13 replies to this topic

[SquigglyBeast]

Hey everyone,

 

So a few years back I rebuilt one of my CRX's and it worked well for a long time.  About 9 months after the rebuilt I had some heavy fuel problems.  If it was raining the car would begin to stutter and eventually turn off.  I thought this was because I didn't have any fenders installed and the nose piece was broken (you know, the cheap plastic pieces on the 1G CRX).

 

So, I made the choice to not drive my car when it was going to rain or too foggy.  Then on a perfect beautiful day it did the same thing, but this time without warning.  I was driving about 75mph when my entire car shut down.  When I moved it to the emergency lane on the freeway it would not turn back on.  So I called a tow truck.

 

Many of my friends told me it's the main relay/main fuel relay.  So I replaced those probably about 5 times.  It was not the problem because I'm still having the same issue.  After a while I got frustrated looking for help and let it sit in my backyard and bought another daily driver.

 

Well, I want it running again.  It's been sitting for a year or so now so I know before I try to do anything I need to probably change out the gas tank and fuel pump.  But I want to get to the bottom of this problem.  I read on this forum that someone was having the same problem as I am and it turned out to be something else (I can't remember what they said but I am going to go look back into it).

 

Now that finals are around the corner I will have time to go back to rebuilding my car during winter break.

 

The second problem I have with this CRX is that it has been leaking black oil from the steering wheel.  How do I fix this?  It's nasty and it's a lot!  If I can, I will try to get a picture of all the oil that has leaked out of it in the last year.  It was doing this while I was driving it and I thought it was because the steering column might have been installed wrong.  Is this possible?

Anyways, any help will help a lot.  Oh! My CRX is stocked and it's a 1986 CRX Si.  I have another 1g CRX I will be working on in the summer most likely, but that one needs an engine.  Anyone know where I can buy stock engines?  eBay was my best friend for the 88 CRX model but not so much for the 1G's.

 

Thanks!

[niccer]

There's oil coming out from where the steering column meets the wheel???  If that's the case, I'd take the wheel off and inspect what's going on.  To my knowledge, there shouldn't be any sort of liquid lubricant in that area,  Some grease, yes, but not enough to pour out in any sort of amount.  

 

The first problem is a bit more tricky.  To start off with, I suggest just draining the tank and refilling it with with some new gas.  See where that gets you and if the problem repeats its self and report back.  Maybe one of the more knowledgeable members can chime in right away, but it seemed a little too vague to me.  

[SquigglyBeast]

Hey niccer,

 

It may be grease that at some point in time liquified.  It gets really hot here in summer and there's a lot of humidity but I will take the wheel off during thanksgiving break to see what's going on.  Thank you.

 

Well, my situation is pretty vague because the problem is pretty vague.  I don't understand what is going on.  I'll let you know what steps I took to try to solve this problem.

 

Car turns off/stutters during rain ----> Okay, don't drive in super rainy weather

Car turns off/stutters when driving behind an 18 wheeler that is kicking up old rain ---> Okay, don't drive in any type of watery area

Car turns off/stutters when its foggy -----> Okay, is this because of my missing fenders? Duct tape fender holes closed

Car runs okay for some weeks (I don't know if I should say it ran well or if I should say it didn't rain for a few weeks)

Car turns off while driving on the freeway ---> stop driving the car

Replace main relay ---> turns on but after a week the car turns off

Advice was given to buy an OEM Main relay ---> Car won't turn on

Replaced fuel injectors at this time thinking maybe this was the problem.  Car still won't turn on.

Replaced battery.  Car still won't turn on.

Don't want to touch anything without knowing why I have this problem so I left it alone.  I figured I shouldn't start replacing everything.

 

Thank you!  I'm sorry about the vagueness.  I'm going to pull my fuel tank off soon so I will be completely replacing the entire fuel system.

[niccer]

You just need to pry the honda emblem off the horn button and use a 19mm socket to take the wheel off.  If you don't want to pry the emblem off, it's just two small phillips head screws holding the button on from the backside.  You might want to take the plastic column cover off two; three phillips head screws on the bottom side and then it pops off in two pieces.  

