nexgen91

I searched and could only find some info for the negative cable being hot. I put a JDM spec OBDIIA B18Cr in my 96 civic and it wont start, the engine will turn over and I am getting fuel (can smell it, and plugs are wet) but no spark at all on any of the cylinders. I changed the cap, rotor, plug wires, and plugs before attempting to start the motor. Also after I try to start the motor the positive wire is pretty hot, and I saw some smoke coming from its general area upon initial attempts to start. When I looked in the engine bay after it smelled kind of like electrical burning, but I dont know if it was the positive wire or something in the distributor. Any ideas where I should start troubleshooting this? Like I said I tried searching but cant find anything specific to this scenario, maybe I just suck at searching. Thanks

TomCat39

Unhook your battery and test for continuity between the negative cable and the positive cable. This is to see if there is a short somewhere on your postive cable side of the circuit (negative is maybe a 6 inch cable to the body?)..

Also if the cable isn't getting hot or smoking without the key in the car, then the short most likely will be after the ignition switch. If it's getting hot anytime the battery is hooked up, the short is most likely between the battery cable and the ignition switch.

The FSM may give you some of the wiring routes and wire colors. The Electrical troubleshooting manual will give you even more detailed wiring paths with connectors and connector pin and wire color changes and connector locations etc.

Both can be had for an economical fee at helm.inc

Former User

Pinpointing the source^ of this smoke is where to focus as it will likely yield the answer - miss wiring or shorted wire.

Did you check for blown fuses after seeing the smoke?

TomCat39

Was just coming back to note the oddity of not blowing fuse 41 (assuming the same fuse in 96-00 as the 92-95) for a short hot enough to smoke around the battery.

Also, on a side path... Do you know if your battery is good? I recall one of my batteries shorted itself out and when I tried to jump it, the jumper cables smoked and melted some before I yanked it off and realized the battery itself ground itself out. New battery was the solution.

Let me clarify, I can see the initial thought as being the car cranks so of course the battery is good.

In my case, the car started, drove 5 minutes away, parked for 10 minutes and then wouldn't start and I went to jump to find what I described previously. My thought is I don't think this happened instantaneously in that 5 minute drive but had been coming about over time. However, I wasn't sticking my head under the hood on that car very much so if there were any signs such as mild smoking around the battery before it finally died, I would never had seen it. A load test on your battery can rule this random thought out.

nexgen91

Good ideas I'll have to check today out in the morning. I tried looking for the fuse but I don't think I looked hard enough, can anyone confirm it's 41? I'm thinking the fuse is blown ourr the batt is bad. I'm going to try to hook up my jump box to it and start it without the battery and see what happens. It won't smoke around the battery now, weird. Just turns over and won't start.

Former User

When you turn the key to ON(II), which electrical components work and which don't?

Fuse 41 is fine if the starter cranks with the key.

Have you tried to locate the burned wires? Do this before trying to start the engine again so as to avoid causing more damage.

nexgen91

I can hear the relays in the ecu click and the radio congress on, cluster works, that's about as far as I've got so far. Unfortunately I have already tried cranking again to no avail, I have yet to inspect the wires for burning, but will do that and some wire shooting and see if I can nail down the problem.

TomCat39

Sorry if you thought I meant to check fuse 41. I was only commenting my surprise that the fuse doesn't blow with the possible short somewhere in the circuit. Then again it is an 80 amp fuse. It was by no means a suggested cause of your problem. More of an expression of amazement.

I would seriously suggest just following what RonJ suggests. Smoke means there should be some damaged plastic somewhere.

And a load test doesn't require the battery hooked up, just a load tester to rule out that slim possibility.

nexgen91

Did s little more troubleshooting, the coil checked good, and the ignitor is iffy (according to this http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/ignit...n-car-test.pdf it checks good, but it says to replace ignitor anyway if the system still fails) however this page (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/cars-t...post-9924.html) says to "Next, check for continuity between the WHT wire and the body ground. There should be continuity. If there is no continuity, check for: and open in the WHT wire between the igniter unit and the ECU or poor ground.
Next, check for continuity between the BLU wire and the body ground. There should be continuity. If there is no continuity, check for: and open in the BLU wire between the igniter unit and the tachometer (or the A/T control unit) or poor ground." which I did and didnt get continuity on either. I took a look at the wiring and can not find any obviously damaged wires, or burnt fuses. Could it be possible the smoke was from the ignitor going out? Still dont get why the battery cable was hot. I checked for continuity between positive and negative battery leads (discoed from batt) and got some high resistance, I think it was around 100 ohms or so, is that normal?

