M1

Stock d15b2 91 DX... ran great for several thousand miles with ~124K already on it. Without warning, the engine died quietly while giving a gentle blip to match 3rd gear after cruising along in neutral behind some slow drivers. Full tank of gas. Never been able to start the engine again. Battery is fine, starter sounds normal and tries vigorously to start the engine but the engine never starts.

I'm no mechanic but me and somebody with more knowledge have been able to figure a couple things out. Fuel is flowing to the injection system, haven't yet confirmed spark on the plugs but when one was out of the farthest cylinder from the distributor, the starter had this uneven sound, so obviously something was affected by removing the plug. All the ignition stuff is connected.

Could an electrical short be the cause of this? Thanks dudes for helping me fix my daily driver, the search function ain't workin right now by the way =p

RCautoworks

Take the distributor cap off and see if the rotor fell off.

91CivicHatchback

similar problem happened to me...pulled up to a stoplight and it jus cut off and every time i tried startin it it would pop thru the exhaust and intake so i figured it jumped timin...but it didnt...but u should check that to...but what happend to me was the rotar button MELTED and turned 180 degrees on the shaft

M1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Take the distributor cap off and see if the rotor fell off.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Will do come daylight *prays to the Honda gods*

M1

The rotor is still on. Does it look messed up? Check out the pics of the cap and rotor.

crex23

Same thing just happened to me, I was cruising along at about 40 mph, and the engine just shut off. Come to find out my timing belt broke. Good luck with your car

M1

Are you kidding?!? Will check that though.

88 rex

What's with all that white stuff?

Slow ass EF

looks a little burnt. you might try replacing the cap and rotor

e jay one

i would check for spark before you go spending money on stuff you might not need.

gen2fanatic

i had something similar happen to me in my 91 teg... i was accelerating at like 40-45 mph and it just shut off. getting fuel but no spark. come to find out my ignition coil went bad. i had a spare dizzy i just threw on and a few hunderd miles later it happened again. i bought a new coil and put it in (very easy and cost like 50 dollars) and it started again..

i dont know, but that what happened to me, just trying to help. good luck

Slow ass EF

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gen2fanatic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i had something similar happen to me in my 91 teg... i was accelerating at like 40-45 mph and it just shut off. getting fuel but no spark. come to find out my ignition coil went bad. i had a spare dizzy i just threw on and a few hunderd miles later it happened again. i bought a new coil and put it in (very easy and cost like 50 dollars) and it started again..

i dont know, but that what happened to me, just trying to help. good luck</TD></TR></TABLE>

eL_cArLos

It could be the ignition control module that **** happened to me on the Freeway earlier this summer...

M1

I'm stranded without my shop manual over here, just need to be sure, is the coil actually in the distributor or in other words, somewhere within that unit behind the distributor rotor?

fernruffryders

uneed a new cap, the white stuff is not normal, check for spark in all four wires. could be timing, if u hear ure gas pump prime when u turn the key, then eliminate gas, which i think u already did. so next thing is spark. i could be wrong, but that white stuff looks weird.

143MYVTECEF

Yeah i would say definitally check the ignition coil... happened on my 1990 teggy i dunno how many times...i have come to relize that the distributor on LS motors is very week and a prone place for faliure

M1

The coil is in the distributor yes? A friend of mine seems to think it is. In his car it is seperate, and he's actually had it short on him before. But that was a Buick Good chance I'll replace the distributor and cap too, not so much because of the white stuff but because the connection plug through which the distributor is fed current has a charred mess around it that smells like an exploded cap from a capgun.

Once again I ask "The coil is in the distributor yes?"

splitime

You must be the only EF I didn't see on the side of the road yesterday. Saw 2 red hatches, one on 94 inspecting his engine bay and the other (completely stock looking) that broke down across from SuperDawg.

Do a quick fuse check... just in case.

Check for spark, pull one plug wire, stick a long screwdriver into it, hold it near metal ground on car while someone cranks motor over. If it sparks... not dizzy... but check all 4 and all connections inside the distributor anyways.

If no spark, considering how the cap/rotor looks....i'd suggest replacing them and then looking into the ignition coil if those aren't sutible.

M1

It's alive! Replaced ignition coil, distributor cap, and rotor. Total cost ~$100. Now the exhaust note sounds smoother than before. Thank you all for your help!