Living on the brink of a Psychotic Breakdown— a case study
Good evening.
(2000) D16Y7 CIVIC COUPE [DX] MANUAL
301780 KM
///////////////////////
Few weeks ago car broke down due to clutch failure. Had it towed to a friend's place of which I am currently residing for the time being— on his driveway (no garage).
Also, my friend lives out of town in another small (shit) town with some 5000 residents. My friend has no vehicle either so you can imagine what I am up against.
With limited tools and insufficient funds, I knew replacing the clutch wasn't going to be an easy job, as I also have not done anything very involved on a Honda before. I am used to Volkswagen/Audi.
Fast forward I finally get the new clutch in and I have a crank (no start) condition. O.K;
Spark ........ Check ✓ | via spark plug & plug wire
Fuel ......... Check ✓ | can hear the pump prime itself while ACC is On
Air/Compression* .... Check ✓
*Note: I have not actually checked for compression with a comp. tester, however the day that the tow truck arrived with the car I was able to successfully turn it over and get it running (rough) pre-teardown —so this will remain as an educated guess (lol) until I find my tester
What the hell.
Hmmm. I can literally guarantee that I put the clutch in the right way, I used the alignment tool that came with the kit (from LUK I believe) and it worked perfectly. Even if I did put it in backwards, the car would still start, no? Did a quick search and I noticed that I forgot to reinstall the transmission-to-chassis ground. Install that— still no start. Im sort of stumped at this point. It must be something simple that I've overlooked. I pull the spark plugs and am basically cleaning/sanding them with a wire brush, threading them in, crank engine. get out. walk to the front of the vehicle. pulling them out again. clean them.... (You get the idea)
As I'm cleaning them, Im sort of looking at the SKU's more intently each time I do this.
Yeah, that's right these are the colder plugs I tried out since that number is different than the—wait.
I managed to mismatch two of the plugs with two old ones I had kicking around in my toolbox for my old Jetta. Embarrassed, yet relieved. I look around and quickly find the other, correct, matching plugs. Ok whatever, at least I know what my problem was. Put the plugs in, get in the driver's seat, turn the key, aaand with one heave, the starter stops turning. No big deal, just have to charge the battery for a minute and then I should be golden.
I cook supper with the battery charger on the posts and come back, alright let's do this. Keys in ignition, aand absolutely no response from the car electrical-wise whatsoever.
Long story short we determined that the charger was bad and fried my Interstate battery. My friend pulls an absolute solid and gives me another Interstate battery and luckily he also has another, more stable, less amperage charger in the house. I connect the charger to the new battery before I put it in the car to make sure everything's ok. While that was charging, I went to the fuse panel near drivers feet and removed and inspected EVERY SINGLE FUSE in there......
Check ✓
Install battery. Got power back. Turn it over, still no start!! Man this is getting frustrating. Any suggestions?
Good evening.
(2000) D16Y7 CIVIC COUPE [DX] MANUAL
301780 KM
///////////////////////
Few weeks ago car broke down due to clutch failure. Had it towed to a friend's place of which I am currently residing for the time being— on his driveway (no garage).
Also, my friend lives out of town in another small (shit) town with some 5000 residents. My friend has no vehicle either so you can imagine what I am up against.
With limited tools and insufficient funds, I knew replacing the clutch wasn't going to be an easy job, as I also have not done anything very involved on a Honda before. I am used to Volkswagen/Audi.
Fast forward I finally get the new clutch in and I have a crank (no start) condition. O.K;
Spark ........ Check ✓ | via spark plug & plug wire
Fuel ......... Check ✓ | can hear the pump prime itself while ACC is On
Air/Compression* .... Check ✓
*Note: I have not actually checked for compression with a comp. tester, however the day that the tow truck arrived with the car I was able to successfully turn it over and get it running (rough) pre-teardown —so this will remain as an educated guess (lol) until I find my tester
What the hell.
Hmmm. I can literally guarantee that I put the clutch in the right way, I used the alignment tool that came with the kit (from LUK I believe) and it worked perfectly. Even if I did put it in backwards, the car would still start, no? Did a quick search and I noticed that I forgot to reinstall the transmission-to-chassis ground. Install that— still no start. Im sort of stumped at this point. It must be something simple that I've overlooked. I pull the spark plugs and am basically cleaning/sanding them with a wire brush, threading them in, crank engine. get out. walk to the front of the vehicle. pulling them out again. clean them.... (You get the idea)
As I'm cleaning them, Im sort of looking at the SKU's more intently each time I do this.
Yeah, that's right these are the colder plugs I tried out since that number is different than the—wait.
I managed to mismatch two of the plugs with two old ones I had kicking around in my toolbox for my old Jetta. Embarrassed, yet relieved. I look around and quickly find the other, correct, matching plugs. Ok whatever, at least I know what my problem was. Put the plugs in, get in the driver's seat, turn the key, aaand with one heave, the starter stops turning. No big deal, just have to charge the battery for a minute and then I should be golden.
I cook supper with the battery charger on the posts and come back, alright let's do this. Keys in ignition, aand absolutely no response from the car electrical-wise whatsoever.
Long story short we determined that the charger was bad and fried my Interstate battery. My friend pulls an absolute solid and gives me another Interstate battery and luckily he also has another, more stable, less amperage charger in the house. I connect the charger to the new battery before I put it in the car to make sure everything's ok. While that was charging, I went to the fuse panel near drivers feet and removed and inspected EVERY SINGLE FUSE in there......
Check ✓
Install battery. Got power back. Turn it over, still no start!! Man this is getting frustrating. Any suggestions?
