Ace of Spades

I'll try and make this as easy as I can to understand.

My car was running just fine, when I noticed the radiator was leaking.
I ordered a new one (which turned out to be made out of metal, the old one plastic) and installed it. After everything was finished, I went to start the car and it wouldn't start. It turns over but no spark that I can tell. I have pulled each plug and grounded it out to see if there was spark, and got nothing. I know I have fuel, 'cuz I can practically smell it in the next county. The plugs are saturated after I try to start it. To date, I have replaced the plugs, cap, rotor, and the Ignition Control Module (Ignitor). My coil checked out O.K. as well, or at least the resistance readings were the same as a new coil from the local NAPA parts store. I have gone over just about everything I can think of or have read about in the Haynes repair manual that I have. Please, if anyone can give me any ideas from this information that would help solve this problem, I would gladly name my firstborn after you, or anyone else in your family that you desire! I'm desperate, because I do not want to put another dime into this vehicle if I don't know the cause of it all. Thanks in advance!

Ace

TxTuner

starter?

Ace of Spades

The car turns over, so it shouldn't be the starter.

I just realized this is posted in the wrong place. My car is an Accord, not a Prelude. Sorry for the confusion.

britishlude

Did you have to remove any ground wires to do the radiator swap, if so have you connected them back to the chassis properly ?

Ace of Spades

No grounds were disconnected. The T-Stat housing was not removed either. I have had others suggest that the ground strap from the T-Stat would be the problem. My car does not have this.

britishlude

It's a shot in the dark but have you checked all your fuses especially your main fuse ? just in case you accidentally shorted a circuit whilst doing the swap.

Also my thinking that your original radiator was plastic and now it's metal, it might be making a curcuit that wasn't intended either through your temperature sender or your fan and causing a short ?





Modified by britishlude at 11:15 PM 2/19/2005

gerhard

Is there any chance you took off the cap from the distributor and put the wires back on backwards?

Ace of Spades

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">have you checked all your fuses especially your main fuse</TD></TR></TABLE>

All fuses are good, and I replaced the Main Relay last summer. It went out as well.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Also my thinking that your original radiator was plastic and now it's metal, it might be making a curcuit that wasn't intended either through your temperature sender or your fan and causing a short ?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I was thinking this as well. I thought about grounding out the radiator and seeing if that did it. Funny how I've been spending all this money on parts and could've done that in the beginning. If it is the problem, I will shoot myself in the foot. Well, maybe I won't but it would be justifiable, I'm sure.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is there any chance you took off the cap from the distributor and put the wires back on backwards?</TD></TR></TABLE>
I have checked to make sure they are installed correctly and that's not the problem. I have grounded out the plugs to a ground and still didn't get any spark whilst turning the car over. Thanks for the idea though.

Still troubleshooting......

britishlude

Another outside chance is your ignition switch itself maybe faulty, they have a bad history on the Ludes ( I note yours is an Accord ) and indeed have been the subject of recall and replacement in the past. It has been known to turn the engine over but not allow the ignition curcuit to be live whilst turning ? I had the problem fixed on my Lude it would just die while driving, then turn over and not fire up sometimes.

Ace of Spades

Really. Well, I will have to check into that then. Where is it located and how do you test it for defect?

britishlude

Ignition switch where your key goes can be tested with a circuit tester, sometimes a quick squirt of WD-40 into the ignition itself and a light spray onto your ignition key can be enough to start the car if the switch is faulty.

Ace of Spades

I tried the WD-40 trick and it didn't seem to work. I think I have narrowed it down to the Coil. I thought that the coil was good, from what we were told by the parts store, but I have 12vdc at the coil with the key in the on position and with it in the start position as well. I don't know any other direction to go with it and I'm not sure if there is anything else that would keep the spark from getting to the plugs at this point than the coil. Do you agree?

FTPPRELUDE

that sounds like what was wrong with a buddy of mines MX-6. He replaced the coil and it fired right up.

Ace of Spades

Alright guys! After all this hub-bub about the no spark issue, it was the coil. Now I have practically a new distributor, but oh well. It doesn't hurt to have new parts. Less things to go wrong in the future. Thanks for all your help so far. Will look to you in the future for other questions!

Ace