Hey I got a 81 Honda accord lx 5 speed. I was on my way to work started it up. Fired right up like always. After a few seconds it died. Didn't really think anything of it being a cold blooded engine. Tried starting it up again and no dice. I have plenty of cranking power but nothing happens.

What I have done so far.
New coil
New plugs
Full tune up (4000 miles ago)
New (from junk yard) distributor.
New fuel pump relay.

What I know so far.
When key is in full acc. I can not hear fuel pump.
Engine turns but that's it. No back fire at all.
When I remove the fuel pump and connect to the battery it works just fine.

Any help would be awesome. I'm trying to leave on a trip like yesterday and I'm just stumped. Thank you!

 

I'm slow so I'm going to ask a few questions.

Can you confirm that you are getting spark?

If you spray carb cleaner into the carb and try to start the car - what happens?

 

Those are good first suggestions. Know how to check for spark?

(I became a 5 month veteran of the no - start club on my motorcycle, so I can chime in more help if need be. A bad spark plug wire connection fixed me after dozens of other things).

One other easy thing. Have a voltmeter? Measure your battery sitting and cranking if you can. Many times the thought is the battery is strong and full voltage and it isn't. Just so you know 12 VDC battery does not mean a full charge measured at 12.0 volts resting. It should be minimum 12.5 - 12.8 Volts. And if you have a helper, you can measure VDC across + and - terminals and see what you get. Should be 12.8+ at idle for example and 14 + V revving the motor if you can get it to start. If your voltage drops or stays flat at 12VDC region while revving motor there is something wrong with your charging system (could be alternator, wiring, bad main ground, etc).

And are you saying that if you disconnect fuel pump your car starts and runs fine?? I must be reading that wrong. If something wonky there check your underhood fuses and main fusebox for any blown FI or pump fuses out.

 

Poorman212 - I am not 100% sure that. I'm getting spark. When I take the coil wire off from the cap and hold a flat head screw driver to it and have someone else crank the motor over. I do get a slight shock. It does not feel like its the full shock though (from tons of experience of getting shocked by coils haha).

I have also put a couple of tablespoons of gas in the carb and no start. Not even a backfire.

Rjaccord- i do not have a volt meter . I had drained the battery in the many attempts to start. So I was also trying with jump starting with another car and still no crank.

As for the fuel pump with it installed I can not hear it pump. When I remove it fully from the car and hook directly to the battery it pumps.

 

I'm leaning towards spark, can you test at the plug? There are some cheap testers you can buy (rent?). Or there are other ways as well.

Some ideas in this: Honda Acura ignition (no spark) troubleshooting tutorial - How to

 

Ill test the spark to each plug and see what I get. I think I need to make sure also that I installed the distributor correctly as well. I followed the chilton book but so far it has not been right for a bunch of stuff (like doing my clutch).

So ill start with the distributor again
Check spark at each plug
Once I do that then I will post the results.

I did notice as well that the new coil I got when I shake it it seems like it is full of liquid. And this does not seem right at all. I currently reinstalled the old coil.

 

So what would be the easiest way to find tdc on cylinder one so I can make sure that is squared away? The Chilton is saying to take plug out and place a rag in the hole and manually crank the motor until said rag gets blown out of the hole. I feel like there should be a more exact way to do this. I'm not seeing any markings on the pully at all. Any suggestions?

 

Okay so I have some new info. I got the engine to tdc on #1. By pure curiosity I removed the distributor cap double checked that the rotor was in proper alignment. It was. With the cap still off I have the key a quick bump. Rotor stayed in place.
I'm looking at timing belt if my assumptions are correct. Any comments?

 

Sounds that way.....might be in for pulling the head.....most of the time on these, it the belt breaks the piston will "slap" the valve and bend a few.

Pull the upper cover for the tb and see what you have.

 

So the motor is an interference motor then? I got the upper part of the timing belt cover off and about half of the teeth are missing on the belt. I have a new belt, tensioner, and water pump on order to get it done. This is one of the easiest timing belts I have done. Only took about 30 minutes to have everything out of the way and timing belt out. But I'll pull the top end and see for any damage.