 

When the car cut off and you turned the key back over, there was no signal getting anywhere?  No dash lights, no pump prime, nothing at all?  Or would it try to turn over and just not fire?  

[icebox187]

Sounds like either an ignition switch or grounded out ign wiring. Maybe you have a loose or frayed wire grounding out and heating up the grease in the column causing it to liquefy??? Hit it with an infared thermometer and see if there's a hot spot.

[SquigglyBeast]

You just need to pry the honda emblem off the horn button and use a 19mm socket to take the wheel off.  If you don't want to pry the emblem off, it's just two small phillips head screws holding the button on from the backside.  You might want to take the plastic column cover off two; three phillips head screws on the bottom side and then it pops off in two pieces.  

 

When the car cut off and you turned the key back over, there was no signal getting anywhere?  No dash lights, no pump prime, nothing at all?  Or would it try to turn over and just not fire?  

 

So I pulled the two phillip scres in the back but something is holding the plastic piece in place.  How can I post a picture from my phone? So I can show the liquidy stuff.  I was trying to pull it off in two pieces but its not doing so.  I will keep trying as I continue throughout the day.

 

Because my car has been sitting for a year or two I am in the process of removing my gas tank so that I can clean it out.  I will also be replacing a few other things as it has not moved in a long time.

 

To answer your second question.  When my car was turning off while driving all the lights on the dash would turn on which was the only way I knew the car had turned off.  It would stall a little before turning off if I was completely stopped (like at a red light) but if I was driving it would sort of come in and out of speed.  I don't know how to describe this, as I was driving (a 25 mile drive) the car would feel as if it would loose momentum even though my gas pedal was being pressed.  The speedometer wouldn't show it but I could "feel" the car having problems then it would disappear.  Most of time it would make it to my destination and as long as I did not turn it off I could get back home.  It was a lot of strange instances that occured.  A honda mechanic told me to buy a new main relay because they always go out.  I bought 4 of them and my car still wouldn't turn on.  I then decided to redo all the plugs and distributor cap and fuel injectors.  It still wouldn't turn on.

 

So, this is where I became super frustrated and stopped working on it.  I am now back on this quest.  I will be replacing the fuel filter this time around.  I will also, once again, replace the main relay and anything else I believe may be electrically wrong with it.  I charged the battery today and I couldn't hear the car clicking at all so I will replace the battery lines later on this week.

 

 

 

Sounds like either an ignition switch or grounded out ign wiring. Maybe you have a loose or frayed wire grounding out and heating up the grease in the column causing it to liquefy??? Hit it with an infared thermometer and see if there's a hot spot.

 

Hey icebox197, I'm a super novice mechanic.  I know how to change the regular things in a car (ei; Alternator, Wires, fuses, taking out an engine, putting in an engine, struts and shocks, brake pads....you get the picture) so, I do not own an infared thermometer.  Are these really expensive and would I need it to continue my hobby in rebuilding CRXs?  I am still working on trying to fix this problem.  I am wondering if maybe it's just because it gets hot as balls here and the grease just sort of melted as the summers became hot and humid.

 

Thank you for ya'lls help.  I use to own the original manual to my car but I don't know if I lent it out and never got it back or if it's in a box from when we last moved.  I will hunt for it over this winter break.

[SquigglyBeast]

I took off the steering wheel and found the culprit! I think.

Here is the "liquified grease" that had accumilated while the car wasn't in use.

 

 

Here is what it looked like when I opened the steering wheel.  I have NO IDEA what that tube does or why it's leaking.  I figured I need a new steering wheel.

 

 

 

 

 

[SquigglyBeast]

Starting issue update:

 

I pulled all the gasoline from the car and allowed the battery to charge.  Once I added a gallon of new gasoline and tested the battery I realized I needed a new battery.

