Help!! Car Died - Tuner-Junction

Juicy19 · #1 (**permalink**) May 30th, 2006, 11:46 AM

This weekend my girlfriend and I went to visit an old college bud of mine. The trip was about 230 miles one way. I decided to take the CRX rather than the Prelude to save miles and gas.

The trip there went off without a hitch. I thought the same would be true on the way home. I made it about 210 miles and the out of no where the engine started bucking/stuttering and i lost all rpms. The temp gauge was fine the whole way. I had plenty of fuel. When this happened the oil light and the battery light came on. I checked my oil level and there was plenty.

I pulled to the side of the road and couldn't get her started. I got a tow home and now I've got a new problem to fix.

Where should I start? Would the alternator going out cause this problem (hence the battery light)? Is it the distributor? I inspected the timing belt when I got the car and it seemed fine. Is it strange there is no CEL? There are 171,000 miles on the car.

Where should I start looking and what should I look for?

Sorry for the length....

sloganish · #2 (**permalink**) May 30th, 2006, 11:48 AM

when was the last time the ignition assembly was replaced? dist etc etc. does it sound like its missing? is it getting fuel and spark? fuel pump could be the issue, or a relay. lots of different things could be going wrong

sloganish · #3 (**permalink**) May 30th, 2006, 11:49 AM

send pics of the rex and ill buy it from you

im close im in St charles

A_White_Gs-R · #4 (**permalink**) May 30th, 2006, 11:52 AM

It sounds like its electrical. I had that problem one day i ended up replacing the wires, plugs, cap and rotor. Pretty much a tune up. I dont remember if the dizzy was bad but it was an ignition system problem and it took care if it.

ATISTANG · #5 (**permalink**) May 30th, 2006, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sloganish

send pics of the rex and ill buy it from you

im close im in St charles

No send me pics and I will buy it from you

Check to see if you have spark, if you do then
check to see if you have fuel pressure
then let us know what you got

mad-ass · #6 (**permalink**) May 30th, 2006, 12:55 PM

like everyone said.
seems like the ignition system is the dirt.
does the car even jump start?

njn63 · #7 (**permalink**) May 30th, 2006, 01:06 PM

woah, i know a girl that lives in St Charles...

charliemopps24 · #8 (**permalink**) May 30th, 2006, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mad-ass

like everyone said.
seems like the ignition system is the dirt.
does the car even jump start?

Yeah, see if it will jump. Check the condition of you're plug wires and look under you're cap and see if you can find a carbon trail.

A_White_Gs-R · #9 (**permalink**) May 30th, 2006, 02:00 PM

cap might also be cracked undereneath. It happens and alot of times people fail to check it for cracks.

Pooch 1069 · #10 (**permalink**) May 30th, 2006, 03:28 PM

It's most likely to be the distributor, I've had this same problem. Fuck it dude, drop in a B-Series.

Juicy19 · #11 (**permalink**) May 30th, 2006, 03:30 PM

Thanks for all the responses.

The car isn't for sale.

I'll check for spark (and the condition of the dist/plugs/wires) and fuel pressure tonight or tomorrow and see what we've got.

Where can i get a FP gauge on the cheap? how much do they run?

A_White_Gs-R · #12 (**permalink**) May 30th, 2006, 03:36 PM

fp gauges run anywhere from 25-50 bux depending on the brand and style. The digital ones can run around 50+

Juicy19 · #13 (**permalink**) May 30th, 2006, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pooch 1069

It's most likely to be the distributor, I've had this same problem. Fuck it dude, drop in a B-Series.

I'd love to just drop a B in there now, that is the plan for the future. It's just hard to do when you've got a mortgage to pay and the prelude still has a couple months left on the loan. Soon enough....soon enough.

Juicy19 · #14 (**permalink**) June 2nd, 2006, 09:38 AM

I finally got a chance to take a look at the problem last night. I had no spark, so i pulled the dizzy cap and the screw that holds the rotor in place had backed off. I thought for sure this was the problem. I went ahead and replaced the cap and rotor and plug wires. I got the car to start up and it ran pretty rough for about 5 minutes and died again, same as before.

I pulled the cap back off and everything looked fine, the timing belt isn't missing any teeth. There's still spark. It's getting fuel because it ran and i could smell it everytime i cranked the engine.

While it was running the engine was shaking more than it should've been. There was also some chattering coming from under the valve cover. Oh, and one other thing, cylinder 4 had some oil on the plug.

What are your suggestions to get this car running again?

ATISTANG · #15 (**permalink**) June 2nd, 2006, 09:46 AM

First thing I would try is go get a can of carb sleaner and a small wire brush, clean your plugs off with that, check the gaps and start it again and if it still runs ruff then let us know.

Juicy19 · #16 (**permalink**) June 2nd, 2006, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATISTANG

First thing I would try is go get a can of carb sleaner and a small wire brush, clean your plugs off with that, check the gaps and start it again and if it still runs ruff then let us know.

Would I be better off replacing the plugs? They're not that expensive.

The strangest part is that she was running like a top before she died out of no where.

Juicy19 · #17 (**permalink**) June 7th, 2006, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATISTANG

First thing I would try is go get a can of carb sleaner and a small wire brush, clean your plugs off with that, check the gaps and start it again and if it still runs ruff then let us know.

I put new plugs in last night, started it up and it turned right over, but, it was still running really rough. The engine is shaking and it sounds like there's something floating around under the valve cover. I don't know what that could be though. I never redlined the engine, like I said, the car just died as I was traveling 60-65 mph in 5th. The only thing I can think of is the screw that holds the rotor came off a second time and i didn't see it when i pulled the cap off. I don't see how that could be causing the problems. I'm sure it's on the floor somewhere.

So, what should I do about the rough running?

mad-ass · #18 (**permalink**) June 7th, 2006, 12:13 PM

maybe TPS ??

ATISTANG · #19 (**permalink**) June 7th, 2006, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mad-ass

maybe TPS ??

How long has it been sence you changed the timing belt? Have you checked the cam timing? Also what about this rotor not having the screw in it? have you verifyed that yet? How loud is the noise? How long did you let it run for after the new plugs? Have you pulled the vavle cover off to take a look?

Juicy19 · #20 (**permalink**) June 7th, 2006, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATISTANG

How long has it been sence you changed the timing belt? Have you checked the cam timing? Also what about this rotor not having the screw in it? have you verifyed that yet? How loud is the noise? How long did you let it run for after the new plugs? Have you pulled the vavle cover off to take a look?

I don't know how long it's been since the timing belt has been changed, but looking at the belt, it looks to be in good shape.

I did not check the timing.

The rotor has a screw holding it on now, i reused the old one. It's the new one that disappeared.

The noise is loud enough to hear when i just stand in front of the car. It gets louder as I get closer to the valve cover. The noise seems to be coming from the #4 cylinder area.

I only let it run for a minute or so with the new plugs. The noise I'm hearing didn't sound like a good thing, so I shut it down.

I will be pulling the valve cover off to take a look as soon as I get a chance. Anything in particular I should be looking for?

I really appreciate everyone's continued assistance!