Proletariate Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 I was rear ended 10 days ago by a truck who hit me up high in the hatch, no frame damage, he didn't even touch my bumper, just ruined the hatch and its seating. That day I drove it home to reassess, she ran fine with just a slight scent of fuel in the car (I thought this was due to the missing hatch window). There are no leaks, nothing else looks disturbed. I determined I could pound out the damage enough to fit a new hatch on there in poor man style (times are tight, friends) After a weekend with a slide hammer, and a new hatch from the junk yard when I tried to move it, my poor civic would not start. I can hear the fuel tank pressurizing (the whir sounds off, but I don't remember hearing it in the past). I checked the fuses, the main relay and those check out. The distributor, rotor and coil are recent new same for spark plugs, and air filter. I checked for spark and that checks out. It almost seems like I have a fuel issue, but I didn't prior to letting it sit these last 10 days.... Is it possible I damaged the fuel tank with my poor man's body work? I am gonna get some Sea Foam tomorrow and treat the fuel in the tank. Any suggestions at all would be very much appreciated. Thanks and Happy Summer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeryon Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 For one, how are times tight if someone else rear-ended you? That is what the other persons liability insurance is for. To address your specific request: it is possible your beating on the rear of the car triggered the fuel cutoff switch. All cars have this toggle in the vicinity of the fuel tank/pump to cut fuel flow to the engine in the event of the car overturning. Certain extremely rough roads, rear-ending accidents, putting the car up on blocks at a steep angle, parking on steep hills and doing bodywork can be enough to trip the switch. I do not know your vehicle well enough to give specific instructions where to find it but I would check there before doing anything more involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proletariate Posted July 14, 2014 Author Share Posted July 14, 2014 Times are tight so I want to fix this myself and save the rest of the insurance settlement for a rainy day. As to the cut off switch as far as I can tell 4th gen civics have no such thing. LMK IF I am mistaken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeryon Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 You can disconnect the fuel line under the hood, grab a pickle jar and have someone blip the ignition to see if gas comes out. That will rule out fuel pump. Just be sure to do that after you have already put the ignition in the on position or you might mistake the priming sequence for normal pump operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proletariate Posted July 15, 2014 Author Share Posted July 15, 2014 thanks again for the reply. I loosened the line that goes from the fuel filter to the throttle body, after not being able to get the fill line off. fuel trickles (not sprays) out of that line when it is priming. I have yet to blip the ignition to see what would happen when I have that line loose (don't worry I got the pickle jar and some rags to catch the fuel)... any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proletariate Posted July 15, 2014 Author Share Posted July 15, 2014 One other question if you don't mind (I have googled but nothing comes up for this specific question) Xeryon if I hear my fuel pump priming, could it still be the problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xeryon Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 Probably not. I would assume it isn't but at this point it doesn't hurt to completely rule it out. There are so many random possibilities it's hard to rule anything out without trying it for sure. It's possible the banging on the frame shook the tank enough that the intake tube came off, or maybe the ground wire came disconnected. I don't recall if those had a metal tank for rust but maybe dirt (and rust) that was settled in the tank was dislodged and settled into the place where the intake tube pulls in. Your filter might have completely fouled out due to this and you don't have a high enough flow rate to do anything useful with. Have you tried some starting fluid to make sure you are otherwise starting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proletariate Posted July 15, 2014 Author Share Posted July 15, 2014 Yep I tried starter fluid in the intake she started right up and ran for a bit... I tried to get the fuel filter off but am having difficulties. Any pointers on how to get that sucker off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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