92 Civic Start Problems?!?

[Cackophony]

Recently my 92 Civic DX hatch has been having some trouble starting. It doesn't happen often just randomly every once in a while. When I try to start the car and I turn the key to "start" the engine seems to start, but when I turn the key back to "on" the engine dies. It does this a couple times then sometimes it just sits there and cranks, but never starts. It sorta reminds me of how my car would act if my car had no gas. Eventually if I just keep trying or let it sit for a second it starts up fine, and once it's started I have no trouble with it at all.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? I've thought about taking my car into the shop for a tune-up, see if they could fix it. The only problem is that a tune-up usually costs around $400, so if anyone has any idea how I can fix this on my own that would be great. Thanks guys...

[crxlvr]

first off, i dont know where you get your tune-ups done, but for 400 bux, i hope you are getting gold parts put into your car.

second your problem seems to be the fuel pump to me. i would check the flow rate on that first, before moving on.

[Tofuboy]

Does the einge idle rough?
What RPM is it idling at?

it sounds to me that the car has some dirt build up inside the idle circuit that causes it to die after being started or not start at all while cranking.

If possible, check your fuel pressure (check it after the fuel filter first) to see if it's within spec (factory spec after the fuel filter should be 40-47 PSI).

If you have low fuel pressure after the filter, check it before the filter to find out if you have a stuck filter (I am not sure what is the spec before the filter, but I think it is somewhere between 70-90 PSI). Low fuel pressure can also cause these simptoms.