ras06LGT Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 My brother has a 1997 Honda Civic with the 1.6L that recently wouldn't start. I talked him through trying to jump-start it since over the phone it sounded like a weak battery but that didn't work, so he had it towed to a shop. The shop diagnosed that it was severely flooded and pulled the plugs and dried everything out but still couldn't get it to start. They ran a compression check and found that it had low compression, and according to my brother they got it to start by using an old trick of oiling the valves/intake. My brother is not a car guy at all, so something might be lost in translation here, but is anyone familiar with this "trick"? I've heard of adding some oil to the pistons to get a little higher compression, but never to the intake/valves. Does this make sense, or is it just covering up a bigger problem? It seems to me like low compression means mechanical issues, and this may just be a band-aid to get it to run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ras06LGT Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 Oh yeah, the car has around 210k miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaNu1142 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Get the Legacy. Tits mcgee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterJMC Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 never heard of having to oil valves/intake to get these motors started before. I had a '92 and '96 Civic. If I recall correctly, the only starting problems I had when it got to high mileage was from the ignition system. You already had him try a jump start. I would check the ignition system next, plugs, wires, and I'm not sure if this model had a distributor cap or a ignition pack. If distributor cap, I'd have him look at that as a possible culprit if that's never been changed before. With 210k miles, the contacts might be worn enough that the cold weather might impact it's ability to properly function. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ras06LGT Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 Get the Legacy. My Legacy's intake is self-oiling, so no problems there. @PeterJMC - I already told him that his car is probably due for a general tune-up, as I'm sure none of the components you mentioned have been touched in a while (except the distributor which was replaced last year). Unfortunately, as I said, he's not very mechanically inclined at all, so unless he has a shop do it it won't be done for a long time. The fact that the shop measured (supposedly) low compression is what worries me. He did get a check engine light about a week ago. I had him go to the auto parts store and pull the code, but he didn't write it down or remember it... It was something relating to the injectors he said, but that's not very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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