95 Civic EX... Problems Inside... LONG

[KlubFoot]

I got this car in non running condition from my sister. She had run it without coolant for a while and finally ran it into the ground. I figured it was just a head gasket, but when I pulled the head off, there was already a new timing belt, water pump and head gasket. I realized the previous owner had stripped out 3 threads in the head and bolted it back together anyways. I ended up replacing the gasket and heli-coiling the block and bolting it back up. I didn't check the head for warpage, but it ran decent up until now (about 2 months). The last week or so, the condition got progressively worse. I started loosing power at take off, then it started idleing rough, then it pretty much lost all power at take off and now it won't start.

 

Here is a list of issues I had while the car was running and now that it won't start.

 

*The car was never timed properly and ran its best with the distributor pushed all the way back towards the firewall.

 

*While the car was running, it had what I thought to be a weird vaccum problem. ONLY AT 1500 rpms, the car would surge really bad. If it was cold out and I started the car, it would go straight to 1500 and sit there at idle and surge... wah wah wah wah wah. It did this until it warmed up, then the rpm's would drop and idle normal right at 750.

 

*The car began to overheat again. For the first 5 minutes, the temp gauge would rise all the way, hold for a couple seconds and then drop down to normal temps and run fine. I blamed this on a faulty thermostat. I drove it like this for the last week or so. I changed the thermostat and filled the car up with new coolant this weekend, when I went to start the car to bubble the coolant, it wouldn't turn over anymore.

 

*The car has always shifted hard, feels like it's got a shift kit in it. While driving it would 'bounce' between gears if you were just cruising. The linkage is adjusted as far as it will go.

 

*The car will not start now. It's got newer cap, rotor, wires, plugs. Car gets spark all the way through every plug. Fuel pump seems to kick on fine, it's got a new fuel filter and there is fuel coming to the resevoir on the fire wall. I have not checked anything on the rail (how would I check the flow to the injectors? how would I know if I had correct pressure? what other things could I check in the fuel system?) Compression shows between 110-120 on numbers 1,3,4. It's right at 100 for #2. What kind of sensors, valves, wiring could prevent me from firing up?

 

I'm lost at this point... I'm about ready to put a new motor/trans in it. At this point, I almost feel this is the correct option. Any help with these issues would be greatly appreciated. This is my only running car right now, so I'm kind of fucked until I get something worked out.

[Dave1647545494]

it won't turn over or it turns over and it doesn't start?

[DaddyBuiltRacing]

Throwing any CEL's? The idle could be caused by many things, bad Idle Air Control Valve, bad throttle body gasket ect.

 

 

Have you checked your main relay? My dads crx did the same thing yours is doing and it ended up being that.

[AJ]

you have air, and spark but you never said what your fuel pressure was or if you had injector pulse.

[87GT]

The surging is probably a bad IACV. I had that issue a lot in my b20 engine. Replace it and clean the throttle body. It fixed it for me.

[Archie]

The surging is probably a bad IACV. I had that issue a lot in my b20 engine. Replace it and clean the throttle body. It fixed it for me.

 

+1, Had to do this on an Integra I had a while ago.