What coul be keeping my 1986 honda civic from starting? The plugs all spark, the fuel pump gives gas to the carb, Ive changed all plugs cap and rotor and have tried spraying starter fluid directly into carb. There seemed to be alot of oil gunk in the plug wells and I cleaned them and sprayed starter fluid directly into them and nothing. It cranks really good sputters a little and makes some loud pops but it will not turn over?

THIS IS NICE PROBLEM .AGAIN SYSTEMATIC CHECKS AND SEQUENTIAL . 1 CONFIRM YOU HAVE GOOD COMPRESSION IN ALL CYLINDERS BY DOING A COMPRESSION CHECK .2 VERIFY YOU ARE GETTING A SPARK AT EACH SPARK PLUG AT THE CORRECT TIME .3ENSURE A GOOD SUPPLY OF FUEL AT THE CARBURETTOR OR FUEL INJECTORS SPRAYING FUEL . IF ENGINE IS TURNING AT THE CORRECT SPEED , FUEL IS AVAILABLE IN CORRECT RATIO AND THE TIMING IS CORRECT .TRHEN THE ENGINE WILL START AND IDLE .

It cranks really good sputters a little and makes some loud pops but it will not turn over? FYI:Cranking and turning over are the same thing. When was the last time it ran. The gas could be bad. Did you get new plug wires as well. Try testing the distributor, remove a spark plug, plug it back into the wire, and touch the threads to ground and crank the engine. It should spark. Keep your fingers away, that's high voltage. Remove all spark plugs, spray some starting fluid in each cylinder, then crank the engine with the plugs out. This will clean any debris from the cylinders. Engines need backpressure to run properly, a major exhaust leak hence the popping, could cause it to not run. If you can get it started try to keep it going, full throttle, keep in the starting fluid, it could just need to get warm. I used to have one of them and they don't like it when they're cold.