96 DX No Start & Crank pulley bolt torque??

[74 G/A]

96K on the car. Lucky it died in the garage and not with the wife 10 miles from home when it was below zero.

Tried to start it and it cranks fine, but no start.
Pulled the plugs and they are OK and smelled gas when cranking with the plugs out.
Good spark at the plugs
Pulled the valve cover and top timing belt cover and timing belt is lined up OK and in decent shape. Time for a timing belt anyhow, so it all gets torn down tonite.

Have not checked fuel pressure. Fuses look good. Usually with low fuel pressure it should try to fire, but it cranks and nothing happens. Never heard of fuel pump problems with Hondas, unlike GM.

Will the OBDII show any codes in this no-start situation?

What's up with the Crank pulley bolt? The specs say around 134 ft-lbs, but my biggest impact won't budge it. Old Pontiacs are torqued to 165 and I never had trouble getting those off. Did the factory torque it to like 500 or what? Should I overtorque it when I put it back toegether? Got the right pulley holding tool coming tonite.

thanks for everyone's help!

[lkailburn]

that crank pulley is a bitch. a 500lb impact gun should be able to get it off but i haven't personally tackled mine yet. just keep at it, it'll come off.

get some thrust and a torch maybe

[superbluecivicsi]

no start does not mean there wil be a CEL. there will be a CEL, when one pops up on your cluster.

if you have the pulley tool coming, then, it will be easy.

as long as its retorqued back to 134 ft lbs, you will be fine.

[74 G/A]

Pulley tool and a couple of breaker bars made it easy. The thetoolwarehouse.net has the OTC 4731 for $30, but you need to have a $50 min order.

I would like to tbe the first to say that Honda engineers are idiots. There, I said it and feel better. I know it's uncool to criticize Honda, but I'm usually the first to say the emporer has no clothes and these are designed to be disposable cars anyway.
Bad design examples:

• Putting timing cover bolts behind the dipstick tube.

• Requiring removal of a motor mount to change the A/C belt. Not a problem, but the motor mount nuts break off INSIDE the unibody and then you have to cut holes for wrench access. Other alternative is to completely disassemble the compressor mount.

• Impssible to see crank sensor to oil pump alignment mark because timing belt is in the way.

• Having to disassemble the front suspension to change the alternator.

Regarding no starts: If the battery is older, it is the prime suspect. It turns out that the car will crank over just fine, but there is not enough power to run the fuel pump/injectors/ignition at the same time the engine is cranking. If you aren't sure, most auto parts stores will check the battery for free. Mine showed a normal 12.7 volts. Didn't check it while cranking, but the rule of thumb is that it should maintain 9.6 volts while cranking. At least I got 10 years out of the original battery.

Also be aware that some of the replacement batteries have the + and - terminals reversed from the factory battery. Hooking it up backwards is a bad thing. You have to turn the battery around in the tray and move the negative cable a bit so it will reach.

[superbluecivicsi]

a $20 chain wrench from your local parts store could of done the trick just as well.

Putting timing cover bolts behind the dipstick tube.

Requiring removal of a motor mount to change the A/C belt. Not a problem, but the motor mount nuts break off INSIDE the unibody and then you have to cut holes for wrench access. Other alternative is to completely disassemble the compressor mount.

Impssible to see crank sensor to oil pump alignment mark because timing belt is in the way.

Having to disassemble the front suspension to change the alternator.

i never had a problem with the above.