memenah

bump for a similar issue,90 accord f22a1 gift, while operating the car would 'hesitate' , usually upon acceleration, got worse, would cut at lights, no load (kinda), then last week on the highway at 4:45 am it tried to strand me. got it off the right- of-way and came back to it. dead coil (no inner cover) replaced complete distributor and got varoom back. It's just a symptom though. Issue is recurring. Where do I start looking for the root cause of ignition coil hungry f22?

memenah

Sorry, no data, busy at work when I posted this, egr ports physically cleaned out, only traced 2 grounds out (D/S engine mount/valve cover and bat to tranny), bled coolant system extensively, adjusted idle screw in TB to stop minus 1/4 turn, checked shift cable connection at shifter, still had the factory pin/clip in, adjusted throttle cable lose, still have idle bounce. Checked the timing, but not the right way.
N E way, engine bay has 5 or 6 ground points but I only found 2, and trying to figure out how the dizzy is grounded (case?.) Gonna take some pics next trip to the pull-a-part to help with ground tracing. Looks like there was some overheating, (insulation melted, harness straight wired, etc.) not skeered of work and capable mechanically, but new to the whole control issue of electronic fuel injection. W/O any true history on the vehicle, and no methodical approach, I'm pretty much just babbling at this point.
Any suggestions?

GhostAccord

Idle bounce can be attributed to a vacuum leak. Check all your gasket areas and vacuum hoses for leaks.

memenah

Thx GhostAccord, ( lots of gottafixits and little time....) definite vac leak, latest nickname is 'Whistler'....read a post a while ago, (here or cb7 tuner) that suggested covering the ports (internal to the throttle body) to aid identifying a culprit sensor, with an addendum (I believe by you) that said the suggested port trace was inverted for 90 accord f22's.(I'll have to return to that, as that particular port trace was informative in my case.) However, the idle bounce was present before the leak was mechaniced into the equation. (Please don't ask.)
Any leads into what would cause an engine to eat coils? Haven't found that the ign is hot full time, which would be my first guess, though the ign is mmmmm.... modified. (Switch quit on the previous owner and the key only controls steering wheel release.... toggle and ground out is the starting procedure. )
Possible ground issue, maybe?

GhostAccord

Yes these coils are hot (12v) at all times and grounded by the ignitor/ECU. Sounds like it could very well be a ground/resistance issue. That includes the plugs and wires as well.

You say modified ignition, how so?

memenah

Previous owner had the ignition (interior) fail on him(...few details, believe the '90 endemic failure, unsure) and his fix was to remove the wiring from the back of the locking cylinder, hook it to a toggle switch and engage the starter by grounding (physically) the starter ground to the toggle switch body....hot wiring basically. Previous owner didn't/couldn't get the cylinder to release from the assembly to switch the entire wiring sub-harness out. That's my second thing on the list of things to do. First is to replace the gasket between upper/lower intake plenum. (vaccum leak)This weekend am going to do a trace out of the ignition and a parasitic loss test.
thx for the pointers.
6-10's is a young man's gig

GhostAccord

No problem, seems like you have a good handle on what you are looking at. I dread troubleshooting electrical gremlins. They are easy enough to diagnose, however, most times it's a huge pain in the **** to get at the wiring to diagnose it!

6-10's is good money though. But I agree it can be a bit much. I love my 4-10's!