach but I see a gun in my furture also what else could it be if this doesn't work..

Where is main relay located at on a 95 del sol

Rosebudboyer, if the CEL comes on for 2 seconds and then goes out, when the ignition switch is turned to ON (Position II), then focus on the distributor. It sounds like you installed an aftermarket distributor. Over 50% of them don't work at AMHD--the remaining ones are not reliable and are problematic. I would install a new genuine Honda distributor housing with an aftermarket igniter and coil, to keep the cost down.

It's not likely that the main relay is your problem. They become an issue when the car does not start in the heat of the day, due to the cold solder joints expanding on the PCB.

Hey fadedindigo,
Did you figure out what the issue was ? My girlfriend has the same problem and I'm trying to fix it !
Cheers