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).