TomCat39

100 ohms is not high resistance. You should have infinite resistance between the red battery cable and body ground/negative battery cable. That just proves there is a significant short to body ground somewhere down the line from the positive battery cable. That's also assuming not in the car or ignition.

Key in the on position is different and you could have a resistance reading like you stated. The resistance of the ECU to ground etc.

Wait just had a thought.... do you have an alarm installed? That would change things considerably.

nexgen91

Since the car was running before I pulled the engine, Im thinking maybe something got screwed up in the harness, it was already pretty jacked up from a swap done by the previous owner, maybe a wire is in the wrong position at the ECU or there is some chaffing somewhere that is causing a short? Thinking about just getting an EX harness and using it instead (this one is a DX harness w/ VTEC and Knock wires added) Thoughts of if this could be the case?

Former User

^Probably.

Have you tried to locate the burned wires? Finding those will likely provide the answer.

Currently, does the fuel pump prime?

Is there spark at the plugs?

Are there any CEL codes?

Does the CEL work?

nexgen91

Looked at wiring near the battery and everything looked ok, I had my doubts about the harness when I was doing the rework on the wiring before install, but thought I had fixed everything that was messed up. I have ordered a 96 EX harness and will be replacing the one that is in there (Im almost certain something is messed up and I dont have a lot of time/patience (I work with wiring all day on aircraft) to look for a wiring problem, so Im going to eliminate that) There is no spark at the plugs, I cant get CEL codes because the P73 ECU doesnt have a LED that Im aware of, and my bluetooth OBD reader wont recognize in the car for some reason, the CEL does come on and stay on though, so I know something is going on, hopefully the ignitor is ok, and its just a short in the wiring preventing the dizzy from getting the power/signals it needs. Thanks

Former User

Pull the CEL codes by jumping the service connector. Click the Codes link in my signature.

Does the fuel pump prime?

Is the G101 ground on the thermostat housing connected?

Regarding the bluetooth issue, check whether hood fuse 43 is blown. (I assume that the P73 is OBD2)

nexgen91

All fuses under good are good, status light on blue tooth adapter is on. That ground was connected, and the fuel pump is priming. I have pulled the harness and ordered an ex from eBay.

Former User

Check whether battery voltage reaches the coil and ICM inside the distributor.

When you jumped the service connector, what codes did you find?

Your new information is focusing you on the distributor or distributor wires.

nexgen91

Any idea odizzy/dizzyparty's parts will fit on the 97 spec b18cr?

Former User

Do the tests rather than replace parts for no reason.

nexgen91

I'm pretty sure the harness is done, it kind of scares me cause someone who didn't know what they where doing messed with it and it's obvious. I would rather go ahead and get that issue taken care of anyway, even if it doesn't fix the problem. Then I'll troubleshoot further :-)

Former User

nexgen91

Well swapping the harness didn't fix it, didn't think it would. I tried the igniter out of a jdm d15b dizzy, that didn't help, coil is reading good, any ideas?

Former User

nexgen91

Got a 10 (IAT) dont think its whats causing the issue though. Im talking to the vender about getting a new dizzy. Thanks for your help btw

nexgen91

Checked the coil resistance again and here are the results at 49 degrees F (manual specs are at 68 degrees F). Terminal A (+) to B (-) is .6 ohms (spec says .6-.8 ohms), and from Terminal A (+) to Secondary Winding is 8.39k ohms (spec for this is 12.8-19.2k ohms). Now Im thinking bad coil? Might just go ahead and replace the whole distributor to avoid any more aggravation.

Former User

Bring the coil inside to warm it to room temp for the test.

Is there a reason you're not answering basic diagnostic questions? Does the coil and ICM get battery voltage? CEL codes?