91 Accord died, now won't start.

[Hazen]

My car had been running fine earlier in the day. It had set for about 2 hours when I got back in it. It started fine and idled for a few minutes. I backed out of my parking space and drove about 20 feet before it died on me. It didn't sputter or hesitate when it died. I tried multiple times to start it, but it would not fire. I had it towed to my house and got a chance to look at it a few days later. I was going to check for a spark, but when I pulled the spark plug wire out, it was filled with oil. I checked all of the plugs and they were all like that. So I'm wondering if this is the cause of my problem, or just another problem. My car has 170K on it.

Thanks

[mpumas]

It is possible. You need to check a few things. How is the timing belt? Ok? Clean out all the oil from the spark plug tubes, replace the valve cover gaskets and replace the spark plugs. Spark plug wires may need replacing also. After all that is done, now check for spark when turning the engine over. (using a timing light is the best choice for this.) Then get back to us for the next steps.

[somick]

Originally Posted by mpumas

It is possible. You need to check a few things. How is the timing belt? Ok? Clean out all the oil from the spark plug tubes, replace the valve cover gaskets and replace the spark plugs. Spark plug wires may need replacing also. After all that is done, now check for spark when turning the engine over. (using a timing light is the best choice for this.) Then get back to us for the next steps.

When changing gaskets, use only OEM. I learned the hard way: about six month ago I chaged them on my son's 95 Accord. Couple of days ago I finaly got a chance to look at his car again.
What a mess! Engine is covered with oil, one of the tubes filled with oil again!

Use ONLY OEM. It pays for itself!

Sam

[nanner]

If your timing belt had jumped thier wouldn't be oil all over your spark plugs. I'd go buy a book on your car it has easy to follow step by step instructions w/pictures. Also the timing belts line up so easy on these Honda's you hardly need a timeing light. The book tells you how to take off the belt so that you don't upset the time. Just be sure to unhook that red battery cable before doing any work or you'll be replacing the distributor cap too. Remember W-D 40 is an excellent cleaner.

[mpumas]

The reason I asked about the timing belt is that is one reason the car won't start. If you had a broken belt, you have bigger problems then a bad gasket and that needs to be dealt with first. Timing lights are a good way to see if there is spark. It has nothing to do with checking the timing.

[ProMan]

Originally Posted by mpumas

It is possible. You need to check a few things. How is the timing belt? Ok? Clean out all the oil from the spark plug tubes, replace the valve cover gaskets and replace the spark plugs. Spark plug wires may need replacing also. After all that is done, now check for spark when turning the engine over. (using a timing light is the best choice for this.) Then get back to us for the next steps.

1. Not sure why timing belt has anything to do with this and how will you check if it slips one tooth. The only thing you can do is use a timing gun to check if the timing is ok. But I would suggest this as the last option, since it's very unlikely.

2. Valve cover gasket? Not sure why you want to suggest to replace that. You need to replace it only if you take off the valve cover and if the gasket is brittle or damaged.

3. Plugs and plug wires? I feel you are making random shootings trying to get a bird. Why would you suggest replacing parts before finding out the problem? This is totally wrong.

What I would like to suggest is, check if you get the spark first before you replacing anything, or you may end up with wasting your money and time.

As for the oil in the tube, it won't cause your car to die, this is a totally independent problem. Accord got 2 sets of seals for the spark tubes. One on the inside of the valve cover and one beneath the rocker arm. The latter is not easy to replace.

But anyways, let's do one problem at a time. The first thing is to get the car started, then let's repair the oil leak.

Let's see if you get sparks at the plug. If you need help on how to do it, let us know.

If no spark, then it's an electric issue, the most common problem is the igniter in your distributor.

[mpumas]

Proman, read my post after the first one I posted. Whenever, a Honda doesn't start, the first thing to check is that the timing belt is not broken. It is easy and cheap. If it isn't then you can go to other things, like checking for spark. Replace spark plug wires-engine oil contains carbon and carbon conducts electricity-so oil soaked wires can kill spark at the plugs. I agree the most likely problem is the coil and /or the igniter if the timing belt is not broken. Replacing the gasket is always a good idea if the spark plug seals are bad. The gasket is only about $10.00 and the time/cost to go back in and to replace the gasket a couple months later is not worth it. The only gasket I reuse is the oil plug gasket, it seems to be able withstand multiple loosening and tightenings regardless of what Honda sez.

[ProMan]

Dude, no offense, but you got logic problem. Before you can straighten out your logic, I am not gonna waste time with you.

[Hazen]

Thanks for the replies.

To update you on the problem. It ended up being the coil in the distributor.

[ProMan]

Thanks for the update. Glad you nailed the problem. Hope you didn't waste too much money and time.

Will you be interested to fix your oil leak? Let me know.