Hi,
I have an 88 CRXsi and it has sat for approximately a year without it being started. I have done the igniter check and the ignition coil check and found both of those components within specs based on your page and in the Chilton repair manual. I have checked the timing belt and ensured that the timing marks align at top dead center of the compression stroke on cylinder one. I have also ensured that the car has gas and the pump does come on for a few seconds when I turn the ignition key to the on position. I also checked for spark at the spark plugs by pulling a spark plug out and attaching it to the end of the spark plug wire and held it to ground. Spark was present but it appeared very weak. The spark was very faint and orange in color instead of being a bright white spark. The battery is also new.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Are there any thing else I need to check?
Thanks in advance,
Edison
I would check the ground/negative battery cable. In order to get good strong spark, the ignition system requires a good-solid ground. I personally would remove the negative battery cable, clean up both ends and make sure it gets a good bite on the frame. Or you can just replace the cable all together.
There are three main ground wires ... the battery ground, the wire that goes from the one acorn nut on the valve cover to the body frame and the third is near the top left (driver side) radiator mount. There may be a couple more but these are the ones that I believe are the main grounding points.
You can also always add another ground wire. Like from the engine block to the body frame somewhere. But you want to make sure that the battery also has a good ground.
Did you check the ECU for any error codes?
Another thing that comes to mind is the valve clearance. If they're too small/tight, it can not allow an engine to fire up. Checking and adjusting the valves is very simple and straight forward which does not require any special tools other than a set of feeler gauges. Refer to your Chilton on how to check and adjust.
When the car sat for a year, was it planned? Or was it parked and a year later someone (you) finally got around to starting it up? If it was an unplanned storage, I would drain the fuel tank and replace it with good fuel ~ water could be in the lines from condensation. The fuel filter could also be all clogged/gummed up as the fuel injectors themselves.
Sorry I couldn't have been more of an assistance. I've included the CRX Owners Discussion Group with this email so perhaps someone can also toss out ideas.
Best of luck!
CRX Owners Group President (http://www.crx.org/southcal)
1990 Honda CRXsi (http://drive.to/jiggy)
ICQ # 3714283 (nickname: godzilla)
