[labman]

Some smell of gas is a clue to the problem, and nothing to be too excited about. It likely means either a lack of spark, or a leaky injector. You don't need to remove the plug to check the spark, just the wire and let it lay near a ground.

If you crank the car with the injector removed, gas should quit flowing as soon as the cranking stops. If it continues to dribble out, the injector is leaking. Replace it.

Could the noise have been a backfire? Sometimes they are more like a cough than a gunshot.

[thebriggsdude]

Yeah on those a backfire could be a burp rather then a boom. But yeah leaks are very much possible if you smell gas and if it does not start. But I did encounter a problem one time with a fuel injected car where he had hit something and knocked a gasline off. Not saying yours but gas smells lead me to the gas. Woops forgot to add, the reason why I said remove the plugs to check while connected to the wires. It will tell you if your getting spark and will tell you if the plug is bad, plus old wire's will be cracked and you reallllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyy don't want to touch them, realllllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyy :eek: :eek: shock of your lifetime :D

[cjpriceless]

Ok this smell of gas isn't that much... just a faint smell, I guess something to be expected if you've pumped it quite a few times over a few tries of trying to starrt it. I also checked all of my key fuses and nothing is blown. I'm not really sure about this relay thing though... is that just where all the fuses plug in behind the coin holder, or somewhere else? I checked the connections of the wires running to the plugs, and the cable running from there to the coil and there is no corrosion and it is a clean plug. I also tried unplugging a wire from a spark plug, sticking the screw driver in the cable to make a metal connection, and then touching it to a metal ground while someone turned the car over... but there were no sparks or anything. So anything else you guys can think of? I also think my battery is getting close to dying from all of this trying, because it doesn't seem to turn over quite as well as it was the other day. One other note... I tried jumping it today just for kicks and that yielded no results either. Thanks.

[thebriggsdude]

Well the plug wire is not to be touching metal more like having a piece of metel say the side if the engine a little bit away to spark, that's why I said take the plug out, the wire is not to touch metal but to be emitting a spark to the metal if touching you would get no spark because it would be grounding. Yet hold the end of the wire with the screw driver in it and keep it away from a metal contact, maybe a cm or even a half of a cm away to spark to the metal. Clean metal as well, like a clean non painted alluminum/ steel / iron engine head. :)

[cjpriceless]

Yeah no luck with the spark... right now I'm trickle charging the battery because it was getting a little low.

[thebriggsdude]

Well I'd hate to say this because it will hurt and give you a buzz if it does give spark energy, touch the screwdriver while its in the plug connector with the back of one of your fingers and try to start it, if you get a jolt well OK its getting some. But I would keep trying the other way :D , umm well here's a question, OK where was this thump thud etc. it might, now not saying but might have disconnected something under the dash. But if you try a spark tester which you could rent at auto zone I believe not sure or use a electricians electrical voltage tester/ meter and see if you get something, cheapest way would be above. :D but not recommended. Or could be the belt slipped, not sure what type belt now I'm used to timing chains, could have slipped if it's a belt, not sure on these japanese cars but could have slipped. Like I said try taking the plugs out and leaving them connected to the wires and try to start the car and look for spark and see if you get it in all of them and they are all sparking one after another or in sequence if the starter turns the engine over fast. May have been a computer chip has fried, had that happen to a caprice one time, got fuel and through the injectors and turned over but no spark and the computer was screwy, not saying that yours is though, damn this ones kind of a screwy car, seen one honda crx hatchback going at 60 for 5 minutes and the power steering would go dead. Just screwy stuff, try the plugs though :)

[cjpriceless]

Alrighty thanks I appreciate it. I also talked with a mechanic friend and they think it might be fuel, so they said to take a tablespoon of gas and put it in the air cleaner/carburator and see if that starts it up... he said that it sounds like it might be the fuel pump. Which I guess logically sounds reasonable. Anyhow I'll give all of that stuff a try tomorrow. Once again thanks.

