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I really need this solved

719 Views 11 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Jerry elliott
I have a 2007 civic ran fine, parked for a year and boosted to get it running and after an hour it stalled and won't restart. I changed the fuel pump and battery and put fresh gas in it still won't start. It cranks over and sounds fine but won't fire up, when you let off the key from cranking it, it fires and shudders a bit and stops and I thought crank sensor but my rpms are reading and I have no toruble codes. I unplugged the cam sensor to see if it would start in limp mode and it won't. Gas down the intake didn't help either.
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Unfortunately it kinda sounds like a timing issue I had. My car was sitting for about a month, drained of oil, while I was working on a clutch replacement. Upon first restart after all that time my timing chain slipped due to some combo of an old failing timing chain tensioner and the car being empty of oil for so long (the timing chain tensioner works by oil pressure). It took me a ton of troubleshooting before I finally pulled the valve cover to look at the cams gears, which makes it easy enough to see if the timing is off just by rotating the motor. In the year before you parked the car did you notice a brief grinding noise on cold startup? That's the symptom of a failing chain tensioner. If you can confirm you have spark and fuel, which it sounds like you do, then I'd pull the valve cover off next and take a look. It's not too hard to check at least.
So it's not timing 100 percent I checked it, I have tons of spark lots of fuel changed the crank sensor and cam sensor fuel pump battery cleaned my grounds added one changed my ignition switch all my relays and fuses oil pressure shut down switch everything, pos won't start but when you let off the key it shudders like it's gunna start then doesn't. Scrap yard it goes if I don't find the issue today
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Ended up being wash down, put a cap of oil down each cylinder and cleaned the plugs and it fired up and 2 coils went changed them now it's good, runs perfect
Good info. Thanks for letting us know you got it going. At first, I thought that SiBurtonGuy was right on the answer, also. I'm rebuilding a K20Z3 now for a K-swap, and I put a timing chain guide (guard) in, to prevent the timing chain from falling off the crank chain sprocket, should the cam chain tensioner ever slack from not being driven for an extended time. Super cheap insurance, and if I ever need to pull just cams, I can rest assured the timing won't get messed up while the top end is apart. It's just a little billet aluminum guide that cost me $22.88, with tax and shipping. It was on eBay by a seller named StreetRays. There are others available will do the same, just search eBay for K20 chain guide. Honda should have designed it in. But most Honda engines just run longer than the car lasts...
Ya it pissed me off and I went home and thought no way it can be wash down lol well it was cars running great since
What is "wash down"?
What is "wash down"?
The owner turned it over so much with no spark wash down is created when there's no spark but the car is getting fuel, it washes the oil rings and makes the car not have enough compression to start. When this happens you take the lid of and oil jug fill the lid and dump a cap full of oil down each cylinder and then it will fire up cause it builds compression again, it will smoke like a burger for a few min but won't hurt the motor. After wash down happens you should change you oil immediately cause you will have gas in the oil thinning it and it can cause you tho blow the motor up.
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Thank you for the information (you explained it well, and in an easy to understand manner). I've worked on my own vehicles for many years, but I never knew about this phenomenon, or even heard about it, until I read this thread.
Your very welcome
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