Help with non-starting Honda City

OK, doofus DH drove little car through deep ford on Friday. Got home (2kms from ford to home) no probs. Tried to go out in car about an hour after getting home, but car wouldn't turn over. Start motor spins, but there doesn't seem to be a spark? Car is 20 years old, always runs fine. What might he have done to it driving it through deep water? So far he's pulled the air filter, which is quite wet, put carb cleaner in, and tried starter fluid in the carb as well, still no go.

Andrea
Oxford

Take the distributor cap off with its leads - take note of where they went - and dry it out, cap and leads - overnight in hotwater cupboard. Hopefully thats should be all it will take.

Let us know how you get on.

The Kats Place;188094 wrote: Take the distributor cap off with its leads - take note of where they went - and dry it out, cap and leads - overnight in hotwater cupboard. Hopefully thats should be all it will take.

Let us know how you get on.

2nded....

Hondas have long legs..... I am on my 3rd now, nearly 300K and sold it to my neighbour hand over the day we depart for NZ.

Not much you can do to them to stop them from running, apart from the wetness issue in the leads and sparks....

Whatever you do, don't take it to the "authorised repairer" your local man should be able to fix it for far less if all else fails....

Timing belt might be another issue, Hondas tend to know when they are at home to bust their timing belt.

I drove all around South Australia and Victoria and my timing belt in the Prelude gave up 60m from home.... [8D]

clean the distributor out and give it a spritz with a water displacer like WD-40 (Water Displacement, formula attempt number 40 ) then remove the spark plugs and with a piece of cotton waste taped to a thin stick, probe in the cylinders to see if theres any water in there. there shouldn't be, but if there is you'll have to dry them out too, but mostly you can just screw the plugs back in as they're generally dry. Remove the carb, drain the float chamber and spray with WD-40 as well and replace on the car. dry the filter well.

see if it starts then

Well, I didn't see Kiwi's advice till now, but on simply follow Kalnetta's (who rang yesterday evening) and other's advice above to remove the distributor cap and leads and bring them in to dry, DH did so, and when he eventually put the stuff back in, told the little car he knew she could do it, she turned right over.

Loverly little car, and thanks again for all the advice! No more driving her through fords!

Cheers
Andrea
Oxford

Andrea, Did you ever see that Faulty Towers episode where Basil Faulty's austin 1100 wouldn't start.? he got so mad with it he broke a big branch off a nearby bush and started whipping it. Too funny.
GK

You've never flooded your engine until you've been 4wd-ing and had water OVER the bonnet, water in the carb? well a river is water most hardcore 4wd fans have WD-40 or similiar in the emergency kit.

theres a reason why snokels are popular for offroaders, I just don't think they make snorkel kits for honda citys

gk seen that one a few times and its still just as funny:D

excellent news!

Love Fawlty Towers, and I do remember that episode... great stuff! This is our/my 3rd Honda as well, over about 25 years. Learnt to drive on hills in San Francisco in a little Honda, my first car that I bought myself was a little Honda (and drove that one over 250,000 MILES before I sold it) and this little one is 20 years old and runs amazingly well with excellent fuel efficiency for such an oldie (a little over 5 liters/100 kms). All it's needed in the 5.5 years we've owned it is news tyres (though I think it's due for new brakes).

Cheers
Andrea
Oxford