92' Honda Civic Died

I have 92' honda civic. Have been driving this car since last 4 years
and just completed 150,000 miles.

Today morning, I started the car, it made some cranking noise, but I
thought it was due to cold weather. I drove the car for 3-4 miles and
when I stopped at signal light, car just cut dead. I tried starting it
again, but it won't start. I don't think it battery problem as
head-lights and stuff just works fine.

I have changed timing belt, tranmission,battery last year. I have also
got oil change recently. Have been putting regular gas on it and not
more then 600 miles/month.

What could be the problem?
- loose relay/alternator connection
- dead coil in spark-plug?
- some timing belt issue?
- or soe more grave problem?

Its old car and I don't want to sepnd too much into repairing..where do
I start from?

 

Today morning, I started the car, it made some cranking noise, but I

Does it 'crank but won't run?'

 

may want cross post to (rec.autos.makers.honda) i was told they have bit
more traffic

This is a good place to start diagnostics with most common problems for
honda

http://tegger.com/hondafaq/startproblems.html#symptoms

HTH

 

Start from http://tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#startrun .Based on the age of
the car, what you've already done, that it quit rather than just not
starting, and what often fails I suspect the igniter
http://tegger.com/hondafaq/startproblems.html#badigniter . One thing worth
repeating in any event (although TeGGeR's text also emphasizes the point) is
that you must not try to operate the ignition without some way for the coil
output to reach ground or you will be buying a new coil, too. An aftermarket
igniter will set you back most of $100 US. Replacing it is a fairly easy DIY
except the screws that hold it are usually ungodly tight; I had to grab the
heads of the screws in my daughter's '93 with vise-grips to get them out.

Mike

 

Yes, it will crank.
Its in the same state since last 8 days..and as its raining outside, I
couldn't investigate further.
I am thinking of towing it to mechanic now

 

I took it to mechanic and he says its distributor problem. And it would
charge me $525 + Tax ...what the ....!
I am not sure if I am getting ripped here..what are the parts of the
distributor ? I guess ignitor, coil and rotor..isn't it ?
Can I just change only one of them, which is faulty? or do I need to
change all of it ?
How much these should cost ? Any help ???

thanks guys
-

 

my local honda dealer **replaced** my distributor in my 93 civic for
something like $350 - $400
new distributor + labor

can't remember exact amount because i included major service and water pump
+ timing belt replace etc but that is my recollection from the
service/invoice breakdown.

your area may vary in price by that much ? Is this a trusted mechanic that
has done work before ? good reputation reccomended by friends ? check with
dealer distributor replacement price ?

As for do it yourself the individual parts you are talking about are
probab;y 75-100 each (igniter/coil) so thats 200 dollar hit/miss diagnostics
plus time to replace and any other tools/adjustments needed and if it does
not repair then you are back to $525 mechanic.

did you have other symptoms that you possibly ignored or did not associate
with the impending failure ?

Did you visit http://tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#startrun site and try to
do diagnostics yourself , that is track down the problem. Is car generating
any error codes is the check engine light on or blinking ?

Somenone allready responded that they thought you had an igniter problem as
indicated at this link
http://tegger.com/hondafaq/startproblems.html#badigniter

anyway there are lots of knowledgeable posters that will likely help

HTH
robb

 

my local honda dealer **replaced** my distributor in my 93 civic for
something like $350 - $400
new distributor + labor

can't remember exact amount because i included major service and water pump
+ timing belt replace etc but that is my recollection from the
service/invoice breakdown.

your area may vary in price by that much ? Is this a trusted mechanic that
has done work before ? good reputation reccomended by friends ? check with
dealer distributor replacement price ?

As for do it yourself the individual parts you are talking about are
probab;y 75-100 each (igniter/coil) so thats 200 dollar hit/miss diagnostics
plus time to replace and any other tools/adjustments needed and if it does
not repair then you are back to $525 mechanic.

did you have other symptoms that you possibly ignored or did not associate
with the impending failure ?

Did you visit http://tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#startrun site and try to
do diagnostics yourself , that is track down the problem. Is car generating
any error codes is the check engine light on or blinking ?

Somenone allready responded that they thought you had an igniter problem as
indicated at this link
http://tegger.com/hondafaq/startproblems.html#badigniter

anyway there are lots of knowledgeable posters that will likely help

HTH
robb

 

$525?? I had distributor problems with my 97 Honda Civic, and I took
it to the dealership - and they charged me $240.

 

I had the same problem with my 96 accord.

Whenever it rained, or snowed, or it was foggy, the engine would not start.
I changed the distributer about 5 times before it became reliable. Here's
what it did:

Replaced the wires (good ones- they have to form a good seal)

Changed the distr. cab and rotor button.

Inside the distributor, there is a little hole for the wires to go out to
the coil. That needs to be sealed as the rubber grommet gets worn. I used
silicone.

I removed the coil, took it inside and dried it well with a heat gun
(carefully). I then coated it with that spray on ingition sealer.

Cleaned all the electrical connectors with alcohol, and when everything was
back together, I sealed all the connections with silicone.

It has been 6 months now, and you can almost drive that car though a lake...

These cars a well known for moisture invading the ignition system... Other
than that, they are tough as nails.

Most mechanics will slap on a new coil and distributor to fix the same
problem -as it will, because those new parts are nice and dry and well
sealed - It is probably a good idea to do that, but I can't afford the parts
with two kids in daycare.....!!

Anyway, I hope you get things sorted out.. If you are in a pinch and want
the darn car to start, spray wd40 on the distributor and coil. That usually
will get the car running..

BD