piepans

hello all, i have a 1999 civic dx hatchback, auto, d16y7, 221k miles. i picked it up over the summer and put 2000 miles on it so far. when i first bought it, sometimes on a cold start, it would struggle like it's misfiring for about 5 - 10 seconds and then it goes away and everything returns to normal. lately, it's been consistently doing it the first time the car is started.

on two occasions, it didn't start at all. all the dash lights came on, i heard the fuel pump prime and hum, it would crank but not start just like this video i found on youtube:


the first time it happened, it was rainy and cold in the lower 40s. the next day it was dry and started right up but a friend recommended i replaced the cap and rotor. after cap and rotor, it started up fine. i used the car all afternoon and it was fine. started it up about 10 times. the next morning, it wouldn't start again (dry and somewhere in the lower-mid 30s). the weather has been warmer lately so it's been starting.

picture of the old cap and rotor:



crappy cell phone picture of dizz with old cap and rotor off:



i've been given suggestions of:
- plugs and wires (i have the plugs zfr5f-11 gapped at 0.044, i just need to order the NGK blue wires)
- fuel filter
- ignition coil
- ignition coil module
- clean/replace iacv
- clean battery terminals
- clean engine ground contacts
- ect sensor (i had to replace dizzy o ring, the oil leak before could've ruined the sensor?)
- main relay

just looking for suggestions and the next steps to take instead of just throwing money at it. tia!

b20bFourDoorCivicLX

Take it to a Mechanic, Or Just keep replacing things tell you figure it out

Good luck, Keep us posted

B_Swapped93

They call it red dust or "Red Death" for a reason - your distributor bushing is about to go. You have to replace the sub-assembly, any CEL's ? go threw that list do the thing that are free don't start throwing parts at it. This is 100% ignition related I'm willing to bet it's just easier to replace the distributer then replace it's internal components.

piepans

lol thanks. yeah it will prolly be going to a mechanic next week

oh yeah i forgot to post that. the CEL's are P0302 P0303 P0304 P0300. do you think it's just weak spark when it's too cold out?

B_Swapped93

Misfire's on all cylinders....it being cold out won't do that trust me it's -20 here in northern Ontario and both my cars start fine. Weak spark is more then likely what's happening, now WHY is what you're trying to find out. New cap n rotor and plugs you say I'm thinking it's the coil in the distributer or off chance the igniter. Google: "how to test coil and igniter" and go from there you'll save your self a nice bit of money if you don't go to a garage.

piepans

i did the following test and got:

A + B = 0.8, multimeter set to 200 ohm

A + secondary winding terminal = I couldn't even get a reading. It stays at 1, multimeter set to 20k ohm. thinking i was using the wrong setting, my noob self tried all the other ohm settings and it still ends up as 1.

guess it's a bad coil



i found more of this rusty dust under my cap and cover. think the dizzy is going to take a poop?

piepans

new coil is on. i'll have to wait til cold weather next week to find out if that's really the issue. tested it before installing it.

A + B = 0.7
A + secondary winding terminal = 15.8

went to change my plugs. one of them was super hard to take off?

TomCat39

Those plugs are dry fouled. At least two of them look like they are. They say you can't really clean them up once fouled. Something about they tend to refoul easier.

Even at 5 bucks a pop it's still cheap to replace them.

Sounds like the previous time the plugs were done, no antisieze was used on the threads like is recommended by Honda. Good luck getting the plug out. Need to change them all not just 3 of them.

piepans

I know I'll have to try to get the plug out next week. Just don't want to do any damage.

piepans

Update! Car has been starting fine every time now cold or warm. No more initial rough starts either. Thanks B_Swapped93 for your suggestion.