[thebriggsdude]

yeah like I said that thump could have been the pump

^^ I made a funny :D

. Do try the gas though but could be it isn't that since you smell it

[cjpriceless]

Well my dad and I weren't able to figure it out... it still seemed like there was no spark, and then its Electronically Fuel Injected so what didn't know what do to there. So tomorrow morning I'm hoping to get it towed into town with our Triple A and have a true mechanic take a look at it. I really hope I can get my car working very soon... having no car is a real pain in the .

[thebriggsdude]

Yeah would be your best bet since. I need the car right there to really tell what's wrong, but hope its not serious :(

[cjpriceless]

I hate car mechanics... they tell you that you can have your car towed in, but that they won't be able to get to it until Friday... what is the deal with that. Once Friday rolls around I will have been without my car for a week, and I really am starting to need it. Especially since next week is Mid-winter break.

[thebriggsdude]

I know it sux sometimes. But be leanient, sometimes they can be over full with things already to do, plus about all of them leave the big things till last and do the small things.

[cjpriceless]

Well one of my good friends told me of this Mobile mechanic they knew of and that had helped them in the past. So I gave them a call and they came out today. They have the cheapest rates around here and seemed to be pretty nice people... in the first hour check-through they didn't find anything wrong. All of the standard tests had passed and everything seemed pretty OK, then they called me and asked if it was all right if they did a diagnostics test. So they went through with that and found the problem. Evidently something between the distributor and coal was grounded and had shorted out and died or something, and then burned out some of the wires. So they took the distributor or distributor cap (are these two the same or different?), and told me that this part that needed replacement is a $391 part. So I guess overall it is going to cost about $530. Does this seem reasonable, or does it sound like I might be getting ripped off on that part? Thanks. I'm thinking it might be the ignition distributor... but not totally sure.

[labman]

That sounds absurdly high, but it is possible that it is a fair price for a factory part purchased from the dealer. It seems everything is more complicated today, making it more expensive. Then if a mechanic buys a factory part from the dealer, and of course marks it up, it is expensive. Everybody that works on cars marks the parts up. The mechanic marks them up, the dealer marked it up, the factory marked it up, etc. You pay.

I am not sure what is in distributors today. They used to have a switch to make and break the circuit to trigger the spark, weights and a diaphragm to adjust the timing, plus the rotor to distribute the spark. They may have some electronics to replace those things plus still the rotor. My old truck still has the switch, called points. My last 2 cars didn't have a distributor.

I had to replace several wheel bearing on my old Grand Am. Can you buy just the wheel bearing? NO, you buy the whole hub complete with the ABS sensor. Maybe I had to go back and replace it again because I bought the cheap $100 ones.

[thebriggsdude]

Its kind of on the reasonable side since they have to nowa days to replace or work on those cars. Because yes they mark up the price but of course they have to install it, work on it and get it right as well.

[CroCivic91]

Distributor cap is only a part of a distributor. There are quite a few things inside. You should ask them which part of it exactly went wrong, and then visit www.cheapesthondaparts.com and look it up how much each part costs. I can tell you right away that for your car some prices are like this:
Whole distributor (Hitachi) - 472$
Whole distributor (Tec) - 437$
Ignition coil - 61$
Rotor (Hitachi) - 4$
Rotor (Tec) - 3$
Cap (Hitachi) - 14$
Cap (Tec) - 14$

There is also an ignition switch, but they don't have it in stock I guess, since they didn't show the price. But if they're saying 380$+, then I guess they're trying to replace the whole distributor. If it's only the coil or only the cap, just buy the part, you can replace it yourself (I know I replaced it myself (for the first time in my life) in 45 minutes).

[jgrayii]

If your car is fuel injected, this will help. Turn the ignition on slowly, listen for a click sound after 5 seconds. If no sound, then have your main relay replaced. Its located under the driver side fender behind the fuse box. This relay signals the fuel pump to send gas through the line, to the engine.

Had this problem recently with mine and once I made the installation, started like a rocket.

[rnate]

I would try shaving the head by 0.22 and it helps cause when u do that it makes the car 10 times faster and that help it happened to me