tcrosby

ive got a 98 civic HX with cvt trans. It was my wifes car until it died on her a few weeks ago. we got her an 08 civic to replace it, but i really want to fix the 98 so i can drive it.

so right now, it will crank over (sounds normal) but not start. there is NO SPARK on any cylinder.
my wife had complained that the car had died or almost died a couple of times at stop lights in the few days leading up to this failure. i test drove it, but nothing ever happened while i was driving.

heres what ive checked so far:

I checked the fuses. all good.
the main relay checks out (turn key to on makes one click, fuel pump whirrs, seconds later another click as fuel pump stops, turn key to start results in third click, fuel pump reactivates)
Its got a new (newish, anyway) cap / rotor / wires / plugs.
after incorrectly diagnosing the coil as bad ( it turned out that my meter was bad, not the coil ) i replaced the ignition coil AND igniter.
I checked in the oil filler cap and the valve train is moving so the timing belt is still there.

well I'm out $300 and it still doesn't start.

then i saw a thread where somebody said his car died suddenly and would crank but not start.
he said a new alternator was the solution.

before i go to the trouble of breaking out the alternator. (it's snowing and i have an rx-7 project in the garage right now, so you can imagine how i'm looking forward to this ) before i take out the alternator to have it tested, can somebody confirm that a bad alternator will actually prevent the car from starting?

All my other cars (now, all my other cars were old-*** rx-7's, so what do i know) would run fine with a bad alternator as long as you had them connected to a power source. does a failure of the alternator cause the computer to withhold spark?

thanks in advance.
-Tommy

crazyguy

yeah a bad alternator can prevent your car from starting up.cause it will not recharge battery and if your battery is out, car wont start.
try to find a way to rechange the battery and fire up the car. let the car run and pull positive cable off from battery and if car still runs that means your alternator is good. if not run.take alternator out and bring it to your local auto parts store and they will check it for you for free.

crxcess

does it start with jumper cables?

check the grounds. make sure everything is tight

I had a crx that would almost die. the plug going into the alternator was loose

I had another car that I unhooked the alternator to. I jump started it just fine, but when I disconnected the jumpbox, the car died.

that or the crank angle sensor in the distributor is bad. you'll need a new distributor.

tcrosby

ill take that as a no then.
as i said, the engine turns over, but will not run.
how could it turn over without a working battery? hmmmmm?

yeah ive tried jumping it.

if what crxcess says is true that the vehicle will run with the alternator completely removed then a simply bad alternator should not prevent it from running.

is there any test procedure for the crank angle sensor?

tcrosby

can you swap a TEC distributor for a Hitachi distributor?
ive got a friend with a TEC, if they are interchangeable i may just swap them to see.