Hi all, I'm new - this is my 1st post. I'm not a car expert however I am not an idiot either. Here's my story/issue:

I purchased a 1994 Honda Civic with 136k miles on it last night. It is an automatic with 4 doors. I took it for a test drive around the block a few times and it sounded and felt good.

Before taking it home (45 minutes away) I went to the gas station to fill it up. Not sure how long the gas was sitting there but it only took about $13 to top it off. Anyway...

Upon getting on the turnpike it was slow to get up to speed - I assumed it was because my 325 lb. friend was in the car with me. Regardless, I drove on. No check engine light or anything. I drove about 13 miles (was going 60-70ish) and all of a sudden the car stopped accelerating - the gas pedal was doing nothing. Engine was still running, all electronics were on, power steering was fine. I pulled it over and shut off car.

It overheated. For some reason, not one of the 4 people there thought to check for fluids before I drove it away. My bad. We took another vehicle and got water and cooled it off. After waiting until the temperature gauge was back to normal we tried to start it again.

Turn the key over to turn the accessories on and the check engine and battery light are both on, I try to start car anyway and it turns over and sputters but doesn't start. We try that for 5-10 minutes and nothing.

Basically, we verified the engine was cooled, that the battery connectors were good, that the spark plugs and cables were correctly inserted, the fuel pump clicks on, we can hear fuel being injected into the engine, and we jumped it. Still nothing.

We managed to get it to start twice - each time it sounded fine - for about 3-4 minutes and then slowly died/sputtered away. The second time it started, I turned the key over and off about 12 times to get enough fuel to shoot into the engine. That plan did not work anymore after that.

While it was running there were no lights but once it began to die or it just wouldn't start the battery light and check engine light come/came back on. We ended up towing it back to my house. I tried it this morning and same thing - won't start. It was probably 95ish when I drove it home and probably 80ish this morning temperature wise.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

Driving until it will go no more due to overheating will almost always ruin the engine. Check the compression. The times it did start, did a lot of smoke come out the tailpipe?

 

There was no smoke whatsoever from any part of the vehicle during this entire thing.

I've been doing some research today - it seems like the Main Relay and/or the Fuel Pump are usually the culprits. I plan on taking out the relay and putting it back in as well as banging on the fuel pump to see if it starts.

Anymore thoughts? Thanks.

 

My Honda buddy came by as did my Uncle and both came to same conclusion - I need to replace my water pump (there is a leak under the car) and the timing belt probably needs re-timed or replaced.