Tried it all and my car still won't start

Alright, my car has been down since August 16th and I need a running car again. I’ve got a 92 LS stock motor. Engine will crank(rotate) all day long, but it won’t run. All signs (crank but not start, thought I couldn’t here the fuel pump prime) pointed to a bad main relay at first so I replaced the main relay. Didn’t change a thing. So I got my buddy over and he took the ditributor off and looked inside and the coil had a gap in between a piece of metal so he figured the coil was bad. Went and got a coil and put it on and it ran. It was at my uncle’s house for those 2 days and he drove it a few times and it did fine. So I went to pick it up from him and it wouldn’t start for me. He had said that there was a chance it could be out of gas because of how much they drove it. He had a gas can in his garage so I put gas in the car and it fired right up. I drove it to the gas station to fill it up and it wouldn’t start when I tried to leave. After about 10-15 minutes of sitting there cranking it, she magically fired up. Drove it to work and it wouldn’t start when I got off. Had it towed out to my uncle’s house and they have been parts swapping for a couple weeks trying to get it to run. They have replaced the fuel filter, bought another main relay, ignition coil, ignition control module and they hot wired the fuel pump and had fuel squirting out of the fuel filter. Fuel is making it to the fuel filter but after it could be the problem. Other than the obvious checking injectors, anybody have any insight? Had a similar problem with a crazy ass fix? It’s killing me that I don’t have a DD. I’m gonna get it to one of my buddies that works at a Honda dealership and he is gonna check it out and see what he can come up with. Any help is appreciated.

http://forums.g2ic.com/showthread.php?36941-90-93-Integra-Basic-Troubleshooting-Guide…&s=

So we know youre getting fuel and you checked your distributor which visually checks out. But have you read/checked your spark plugs or checked your spark plug wires?

[QUOTE=TegFan;2172410]http://forums.g2ic.com/showthread.php?36941-90-93-Integra-Basic-Troubleshooting-Guide…&s=

So we know youre getting fuel and you checked your distributor which visually checks out. But have you read/checked your spark plugs or checked your spark plug wires?[/QUOTE]

Well when the car does run it runs fine and ran fine for 3 weeks prior to this. I doubt the spark plugs are the issue. That wouldn’t cause it to not start that would cause a miss. How do you check the spark plug wires? As far as visually check them they look fine.

Its obvious that you’re getting fuel, so any Fuel Relay or fuel related idea is prettymuch out the window now.

Sounds to me like you have an intermittent spark issue. Im betting its something to do with the distributor.

As far as checking the plug wires, they are supposed to have a certain OHM/Resistance rating… Try a quick search on ohming wires and im sure you’ll come up with a target value that yours should be at.

[QUOTE=unified112;2172443]Its obvious that you’re getting fuel, so any Fuel Relay or fuel related idea is prettymuch out the window now.

Sounds to me like you have an intermittent spark issue. Im betting its something to do with the distributor.

As far as checking the plug wires, they are supposed to have a certain OHM/Resistance rating… Try a quick search on ohming wires and im sure you’ll come up with a target value that yours should be at.[/QUOTE]

Well I know I’m getting fuel to the firewall, but after that something could be messed up. My injectors could be bad. My buddy that looked at it the first time said the plug wires might not be making good contact with the distributor. The were kind of loose but I didn’t think that was the culprit. Now I am starting to rethink that decision.

If it were a problem with your injectors it would run like shit, as well as not being able to start. It seems from what you’ve said, that the car runs fine, when it runs. This would make me think its a spark problem. It could be the wires… But oem wires are known to last for quite a long time.

The wires on the car aren’t OEM. I bought this car on August 2nd and before I bought it the guy replaced them. And he might have replaced the plugs also, I don’t remember. I think I have it written down somewhere. See the weird thing is my uncle has tested for spark multiple times and it had spark everytime. If you have fuel and spark you should have a running car which is why this doesn’t make sense.

I guess the reason it’s hard to diagnose is a few times it’s started up randomly and run for a minute or two no problem then cut itself off. It just doesn’t make any sense. Should I swap out the whole distributor? I mean I’ve replaced 2 out of 4 parts of it. And the 2 parts I replaced are the most likely ones to go bad. I’m at a loss at this point.

There are only three things that a car needs in order to start.
Spark, Fuel and compression.
When the car is not starting check for one of
the three missing.

Does it have spark?
Does it have fuel?
Is there compression?

my .002 it might be your the part in the distributer think it called the ecm not sure as when they go out some times they work som times they dont a from what i know when they start to go out some time the tach bounce crazy all over the place hope this helps you

I think you are talking about the ICM (ignition control module) and it’s been replaced.

[QUOTE=AllmansTEG;2172548]There are only three things that a car needs in order to start.
Spark, Fuel and compression.
When the car is not starting check for one of
the three missing.

Does it have spark?
Does it have fuel?
Is there compression?[/QUOTE]

Spark: Yes
Fuel: All the way to the firewall
Compression: don’t know. How would this all of a sudden go out?

sounds like something electrical check your spark plugs (yes it has alot to do with the car not starting) itll only take about 5-10 minutes so why not just check them, check your distributor rotor make sure its making contact check your §§§§§ cap you said you changed the coil thats a start just check and change everything else its cheap and might make a difference other than that i cant think of anything trust me ive had my DA for years now and ive seen it all with my ls just left me last night would crank but not start got a friend to get it home changed my spark plugs this morning startedright up same thing happened before was my §§§§§ cap and ignition coil. anyway good luck with it

Well right before I bought it a month ago the guy changed out the plugs so he said. I haven’t looked yet but I guess it won’t hurt to throw some NGK’s and plug wires on it and see what happens. I’m probably gonna take it over to the place I used to work and have my mechanic take a looksy at it

check ur distrubutor cap, right were the plug wires connect look inside the terminalls and make sure there in good condition

whats the stock ECU that runs in our cars? Is it a P04? We are starting to think something is wrong with the computer.

jesus christ, man. stop thinking and start testing. take the guess work out and check for codes. the system was put in place for this very reason. utilize it.
report back

[quote=welfare;2173501]jesus christ, man. Stop thinking and start testing. Take the guess work out and check for codes. The system was put in place for this very reason. Utilize it.
Report back[/quote]

x1,000,000^^

Why not just try replacing the distributor? Sounds like ignition if you got fuel pressure. Check for any ECU codes first.

Dont let fuel drip down your firewall, it can ignite and cause a nasty fire.

internal ignition coil

[QUOTE=welfare;2173501]jesus christ, man. stop thinking and start testing. take the guess work out and check for codes. the system was put in place for this very reason. utilize it.
report back[/QUOTE]

The car has to run to check codes. THE CAR WON’T FUCKING RUN. What do you suggest testing?

Just try? There’s about 200 reason I can think of as to why not “just try” replacing the distributor. We replaced parts inside the distributor that commonly go bad in G2’s. See above about codes.

lolwut

read. it’s been replaced.