jnowka

Greetings Gents, long time reader first time poster.

I've got a real stumper going on but it may just be because it's a little out of my league.

The symptoms: No spark condition on d16y7 2000 honda civic lx.

Vehicle background: Bought in 2010 with 160k on it. Replacement junk yard engine installed by mechanic 3000 miles later (blown head gasket). For the last 50,000 has ran real well other than than a little oil leak.

Problem Start: About three months ago out of the blue walked out to the parking lot after work and it wouldn't start. No spark at distributor and since I was in a parking lot I just replaced it with cheap-o refurbished one from autozone. Fired right up and I was on my way.
That one lasted two months. Same thing. Parking lot no start. Brought that one back to autozone since it was still under 90 days and they swapped it no charge. Again started right up drove home. Then the next morning again no start.
This time I pushed in the garage and started tearing it apart. I researched every post, youtube video, and haynes manual I could find. I pulled cap and rotor off, no oil, burn marks, or corrosion. I used my test light and there was battery voltage at the primary and secondary windings, but no pulse during cranking. I did however observe pulse during cranking on one of the fuel injectors. So I ordered a new coil and icu from amazon along with new wires and plugs. While I was waiting for those to arive I checked my g101 ground (somewhere I read that poor grounding can fry coils up). I pulled it off and wire brushed it real good and then re-attached. Then I went around and wire brushed every chassis ground I could find. After that I unwound the distributor connector and checked all the wires for cracks. I used my multimeter to check resistance at the plug for the different sensors per a chart I found deep in the Internet. Nothing anywhere unusual.

So my stuff from amazon arrives change the plugs and wires first then coil and icu. Still no spark, still no pulse on the coil negative terminal.

I read a lot of posts about not using autozone Chinese junk. So I track down a distributor out of a wrecked d16y7 on craigslist. Put it and it starts right up. So I'm letting it warm up while I look for my timing light and after about five minutes it stalls. I try to start it again and nothing.

*Now for the weird part*:
So since I was getting ready to adjust my ignition timing I already had the passenger kick panel off. So I dug around for the service connector and jumped it. Car started right up. I adjusted the timing which was only off about two or three degrees. Shut off the car. Took my pins out of the service connector and started it up again. Started no problem. It's running in the garage right now and has been for the last 20 minutes. What is going on? Is my ecu going bad? I have not had a single check engine light the whole time (other than when I jumped the service connector).

Thanks in advance,
James

tony_2018

Check your grounds, check your spark plugs for oil. Also your main relay could be the culprit but you'll need a magnifying glass to check the solders for cracks.

Former User

You mentioned the lack of spark for these episodes. Did you also check whether fuel pump primed?

What is the current engine and ECU?

jnowka

Which grounds specifically? I checked and cleaned the ones I could see in the engine compartment including the g101. It's difficult to name the others because the haynes manual isn't well labeled.

The old spark plugs were well worn but oil free, the new ones are two days old.

I hear the fuel pump prime and main relay click. I haven't checked for fuel pressure because when it starts it runs fine. Also I don't have a pressure guage yet and the fuel filter bolt is so corroded on there (even after wd40) that I'm afraid I'll break a fuel line if I try any harder to get loosened.

jnowka

Current engine is d16y7

ECU: 37820-P2E-A92

Former User

The next time the engine won't start and lacks only spark, test the Yel/Grn wire that runs from the ICM to the ECU for a short or open.