In article <AvmdnVeNs8RGDPDYnZ2dnUVZ_q6dnZ2d@speakeasy.net> ,
jim beam <spamvortex@bad.example.net> wrote:

> Kevin McMurtrie wrote:
> > In article <1164773024.114720.152160@80g2000cwy.googlegroups. com>,
> > shaunbowe@gmail.com wrote:
> >
> >> shaunb...@gmail.com wrote:
> >>> motsco_ wrote:
> >>>> shaunbowe@gmail.com wrote:
> >>>>> I have a 97 civic EX that still runs great (most of the time). About
> >>>>> twice a year I attempt to start the car and it sounds like it is about
> >>>>> to start but it never catches. If I hold the accelerator to the floor
> >>>>> and try to start it, it starts after about 10 seconds of cranking.
> >>>>> After it starts it sounds like it is running on 3 cylinders until I get
> >>>>> the rpms up to about 5000. Once it hits that number you can actually
> >>>>> hear something pop and the car runs fine.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I had this problem more often about a year ago then I started using a
> >>>>> fuel injector cleaner and it stopped happening. Any ideas how I can fix
> >>>>> this? Based on that I am guessing this is something in the fuel system,
> >>>>> but I haven't been able to narrow it down. Has anybody else had a
> >>>>> similar problem?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Thanks
> >>>>>
> >>>> =============================================
> >>>>
> >>>> You had a dribbling injector and you solved it by applying the Honda
> >>>> solution for "Flooded Engine" (per your owner's manual). You should just
> >>>> use injector cleaner a couple times a year and the problem will go away.
> >>>> Nobody ever suggested that before? Gasohol works just about as good.
> >>>>
> >>>> 'Curly'
> >>> Thanks for the info. I have never been able to find a solution to this,
> >>> probably because I was not searching for the right thing.
> >> After reading some of your other posts I am sure this is the problem.
> >> When it finally did start I remember seeing a large cloud of smoke from
> >> the exhaust as you have said in the past.
> >
> > What kind of cloud?
> >
> > Grey and gasoline odor - Gasoline
>
> gasoline is usually black and sooty
>
> > White and persistent with no odor - Oil
>
> oil's blue and stinks - like oil!
>
> > White and fades with garden hose odor - Coolant
>
> more of a sweet odor - just like the coolant's glycol tastes.
>
> >
> > Oil could mean that a valve stem oil seal has broken.
>
> valve stem leakage, even when there are no seals at all, is usually
> pretty minor. and it doesn't happen when the engine is standing, only
> when operating.

I've had valve stem oil seals fail. Some engines have small oil pools
around the valve stems so they don't go dry. Those can dump quite a bit
of oil into the cylinders overnight.


> > Coolant would be
> > really bad.
>
> indeed - head gasket.