'88 Accord Lxi coupe, 4sp auto.

OK I doubt this will be short, but I will at least try to be concise.

The trouble started after a tune up. I replaced the plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and air filter. I also replaced the o-ring on the distributor since it was leaking. She started up just fine with the new parts, and I let her idle until warm and shut down. Started up fine 5 min later, but stumbled on the test drive. Then it occurred to me that I forgot to set the ignition timing after removing the distributor.

During the test drive, it stalled three times and started back up twice. I coasted to a stop right in front of my house, but she wouldn't start again. I've been trying to get her to start for over a week now, and I'm pretty much at my wits end.

BTW when I say it won't start, it does crank and turn over, just doesn't catch. Not even a hiccup or hint of wanting to start.

I think I have it narrowed down pretty well, but I'm stumped. Here is what I have checked so far:

- Timing belt is still in good condition. Set #1 cylinder to TDC on compression stroke and the cam timing marks match up perfectly so the crank/cam timing is dead on. Also verified that the camshafts are still in one piece and not broken. Also verified that the rotor is pointing to the #1 spark plug wire at TDC and verified that the spark plug wires were all re-installed in the correct order.

- Verified that I have spark on all 4 cylinders (tested one at a time). Coil tested within specs, as does the ignitor. Checked all grounds I could find, cleaned and re-attached. The two sensors on the distrubutor (TDC and I forget what the other one is called) both check out with resistance within the spec. limits.

- Fuel volume test was good. Disconnected the return line from the pressure regulator, jumpered the fuel pump and turned the ignition key to ON and pumped out 7.8 oz. which is exactly what was called for in the manual. I know volume tests aren't the best for fuel injection and that pressure tests are better, but at least I know the wiring is good and the fuel filter is not clogged.

- I have 12v at the injectors. The injector resistance is within spec, as are the injector resistors.

- Main relay tested out fine.

- Verified that there is no fuel, and car will start/stumble with starting fluid so the problem has to be on the fuel side of things.

- Car is not out of gas.

So I think the problem is that the injectors are not firing, but I can't figure out why. Is/are there any parts of the ignition system that send a signal to the ECU to fire the injectors? The only ones I know of are the two in the distributor and both of those check out OK according to a resistance check.

The thing that puzzles me is that it started and idled fine after the tune up, then refused to start.

Is it possible I damaged something by not having the ignition timing dead-on?

 

Did you use Bosch spark plugs? It sounds like you did and fried the ignition coil.

 

Nope - replaced NGK with NGK (I think BPRE6 ? I don't recall but I remember they were the same ones that were in there before). Got spark, just no fuel. Can't for the life of me figure out why the injectors will not fire.

 

A test for the injectors would be to unplug them and hook up a test light in the injector plug. The one side of the injector is always hot, and the ECU grounds the other side to open each injector. The light should flash showing that the ECU is grounding the injector.

A fuel pressure test will eliminate a weak fuel pump as the problem. How are you sure that you are getting power to the fuel pump when you are starting? Did you try starting the car when you had the fuel pump hard wired?

On newer accords, the MFR can fail in a way that screws up the injectors. I am assuming that the 88 has a similar setup. Is the check engine light on? A code 16 may indicate a bad MFR. Read about it in the PGM-FI section in the tegger.com site that is referenced at the top of this forum.

 

You said you have fuel vol. but do you have enough fuel PSI Have you checked the fuel filter

 

Main relay tests OK, bought a fuel pressure gage and rail pressure is within specs. Tested the wires that run from the injectors to the ECU and they all test out with minimal resisatance and are not grounded anywhere between the two ends.

Either the ECU has gone bad, or there is some sensor in the ignition system that signals the ECU to turn on the injectors and that has gone bad.

Does anyone have a link to a thorough set of diagrams for the distributor sensors? I guess at that point it might just be easier to swap in a junkyard dizzy and see what happens...

 

So you did all the basics. I was thinking of the ECU or a sensor. You mentioned 12v to the injectors. My memory may be sketcky but I'm pretty sure it should be less. I think I read somewhere that there should only be a few volts going to them and that connecting 12v to them could screw them up. If you haven't checked the crank angle sensor, and fuel resistor then you might want to.

 

did you chk the # 1 fuse both under dash and underhood??

if fuses are ok...At the injector resistor there is a yellow/black wire that turns to red make sure that there is voltage there

if no voltage chk the yellow/blue wire going into main relay if no voltage there is a problem on the wire from fuse box ( underhood ) to main relay ..

if voltage chk for voltage at the yellow/black coming out of the main relay , that is the wire that gors to injector resistor,, if no voltage main relay most likely is no good ( could be other wiring issues as well ) ...if there is voltage coming out and no voltage at yellow/ black at inject resistor, there is a wiring issue from main relay to resistor.

if there is voltage at the yellow/black at resistor, red wire should have same voltage if not there is an issue at the plug where the 2 wires meet

if voltage is ok and the injectors are not coming on,, most likely it is a bad injector resistor

By the way does the chk engine lite come on when you first turn the key on and then shut off after a few seconds??

have you checked for stored codes ??

And if the distr timing is slightly off, it will not cause this issue ..

chk these and let us know,,