distributor problem?

[estebanhonda]

I was driving and my car died I tried to pop the clutch to get it back on but no luck. After parking it on the side of the road I tried turning it on. The engine cranks but won't turn on. I thought it would be the alternator but the car feels like it has plenty of power. Anyone have some input please?
Its a 92 honda civic cx 5speed manual.

 

[Matts96HB]

Is this the original engine?

And it just suddenly stopped running or sputtered for a while and finally quit?

 

[estebanhonda]

Yea original engine and yea it sputtered a bit and turned off. As it was rolling I tried to pop the clutch to get it back on but it wouldn't work. Think its a bad distributor?

 

[Matts96HB]

You could check the distributor to see if the points on the rotor are worn down, but I don't think that is the problem here. Another thing you should do is turn the crankshaft slowly by hand and see if the distributor turns with it. Is it doesn't, my guess would be that something has happened on the timing belt side of the engine.

 

[estebanhonda]

You're right looks like the distributor is good I swapped it out into my friends honda and it works. We pulled the spark plug boots out tho and two of the four were drenched in oil. Damn!

 

[Matts96HB]

That could be as simple as a valve cover gasket. The o-rings around the spark plugs can leak and let oil into that area. Try cleaning it off and see if it'll start. If it starts, a new gasket should fix the problem.

 

[estebanhonda]

Thanks a bunch for the advice. Yea im going to try that out. My friends going to tow the car to my house tomorrow. There was a lot of oil in there.

 

[Matts96HB]

No problem! Let me know if you have any more questions

 

[estebanhonda]

Dang did it but still nothing....I think I have a bigger problem I noticed a big coolant leak under the timing belt area and also when I crank the key and I look through the oil cap hole I dont see any movement....maybe bad water pump and timing belt?

 

[Matts96HB]

If I recall correctly, the upper timing cover on the d-series engine isn't too tough to remove once you have the valve cover removed. If you have the tools, start by removing the valve cover and upper timing cover. That will expose pretty much everything you need to see. If the timing belt is in good works, it sounds like a blown head gasket - though I've never experienced a car just suddenly shutting off due to a blown head gasket. Usually it'll run - just really rough and likely overheating.

 

[josh_crewdson@y]

If the top end isnt moving, the timing belt is probably broken.

 

[flydex28]

If the cam shafts are not moving yes the timing belt could be broken or the distributer shaft could be broke... both things to look at. I would actually suspect the coil or the ignition module inside the distributer. Watch this and see if it helps. Keep in mind when he is showing you how to test for spark at the coil and looking for the blinking light, and you are using a standard test light.. clip the test light to a body ground and not the spring on the coil. I think the tester he is using has a seperate wire for positive as well. I could be wrong though but it worked for me. No Spark Diagnosis (Honda) - EricTheCarGuy - YouTube

 

[flydex28]

I also found this lnk which helped but the video was a little easier to understand. Honda Acura ignition (no spark) troubleshooting tutorial - How to