Justin1168

I need help. I have a 1998 Civic EX that is a manual transmission. I went to pull out into traffic and the engine just cut out and stalled. It would not start back up. I had it towed back to my house and read up on the symptoms of a crank but no start problem. What I found out is I am getting no spark to the spark plugs. I have plenty of fuel pressure. Everything I am going to list checks out ok; new ecm (last ditch effort to fix this problem), ignition switch is good, timing belt is not broken (although I did not check if it slipped a tooth), new main relay (old one checked out but replaced anyway after reading how faulty they are), new distributor with coil, ignitor, and sensors (old one checked out but Honda tech spent 6 hours diagnosing to tell me to replace it so I did and nothing). All fuses are good. The ground is good going to the thermostat. When the ignition is turned to the start position the engine light comes on for 2 seconds and turns off. Also when cranking the car over the oil and battery light turn off. After the car stalled out the only lights that came on were the oil and battery light.

The only thing that does not check out and I cannot find any information on is this. When putting a test light from the positive on the battery to the negative on the coil it is hot when the key is off. When the ignition is cranked on there is no power to the negative side of the coil at all. From what I read there should be no power while the ignition is in the off position and when cranking the light should pulsate (which it does not).

Could it be a burnt wire somewhere or a short? Is there anything I am not checking? Please help. I am stumped. I have not checked the crankshaft sensor. Is that something I should check?

Justin1168

Ttt. Can anyone help?

jdmcivicsi187

Ya check that and the position of your distributor I always put mine in center. I had the same problem with a civic I bought a week ago. But all that was wrong was the distributor's position and had a broken tab on the end of distributor where It meet the camshaft. After I fixed that I jumped the car and boom started right up

lmananT

were you able to figure this out?

Justin1168

No the car still does not have spark I've done everything i can think of.

Eg5ir1

Is there a different ecu you can test it with? My friend went through something similar and it ended being that his ecu took a **** out the blue with no warning watsoever no burnt electronics smell, probably the some soldering came lose. 5 minute check if you have a buddy that can lend you an ecu.

09chaplak

This might help even more.....Part 4 -How to Test the Igniter, Ignition Coil Accord, Civic, CRV, and Odyssey

Justin1168

I finally figured out what was wrong over the weekend. It was a combination of 2 things. First was a grounding problem and second was a blown coil. The grounding problem wasn't at the ground wire but between the thermostat housing and engine block. For some reason it was getting ground only part of the time and was difficult to diagnose. Even my local Honda couldn't find it as they said all the grounds were good. Once that was found we reinstalled everything and found the coil wasn't producing spark. Replaced that and everything is good now. I guess to anyone who reads this not only check the ground wire but check that the thermostat housing is grounding to the block (I would have never thought it to be that).

lmananT

congrats and thanks for the update