BackFiring ZC MOTOR!!!!!

We may earn a small commission from affiliate links and paid advertisements. Terms

intheearlyhours

New Member
I got a 91 civic with a Zc DOHC motor. It out of blue started backfiring and loss of power. i dont know much about cars so im not sure how to figure it out. Since its a ZC motor im not even sure what book to buy to check to see what the timing is supposed to be. I recently (6 months ago) changed the distr. And had no problems since. PLease help.
 
sounds like your timing belt may have jumped a few teeth - it was running fine and you changed nothing right when this happened, correct?
 
Ok im not super good with cars so i will sound dumb on here but im not even sure what the teeth are supposed to me set at because i dont know what book to get for this damn engine (JDM z/c DOHC) Or if there is a web site with a adobe read book or something that would be great. I mean i can still drive the car but its kinda boggy and pops (backfires) alot.
 
sounds like your timing belt may have jumped a few teeth - it was running fine and you changed nothing right when this happened, correct?
x2, just had exactly these symptoms and 2 hrs later my timing belt was gone. not a ZC, but still.
 
Take valve cover off...unless you have cut outs for cam gears...then you can skip this

Take the spark plug out of cylinder #1

Gently place a long skinny screwdriver down the spark plug hole in #1

Rotate crank to top dead center by watching the screwdrvier move up with piston (highest point is TDC)

Look at cam gears and the two hash marks should be lined up with one another (left and right...3 o-clock and 9 o'clock) and the arrows on cam gears point "UP"

If it doesn't look like this...you could have skipped a tooth on the timing belt.

use that helms and it will have diagrams.
 
take the top timing belt cover off - using a ratchet and socket on the crankshaft pulley bolt, rotate the engine counterclockwise and line up the Top Dead Center mark on the crankshaft pulley with the pointer on the timing belt cover with the arrows on the camshaft gears pointing up - the Top Dead Center mark on the crankshaft pulley is the single white mark off to the right of the 3 ignition timing marks (mark 'B' in the picture below) - the picture is just to show you what mark is the TDC mark and in the picture, it is not lined up with the pointer

Timingmarks-3.jpg


with crankshaft at top dead center, the mark at 3 o'clock on the exhaust camshaft gear should be lined up with the top of the cylinder head and the mark at 9 o'clock on the intake camshaft gear should also be lined up with the top of the cylinder head and lined up directly across from the mark on the exhaust cam gear, like the picture below:

camgears-2.jpg
 
Ok Here is how my day went with my 1991 Honda Civic DOHC JDM ZC 1.6. First of all Fuck my car. lol ok. So I decided to buy a new timing belt and check the timing. it was off a little bit. But i had to use a torch and 3 hours of cranking to get the crank pully off. And i had to do the same for an engine mont so i could pull the damn pulley off that was stuck on there with a puller. Ok so i do the timing and put the car back together and it runs nice for like 2 min than PING POP. Back to normal. I checked the spark plug wires and cylinder number 1 the wire for that had a small hole on the boot that goes in the engine. So i go up to AutoZone to get a new wire, They dont carry it. So than i go to the local Import shop. And Closed! Now im back to the scratch. I hate my car alot right now.

What ya think lol
 
you need to ask for wires for a 88-89 integra. Go to www.thezcr.com to find out more specifics on that motor. And jlicrx is the zc god so take any guidance he is willing to offer.
 
make sure that you have the spark plug wires in the correct locations on the distributor

zcfiringorder2-2.jpg
 
Yeah i checked the firing order twice to be sure. I hope i didnt bend a valve or something. I honestly think that the car was never right because my 91 accord 2.2 was so much faster than the civic. But my accord did have a prelude engine lol
 
i advanced the dizzy all the way and it runs better which is weird cause i did the timing and i did it right.
 
Back
Top