Honda Car Forum

ok this is what i got. i have a 1990 civic and it wont start i found out
where there fuel relay was and put a new one on and it didnt help. the car
just turns over but dosnt start. i also changed the distruibitur and put a
new cap and rotor button on it. still it wont start. the timing belt was
changed about 20.000 miles ago so it shouldnt be it. im starting to think it
may be the fuel pump. its also getting fire at the pluggs and seems to be
getting gas to the injectors. im not sure if its getting enough presure
though. am i over looking anything please tell me. i have a haynes repair
book and its worthless. it says nothing in troubleshooting about the main
relay and i hear thats the biggest problem these civics have.

The main relay switches on the fuel pump, and also provide one power line to the
injectors. If you see fuel spraying in the throttle body, it means the relay is
working.

bloodhound wrote:

> ok this is what i got. i have a 1990 civic and it wont start i found out
> where there fuel relay was and put a new one on and it didnt help. the car
> just turns over but dosnt start. i also changed the distruibitur and put a
> new cap and rotor button on it. still it wont start. the timing belt was
> changed about 20.000 miles ago so it shouldnt be it. im starting to think it
> may be the fuel pump. its also getting fire at the pluggs and seems to be
> getting gas to the injectors. im not sure if its getting enough presure
> though. am i over looking anything please tell me. i have a haynes repair
> book and its worthless. it says nothing in troubleshooting about the main
> relay and i hear thats the biggest problem these civics have.

Are you sure the spark plugs are in good shape?
Acoworker (widow) at work had her Civic not start at lunch.
After checking all the normal stuff I pulled her spark plugs,
and they were filthy. That had at least 50K on them .
I cleaned them as best as I could and her car started right up.
She stopped by AdvaceAuto on the way home and picked
up new NDK plugs. Her son put them in before she left
for work the next day. It has been several months and
the plugs are still clean and her car is runing great.

And I have seen several case where there was spark,
it just wasn't "hot" enough to fire under preasure. One of
the best tools I have bought was a ~$8 ignition tester.
A calibrated spark gap, calibrated for standard and
electronic systems. Unless you have some experience,
it is hard to tell if you have a good spark.

Terry

"bloodhound" <nopewrong@your.com> wrote in
news:VBsBd.44$iu5.37@fe2.columbus.rr.com:

> ok this is what i got. i have a 1990 civic and it wont start i found
> out where there fuel relay was and put a new one on and it didnt help.
> the car just turns over but dosnt start. i also changed the
> distruibitur and put a new cap and rotor button on it. still it wont
> start. the timing belt was changed about 20.000 miles ago so it
> shouldnt be it. im starting to think it may be the fuel pump. its also
> getting fire at the pluggs and seems to be getting gas to the
> injectors. im not sure if its getting enough presure though. am i over
> looking anything please tell me. i have a haynes repair book and its
> worthless. it says nothing in troubleshooting about the main relay and
> i hear thats the biggest problem these civics have.
>
>

the pgm f1 fuel relay is suffering from bad joints on the circuit board
soldering the joints solves the problem

marcel