QuestionHello, Howard. I'd be very grateful for some advice.
Several years ago, I bought from a UK garage a Rover 216 SLi, with a 16 valve (D16) Honda engine, car manufactured in 1993. A woman had come to the garage owner with this car, wrecked in a serious accident, and she told the garage owner he could keep it. She didn't want it back. He was looking for a secondhand car for me, so he repaired this, charged me nearly £1,000 and sold this to me.
Ever since I have had it, I've not been able to turn off the ignition outside a shop (to which I make a hurried visit) for fear of having to wait up to twenty minutes for the car to start again. Starting from cold is no problem -only starting from hot. I use the car almost exclusively for short journeys.
Neither the garage owner who sold me the car, nor my present garage owner can lay their finger on the problem. I have, following their advice, bought the following items, new: a fuel injection relay, a coil, and a battery; and, secondhand, an ignitor, a complete distributor and a reconditioned engine management ECU. None of these items has made any difference to the running of my car, although I did gain the impression that fitting a new coil actually aggravated the problem.
I have very little money, and have thrown hundreds of pounds at my car, trying to solve the problem. Apparently, my car is too old for electronic diagnostic testing to be able to be carried out on it.
I look forward to hearing from you. With many thanks,
Anne.
AnswerHi Anne,
Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble finding the starting problem. I have been a mechanic and most every other auto related job there is. However, it has been mainly in British sports cars all my life. There are many different systems used on different brands of cars and just because I know Jaguar does not mean I know other brands of cars. This is obvious when someone would advise you to purchase all those parts. It is very expensive and very difficult to fix a problem by throwing money at it. I found the ONLY way to find a problem is to diagnose and test, then isolate the problem into a smaller and smaller area until it is found. I was always surprised what I found but always found the problem.
I don't know anything about a Honda, but here is what I do know.
I find it hard to believe that someone could install a 93 Honda engine with an ECU and not have the diagnostic plug connecter still attached to the harness.
All gas engines only require three items to start and run. Compression, fire and fuel. If an engine does not start, one or more of the items is missing. There are however conditions on each of the three.
Compression -- there must be enough compression. (125 PSI to 180 PSI)
Fire --- There must be a good spark and at the correct time. (This can be roughly tested without expensive equipment by just removing a spark plug and place the wire on it and place it on a metal part of the engine and spin the engine with the starter while watching the plug. You should see a thick blue spark. (not is bright sun light)
Timing must be set to factory specs.
Fuel --- A combustible fuel must be available to the combustion chamber. This can be tested by spraying starter fluid (available at any auto parts store) into the intake when it will not start. If it starts then you know it is a lack of fuel causing the problem. At that time a mechanic can track down why, without buying any parts until you know what is needed.
Using a method of testing and isolation, one can not fail to find the problem.
Any tests must be done while the car is in it's failed mode (not starting)
Try to find a Honda specialist not just a mechanic.
Good luck, let me know how you do.
Howard
