96 civic not starting now..

[canemaster]

Ok I have a 96 civic with 140K miles.
It worked perfectly before, I went to college and it sat for a week, came back today and it won't start.
It cranks and cranks and sometimes seems like its just about to turnover but never does.
I replaced the battery about a month ago so I don't think it's that BUT I left a charger in the lighter socket. The charger was off but do you think it still drained power? I don't want to go out and get a batt yet because I don't believe that its the problem. The reason i replaced it in the first place was because I had battery problems. The car would click a couple of times and finally start after a couple of key turns.
This problem now sounds much different. It cranks immediately but never turns over.

I searched and found a thread from 2004 on this site about this same problem but no one was sure about one cause.
Can anyone help??

Thanks

 

[rockstarZG235]

Mine actually has an identical problem... I have a '94 Civic DX with a little over 210K miles. For about two months, it's been doing that. If I held down the key and let it turn over for a while, eventually it would start, but about two weeks ago it died (won't turn over at all no matter how long I hold the key), and instead of the normal turning-over noise, it has a high-pitched whining noise. Every time we fixed something, it would work amazingly for about three days, then the problem would begin anew. We replaced the fuel filter, fuel pump, battery, and alternator before it died, and since then we've changed the spark plugs, rotor cap, distributor cap, plug wires, spark plugs, and timing belt, but it's still having the same problem. I found the same thread canemaster did, to similar unsolved problems.

Any suggestions as to where to look, would be amazing. Because ignition relays were mentioned, the ignition coil was replaced about two years ago, but the car didn't turn over at all when that went, and my car IS turning over.. or trying to, anyway.

 

[canemaster]

Yea I talked my a friend of mine who is a mechanic and he is thinking it could be my fuel pump. I checked my plugs and I'm getting a spark so he is leaning towards that but what is weird is that It was working perfectly just one week ago...
It sucks because not only did I invest in this summer (Wheels, tint, audio, looks) but I was going to take it for school..

 

[canemaster]

Hey Rockstar. Have someone start the car and go under and punch the gas tank in the middle.
It sounds ridiculous but a mechanic told me to try that and it worked!

Something about the brushes carrying a current and punching it makes them move or something..

 

[BoostedHatch]

Hey Rockstar. Have someone start the car and go under and punch the gas tank in the middle.
It sounds ridiculous but a mechanic told me to try that and it worked!

Something about the brushes carrying a current and punching it makes them move or something..

wtf?

 

[craiger]

OK. if the car cranks over it can't be the battery. If you undo the fuel line at your filter (very easy to do) you can have a friend crank the engine and if fuel comes spraying out of it when cranking it is not the fuel pump. Get an old spark plug, take one of the plug wires out of the valve cover on the car and put the old plug into the wire. Then have the same friend crank the motor, you should see a blue spark/light at the end of the plug, if not you have a electrical problema. One thing this sounds like though is the Main Relay is out. Turn the key to the first position on the ignition, all the lights on the dash will come on, wait for the click noise and then crank it. Let me know.

 

[Gooberlog]

wtf?

Like a starter motor, when the component starts to go bad the electrical contacts fail to make contact, so by punching the tank while cranking the engine, it may vibrate the fuel pump enough to contact.
When starters are acting up, sometimes if you hit them with a hammer while cranking, it will engage the brush contacts in the starter motor and it will engage. Not always though.

 

[craiger]

Just read all the threads, so you have spark. If someone punches the tank underneath and the car starts and runs, you have a fuel pump problema. Access to the fuel pump is under back seat or hatchback floor behind spare tire.