90 Honda Civic Hatchback won't start

Hello,
I am looking for help from a Honda guru. I am beyond my own
expertise. A couple of months ago I bought a Civic at a charity
auction in hopes of fixing it up and using it as a work car. I had to
replace the motor. After several weeks of part time work with only
minor problems I had it running. The only thing that I could not
figure out is the check engine light comes on only after getting it up
to highway speed. It did not seem to effect the performance as far as
I could tell. After a couple of weeks of driving the car I noticed a
hesitation while cruising at highway speed. It started happening a
little more frequently. Then once it would not start. When you tried
to start it it would turn over for a second or two like it was going
to start and then would just die. After several attempts it finally
started. I noticed a few episodes of hesitation after this. Then one
day on my way home it started hesitating badly. I had to make a stop
on my way. When I got back in the car I had another episode of not
starting. After I finally got it started I headed for home and only
got a quarter of a mile when it hesitated and died for good.
So far I tested and replaced the main relay, removed the fuel pump
and tested it. I used leads from a battery and it seemed to run fine.
I then hooked it to the car wiring for the fuel pump via the leads and
had a friend put the car key in the "on" position and got no response
from the fuel pump. He then tried to start the car and still no
response. I have done all I can think of. Any help or ideas you can
provide will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your help.

 

++++++++++

Did you check for a rusty ground connection on the fuel pump's wiring?
Plugged fuel filter won't produce no-start, but will prevent top speed,
with sputtering.

'Curly'

 

is it reliably full of coolant and doesn't leak? looking at the
expansion bottle is not a reliable indicator - wait for it to cool then
look under the radiator cap.

my old 89 had similar problems - turned out that there was a small leak
in the radiator. coolant would leak just enough that the temperature
sensor [the one for the ecu, not the gauge] was not getting a fully warm
signal and so the ecu was running the car on "rich". lousy
acceleration. lousy mileage. a hot engine has a hard time starting on
a rich mix too. explains the check engine signal as well.

 

OOPS!!! My Mistake. I left a plug off which caused the fuel pump to
not respond to cranking. Turns out that the fuel system checks out and
seems to work. Still having the same symptoms. The turns over while
cranking (start position). Once you return to the "on" position it
stops firing and dies. Any other ideas???

 

Bad ignition switch.

 

In the start position there's a second voltage source to the fuel pump
that goes away as soon as the key is returned to the run position.
Check for a loose fuse in the ignition circuits or a bad ignition
switch. The main relay is also a candidate but you said you checked
that.

Also there are usually 3 ground wires from the ECU that are grounded
at the engine near the thermostat housing. One of those is involved
with the main relay's fuel pump coil. Make sure that's on tight.

 

I had a 91 Civic that would occasionally fail to start after I'd driven it
somewhere then turned off the car for a brief time, for instance, to run
into the post office or grocery store. It would refuse to start and then in
a few minutes it would suddenly start just fine. At first I would call AAA
to get help, then have to cancel the help request when my car would start,
but after a while I knew just to wait.

After asking around and doing research, the solution for me was to put in a
new fuel pump relay. I brought the car to my mechanic and made the request.
He was skeptical but did as I asked. After that I never had the startup
problem again.

So, my advice (since I had a very similar problem to yours, in a Civic
nearly as old) is to get a new fuel pump relay.