I bought a new battery and tried cranking up the car.  It wouldn't turn on but it was trying to.  I decided to check electrical outputs.  After checking spark plugs, ignition and the like I realized that my distributor cap wasn't giving me the power I wanted.  I dissembled the distributor cap and did an electrical reading on the pickup coil.  My reading came out to 250 when, according to the book, it should be giving a reading of 750.  Could this be the culprit?  I am unsure.  I am having a hard time finding a pickup coil online.  Anyone have any suggestions?

 

Edit: Nevermind, I'm learning that it's a big bundle under the ignition control module.

 

Thanks!

Edited by SquigglyBeast, 25 December 2014 - 07:10 PM.

[andrew.rios94]

I have had issues with stalling and not being able to start again on more than a few occasions.

 

Start with the basics just check to see if there is spark and fuel it has to be one or the other

 

For me it was the PGMFI ground at the thermostat.

 

And on a different a different occasion the clip that locks the connector for the injector resistors was broken so that came loose.

I addressed that with a ziptie which was not the best idea as about a year later it messed up the wires.

[SquigglyBeast]

I'll check those out andrew.  Replacing my distributor did not fix the problem, but this could be that my timing is off.  I will be checking my timing sometime this weekend or today.

 

I checked my spark plugs and they are all sparking.  I'm smelling gas when I try to crank it, I figured this is because of old gas in the lines.

[andrew.rios94]

You can check to see if the injectors are actually firing by putting a screwdriver on in and when it cranking see if you hear a click.

Injectors could also be clogged.

And I think that your steering wheel is just coming apart somehow.

[icebox187]

Infrared thermometers are relatively cheap and can be found at lowes hd harbor freight etc. Sounds like you already have some knowledge on electrical troubleshooting. If I had the problems you are having I would pull the ign switch apart and check for wear/bad connections/burns on the internal moving parts. If all of that is good check spark on all four cylinders with either a spark tester or a timing light, if the tach is moving and you are having spark problems then the problem is not in the primary btw. If spark and timing all checks out good connect a fuel pressure gauge, check the prestart, running (if possible), and shutdown pressure and also see how long it takes to drop after shutoff. If you go through these steps you will at least narrow it down to what system is causing the problem. Once you know what system we can move on and I can provide some more tricks to isolate the failing component. We all started knowing nothing, and no you should not give up your hobby. You started this journey for a reason. The best advice I can give any self proclaimed novice is to put your money in the tools to troubleshoot properly and you won't need to put money into parts that don't solve your problems.

[SquigglyBeast]

Update!

So, apparently when I installed my distributor I knocked it out of timing. Got it timed, put it back, turns on! Woo Hoo!!

When I opened the head cover to look at my timing something's disturbed me. I had metal like/plastic like things on the coils inside of the head cover. I'll take a picture of this later to show you guys because I need to clean my seal properly.

My second steering wheel also blew up. I am really really confused about this.

Thank you icebox and Andrew for some feedback.

I had checked the spark on the four cylinders when I was initially doing this. I just had timing completely off! Thank you. I am slowly collecting auto diagnostic tools. One step at a time!


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[anjin]

Your initial wet and foggy problem really sounds like moisture in your ignition system somewhere, likely allied with a component not being up to scratch. 

 

Three main component culprits - the coil itself, wiring  - contacts including grounds, insulation broken, wire corroded; and distributor.

 

Clean it all, so the moisture has nowhere to lodge. Check under the cover for the coil, check the distributor. Clean the wiring where you can.

 

Check the wiring, looking for corrosion , and looking for hard insulation and cracks in the insulation.  Particularly near the head - its hot there and the plastic insulation breaks down there well before anywhere else. Hard insulation is immediately suspicious.   Also check the contacts - you really want shiny metal to shiny metal wherever you can get it. 

 

If there is nothing obvious, start it up and play with the wiring to see if you can cause a misfire.

 

After that it gets harder as the obvious problems are done with, and you have to start looking at other systems.  At least you have the main relay sorted.

 

Steering wheel - clean it, reinstall, and hopefully forget about it.