Not starting

Well today I got my new stero system thanks too my beautiful girlfriend. I havnt had one in the car since I bought it so I was excited too put it in. I have done this several times and it went in without any problems.

But since it went in so easy I had too have a problem. Now my car wont start. It sounded like it was turning over with ease, it was getting gas, sounded like normal but it just wouldnt start. It probably turned over 20 times before I gave up and figured I just flooded it. So I waited a while and browsed 3GEEZ :)

after about 30 min I went back out and tried to start her again, still the turning over with nothing. So I disconnected the radio fuse and tried again, still nothing. By now the thing was struggling to turn over so I tried to give it a jump with my dads car. Still nothing. even with the cables connected I got nothing

all the fuses are good, the battery cables are clean and fine. It pissed me off becasue I started the car and warmed it up before starting all this stereo nonsense. Of corse I disconnected the negative beofre going through with anything. All the interior lights still are working as well as the stereo and dash so im not 100 percent sure it is the battery. possibly the alternator? I checked the plugs and such earlier in the week and they seemed too be fine, all still gapped properly and relativly clean.

now Im confused and scared lol, and I have work tomorrow. Before I go out and buy a battery do you guys have any tips? My dad said it seems like I was just getting weak spark but IDK

lemme know if you have any tips or possible leads ! thanks guys!
-eric

Could be the radio noise condenser, but it is unlikely. Did you try unplugging the radio and trying to start the car? could be a short somewhere in the electrical system.

The fact that it cranks so well may eliminate the battery being a problem. This may sound funny, but are you sure your not out of gas?

yea i still have a half tank. and you could smell gas at the tail pipe and at the carb.
I also diconnected the radios fuse, I think this is basically the same thing as disconnecting the actuall radio, but I will try and disconnect it at the headunit too.

thanks for the input guys

Well, I got it running again, figured out that I have a weak spark, The spark is yellow and should be more blue. So when I get some money together in a few days I will be buying a new Coil.

just like this https://www.3geez.com/forum/how/72625...w-install.html

this should eliminate my problem I believe,

The weird thing is now the car diesels a bit. I have started it and drove it around 2x since getting it running again. Both times I shut it off it dieseld for a glug or two. Idk how this could have affected my timing but hey its running right?

My idea with that is that the timing was adjusted with the weak spark but who knows. Maybe this is the reason the car has been so slow to warm up lately also.

Anyways I will keep you guys updated when I get the new coil on. Who knows what problems adding that will bring :) gotta love the 3Gs

If you still have the OEM coil on the car, I would recommend that you test it in accordance with the service manual (section 24) just to make sure it is the problem, theoretically it could be plugs, wires, coil, distributor cap, rotor, the list goes on. Might as well not spend money on components that usually can't be returned easily being that they are electrical components. All you need is an ohm meter or a multimeter. Good Luck

^^^ This.

Service manual is here: 1989 USDM Honda Accord Factory Service Manual

thanks for that manual! I am pretty sure it is the coil only because we dissconnected the wire at the distributor to check the spark instead of pulling a plug. the spark traveling strait from the coil is weak. BUT I will check it like described too double check.

as allways thanks guys!

in other news I went to see if my car held charge all night and went to start it. It started right up, so I took it for a short drive too warm it up{its been particularly cold in California} and it ran fine. shut it off and it did not diesel. started it again let it run for a min the shut it off and still no diesel. How does this work? last night it was dieseling and now today nothing? any ideas? is it still worth re-timing? or should I just let it be ?

has the vehicle ever been serviced? i mean as timing belt done an so on. Either your out of gas or timing belt snapped. if you dont here a even tone of the motor turning over or just a fast easy turn over. more likey a timing belt

Dieseling is usually the result of cheap gas.

thanks Dr. Snooz
your my favorite 3GEE`r haha



seriously

dieseling is usually the result of a throttle plate that isn't closing all the way such as when you set an excessively high idle speed. There is a vacuum operated idle boost diaphragn on the passenger side of the carb, when engine speed drops too low the drop in vacuum causes this to open the throttle plate to raise the engine speed. The problem is when you shut the car off this causes a dieseling issue. To get around this an idle fuel cutoff solenoid/plunger is used on the back of the carb, this plunger could be sticking. when they stick closed the car can start and run as long as you hold the pedal but won't idle. if they stick open you get dieseling
a common problem with these cars is the choke mechanism getting hung up, which activates the fast idle "cam" on the throttle linkage, causes all kinds of strange behavior. Pull the lid off and make sure the choke is opening up when the car warms up.
I doubt that your stereo install is related to the problem unless you blew a fuse that powers some of the engine management / emissions parts

VERY informative! thanks! I will pull that off tomorrow and see whats going on with that. I have been having weird issues, not really problems, and I couldnt track it down. This is the first time I have herd or read of that being an issue. Thanks as allways for the input!