Hello All,

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

I changed the timing belt on the car with the help of a guy that has done a couple of TLs before. In the process accidentally drained the battery enough so that it wouldn't start. Charged the battery and still no joy.

Engine turns over, cranks for several seconds and then stops. Sparkplugs are sparking, fuel pump is running, but engine won't catch. Don't really smell gas after several attempts, so I'm suspecting something has decided the car should not run and is cutting off fuel.

ODBII is not indicating any errors, no warning lights other than the power steering after a couple of seconds of the car cranking. Which I read was the expected behavior.

Anything obvious I missed? Anything I can try to help diagnose the issue? Any other information that might be helpful?

TIA!

--TV

 

Check that you reconnected all your sensors...and check your fuses. That certainly sounds odd...

 

I don't recall disconnecting any sensors in the process. That was something I thought about, but didn't see anything loose or disconnected. Is there something I missed?

Fuses look good, that was one of the first things I tried. I'll look again.

Thank you for the suggestion!

 

By the way this is a 2005 RL, forgot to mention that in my original posting.

 

I am not sure you want to invest $12 after the fact, but it might point out what you may have missed. It is differentiated by J series engines.

The preview is free (but no details), the download is $12.

Honda J Series Timing Belt Replacement VManual - EricTheCarGuy- Stay Dirty!

 

Or some free instructions:

 

I went through a couple of videos on Youtube, a two part series from Bundy's Garage that was two hours long covered basically all the steps.

 

Gotcha. Well if you are confident you followed the basics, it must be an odd thing that occurred during the change out.

After belt alignment, power and fuel supply confirmed, the most issues I have read are typically sensors but you read no codes. Perhaps an electrical connector was knocked loose in the process. Try reviewing all connectors, unplug and connect again.

 

How did you charge the battery?

 

Check your engine grounds

 

With a large battery charger my friend has. We left it charging for about half hour and tried again. No joy. Removed the charger. Turns over just as it normally would, but still no luck.

-TV

 

Where might this be? I only saw one ground cable near the engine mount. We did put that back. Also, we watched a sparkplug spark when left on top of the engine (plastic cover off, of course) when the engine was cranking. We trying to confirm that there was spark, it was.

--Tom

 

Your initial speculation is that you drained the battery enough to keep it from starting the car. While it is sometimes possible to recharge that quickly, a trickle charge over many hours is much more effective. It could be your battery or charging system.

 

Stating the bleeding obvious, but you are sure the timing marks are still in the correct position?