'87 Civic died, won't start

Hi there. I have an '87 Civic 4D, 80,000 miles, with a problem. While driving home the other day the car just quit running. Poof... going 45 the engine just died... no power. I still had lights, radio, the works. Pulled over and tried to start and all I got was a small whirring sound when I turned the key. Tried several times over a few days and same thing. I do have lights and radio... but no start. I can't afforad huge costs so I'll have to do the repairs myself. Any suggestions on where to begin?

Check the battery voltage.

You may have a bad alternator which means that you could have been running on battery power until there just wasn't enough voltage to keep the motor running. If you have a bad alternator you will also have low voltage, you may have enough to turn the lights on, but not enough to start the motor.

This happened to me once. I was driving along with the heater, lights and wipers goin' then "poof"... nothing.

That's where I'd start.

Thanks for the start... I did check and there is poswer from the battery and I even tried to jumpstart it too but, still no engine sounds. I checked all the wiring and it looks sound, no cracks, melted places and all pluged in (hopefully in the right places). I'm still looking for a solution and will continue to check back in the event anyone else has ideas.

Thanks

Have you checked the main fuse box located under the hood by the passenger side strut?

I had a simular problem when i stopped at a stoplight. as i took off my car just all of a sudden died on me...i could turn the lights on and off and everything but no juice to turn my car over. when i got my car towed back home i checked everything and they all seemed fine. then i checked my timing belt and it was completely broken so you should check your timing belt.

I was thinking the same thing... Your timing belt would control your cam gearing... But you would get more than just a whirring sound... Start with the timing belt, and see what else pops up...

if the timing belt is gone you will have bent valves

My '90 CRX did that exact thing, driving along, then suddenly it just died. I still had full power; alternator problem would likely cause battery to be sucked nearly dry if it stops in mid drive. It was as simple as a new rotor, somehow the screw locking the rotor SNAPPED! So it was easily fixed with a new rotor (not the cheap brand; I think that was the root of the issue).
Hope this can help ya.

my bro had that with his 89 crx except the screw just came out a couple times. we put some loctight on it and it hasn't been a problem since