1988 Honda Civic randomly will not start?
I have a 1988 Honda Civic DX hatchback with a 1.5liter engine with an automatic transmission. For the past two years I’ve had the problem of the car cranking but not starting. This event happens very randomly but when it does it leaves me stranded for at least 40 minutes. I’ve experienced this problem in both hot and cold weather. I have noticed that when I insert and turn the key to start the car, the yellow “check engine” light goes on. Sometimes if I wait the 3 seconds for the car to make a “click” sound and this yellow light to turn off, then I know the car will start with out a problem. If the yellow light remains lit then the car will crank but not start. When this happens I have to wait for the light to turn off before I can attempt another start. I have also noticed that if I try to start the car when the yellow light is ON then the time that it takes for the light to reset becomes much longer. I know that this is not a low battery problem. The car has actually turned OFF on me twice, on two different occasions, while I was driving on the freeway but miraculously it turned itself back on. I was wondering if I may have a loose ignitor connection but if so, then why would the problem go away on its own, only to come back a few days later.