Car runs good now, explanation and crappy video inside. Woot!

Perfect Balance
... tell my sister to crank the engine, and it sparks a bit, then while the engine is cranking, it doesn't spark. ...
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What? :confused:

How do you make it spark if the engine isn't turning over?
 
We had a VW Transporter that had a similar problem. it kept frying the Hall-sensor.. but then again, it also had bad cat ( the innards had fallen apart ).. So, if your car has Hall-sensor in the distributor, check that out.
 
ferrari_chris
What? :confused:

How do you make it spark if the engine isn't turning over?
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That's what I'd like to know. It makes a few sparks when the ignition is turned on, then about 10 or so once you stop cranking.


My uncle says the ECU may be taking a crap.



I'm poor.
 
I've honestly never heard of a Honda doing this... I really am confused as well! Are there any local shops that specialize in foreign cars that aren't Honda dealers? I know when I have fairly minor stuff going on I usually drag the VW out to a place like that... They usually get the job done cheaper, and best of all, quickly as well.
 
YSSMAN
I've honestly never heard of a Honda doing this... I really am confused as well! Are there any local shops that specialize in foreign cars that aren't Honda dealers? I know when I have fairly minor stuff going on I usually drag the VW out to a place like that... They usually get the job done cheaper, and best of all, quickly as well.
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My car was flooded before I had it. The body and everything else looks pretty good, I don't have anything rusting off or anything like that, but the electricals took a hit.

It wasn't supposed to be more expensive to fix at home, but now since a new ECU is a good 100 bucks or so, it might have been cheaper to do it at home.

Although, if I had taken it to a shop and they told me that the ECU was the problem, I would have payed the same amount of money as I did now, but I've got a new timing belt and plugs, along with a free engine from my uncle.

If it really is only the ECU and nothing else, then I basically a somewhat fuel/electrical system overhaul while I was at it, which couldn't hurt.

EDIT: I've never heard of any car at all doing this.

EDIT #2: stick around, I'm uploading a few pics of the inside of my ecu.

And here they are:

Rust, rust, and more rust.

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dscf0038wo1.jpg


 
As far as I know, the ECU will send the spark signal based of the crank angle sensor. If the crank isn't turning then the signal shouldn't be getting sent.

I'd say your ECU is poked.
 
Get a performance ECU, that way you can go GANGSTA!
 
Stig22121
Get a performance ECU, that way you can go GANGSTA!
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I'm having trouble figuring out where I can scrap up enough money for a stock one.

Plus, I'm planning to swap engines in a year or 2, so there's no point wasting extra money on this one.
 
Joking, joking. :rolleyes:
Edit: Wait, how can you afford an engine, yet not an ECU?
 
Perfect Balance
I'm having trouble figuring out where I can scrap up enough money for a stock one.

Plus, I'm planning to swap engines in a year or 2, so there's no point wasting extra money on this one.
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Stig22121
Joking, joking. :rolleyes:
Edit: Wait, how can you afford an engine, yet not an ECU?
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I can't afford an engine.
 
I'm not trying to put you down or anything. I'm just curious how at the age of 17, that you could be completely broke? Do you still live with your parents? If you do, you should have relatively few bills.
 
Slick6
I'm not trying to put you down or anything. I'm just curious how at the age of 17, that you could be completely broke? Do you still live with your parents? If you do, you should have relatively few bills.
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I work a part time job 6 hours a week, and 8 hours every other week. My paycheck is about 120 bucks every 2 weeks.

It's not a lot, but I don't particularly like working that much if I don't need it, so this amount of hours worked out fine. I only need about 20 bucks a week for gas, so I still had enough money to do other stuff if I needed to. Since my car broke, I've spent about 15 bucks on plugs, 30 on a timing belt, 30 for a tank of gas, 12 on 2 quarts of mobil 1, starter fluid, heet, food at school, then some fast food when I was late for school and missed lunch, and some money I had owed to someone.

All those little things add up. I have like 30 bucks right now, but I need a good bit more for a new ECU.

As a family in general, we're sort of struggling financially right now, so my dad says he doesn't have any extra money right now.

I could go a lot deeper, but at the end of it all, I still need to wait a week or so, unless my uncle (he owns a used car dealership) can source an ECU from somewhere and just use his own money until I can pay him back next friday.

 
I understand that and you have to do what the circumstances give you. I commend your parents for not buying everything for you also. As much as you and I probably don't like it, I get a great sense of satisfaction being able to say that I finance all of my activities. 👍
 
Slick6
As much as you and I probably don't like it, I get a great sense of satisfaction being able to say that I finance all of my activities. 👍
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Yep, same here, although I didn't pay for the car itself. My dad never really bought us that much stuff, so the car was a sort of "one time" deal that he never really did before. Other than that, I pay for all of my own stuff, including clothes, food, and gas.

Let's not get too off-topic though.
 
dude, only 6 hours a week? man, and I thought the job market here was crapola. at 17, you should be buried in service industry jobs.

your not the only one with fried comp probs. I had the comp futz out on me in a Lumina. here it was a common prob, as the comp was shared with the Cav(alier). but it cost 300 bucks, not 100...and that was about...oh 10 years ago.
 
Sniffs
dude, only 6 hours a week? man, and I thought the job market here was crapola. at 17, you should be buried in service industry jobs.

your not the only one with fried comp probs. I had the comp futz out on me in a Lumina. here it was a common prob, as the comp was shared with the Cav(alier). but it cost 300 bucks, not 100...and that was about...oh 10 years ago.
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I can get more hours, I just didn't because I never needed more money.
 
Bump up your hours, PB.

That way, you can save a bit as well as spend more. The savings will give you a bit of a slush fund if you break it hard, etc.
 
Slicks
Bump up your hours, PB.

That way, you can save a bit as well as spend more. The savings will give you a bit of a slush fund if you break it hard, etc.
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I'm about to get a new job anyways, so there's no point bumping my hours now.
 
There's no way you can get a price on a recon for your ECU? Although looking at the rust they may just tell you to go with a new one like you said.
 
AND SHE LIVES!!

Runs like crap and smells and bogs under throttle, but the pin that had the old pin broken inside of it isn't connected right now, so I'm hoping once I get that done it's run fine.


Backfires a bit when stepping on the gas a bit, I hope it's nothing serious.
 
Sounds like my Vega... Including the stumble.
 
Rotary Junkie
Sounds like my Vega... Including the stumble.
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Well, right now after driving it a bit I've figured out it's not just a rough idle, it does the thing the entire time while driving, just random jerks and bogs, although very small. Idles at a better rpm now, but not any smoother.
 
I'm surprised it runs at all with that much corrosion in it, junk yard isn't an option? I have 3 extra ECU's (if you call can even call it that) for my car from the junkyard.
 
My Jetta used to do that too. Kinda just stumbles for a second at speed, and you kinda do a "What the hell was that?" deal and go about your business.

I'm not sure what its all about. It was always an issue, but I just kept driving her...
 
land sea air
I'm surprised it runs at all with that much corrosion in it, junk yard isn't an option? I have 3 extra ECU's (if you call can even call it that) for my car from the junkyard.
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I have a new ECU. They old one is crap.

YSSMAN
My Jetta used to do that too. Kinda just stumbles for a second at speed, and you kinda do a "What the hell was that?" deal and go about your business.

I'm not sure what its all about. It was always an issue, but I just kept driving her...
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But this isn't for a second or anything. It just runs like this all the time. I'll drive it to school tomorrow and let my Auto Tech instructor take a look at it. Whatever it is I hope it's not expensive, I really don't have any more money to spend.
 
Ok, I've made a bit of double posts in this thread, but I feel like all these things might end up helping someone out some day and I have a video now.

What happened was the ECU was in it's "learn" stage, and the base, reset version of the ECU is strangely, REALLY REALLY messed up, to the point of stalling and backfiring and stuff. With my old ECU, after I reset it the car's idle was a tiny bit different but still good.

I messed with it all day yesterday, and sinc the ECU was learning the correct settings while I was messing with it, I thought I had somehow fixed something, and wanted to take it to school the next day and have my teacher look over it. Driving to school it ran almost perfect, and it ran perfect from that point on.

Here's a crappy video that I only got 30 sec in before the batteries died, which is why I did quick blips on the throttle before getting out, because the battery light was flashing. You know, just in case someone doesn't believe that I own a Civic that actually runs....

Don't mind the dent, I didn't make it.



All 1.6 liters of crappy intake'd stock d16. Hear it bog roar.
 
The best way to deal with the ECU (at least in my Acura) is to drive the car until it's fully warmed up, turn it off, pull the fuse (or disconnect the battery) for a good 5-10 minutes, then put it back in, and let the car idle for 10 minutes. This will allow the ECU (or ECM as it's called in OBD-II cars) to recalculate the amount of incoming air. Shut it off, then you should be good to go!
 
Thirdeye
The best way to deal with the ECU (at least in my Acura) is to drive the car until it's fully warmed up, turn it off, pull the fuse (or disconnect the battery) for a good 5-10 minutes, then put it back in, and let the car idle for 10 minutes. This will allow the ECU (or ECM as it's called in OBD-II cars) to recalculate the amount of incoming air. Shut it off, then you should be good to go!
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The ECU stores information for the first 30 or so times the key is turned, so there's no point warming it up beforehand, it won't make much of a difference.
 
It helps with the air induction ratios, I'd assume. When your car is cold, you're dumping more fuel into your car, thus sucking in more air. When your car is warmed up, it will use less fuel at idle and thus less air. It probably won't make a huge difference, but I haven't tried it with a cold idle.
 
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