EcivicG

car: 1993 civic dx w/ essentially stock D15B7 cheapo I/H/E that came with the car.

so the story starts was me driving my buddy home because his DA's timing belt snapped on him the night before, and after i drop him off i start driving home.

i'm in third gear at about 3500rpm's or so, and the car feels like it ran out of gas but without the bogging as if it was gasping for air.

so at 3500 the engine stalled and its running threw 3rd dropping in rpm, throw it in nuetral and coast to a stop.

try to start it and nothing happens.

before any of this happened i had replaced the cap, rotor, spark plugs, plug wires and oil.

swap everything back to what i had had before except the spark plugs because i had no deep sockets with me, to see if it was something that i had bought failed.

no start.

thought maybe it was a fuel issue such as the filter being clogged, swapped it out with a cheapo fram one today and still no start. pulled the plugs looked at them and they all looked fine.pulled one out and stuck it in the spark plug wire boot then had a friend crank the engine to check for spark and im getting no spark.

all the plugs are gapped to OEM specs and are new ngk's.

the only idea i could see is it being the coil but im not sure.
and i can't check the resistance right no with no voltometer, and i don't want to spend $85.00 on something that isn't needed to hope my car will run again.


i wanted to have your guys input on this, and see what you thought.

b16a00si

did u check any of ur fuses

EcivicG

haven't gotten under the dash yet, but none of the fuses in the interior popped, or i didn't hea them pop at least.

fuses under the hood are all good.

but do any of the fuses even have anything to do with the igntion?

jadziasman

Have you checked for any check engine light codes? If the dizzy failed, the ECU would set a code that can be read with the ignition key switched on but the engine off (KOEO). Do you know how to do this?

In the absence of CEL codes, the likely causes are the distributor or the main relay. If you don't have a Helm manual yet, go to the site below. The first troubleshooting procedure is for a no start condition - something I have encountered only once in 13 years of driving a Civic and that was due to a cracked dizzy cap.

http://hondatech.info/downloads/Auto/Manuals

EcivicG

i have a helms manual, and the last on the no start trouble shooting was the ignition coil.

if my rotor still spins my distributor should still be good right??

also, i don't have any CEL's.

jadziasman

Not necessarily, the dizzy has three sensors built into it that run on the rotor shaft - if any of the three fails the car won't continue to run.

Do you have a Harbor Freight store near you? They have digital voltmeters for $10 that are adequate for most auto repair work.

7601chexplicit

check the fuse under the dash for "ignition coil"

slambedcivic

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 7601chexplicit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">check the fuse under the dash for "ignition coil"</TD></TR></TABLE>

theres a new one....

sounds like your coil is bad. they do just up and go bad without warning. ive had them explode in the dizzy on me before. take it out and have it tested at your local autozone.

EcivicG

can they be tested out of the car? because when i called up checker [closest to me within walking distance] they said that it had to be in my car to be able to check it.

and almost everyone that i know well with 92-95 single cams moved so i can't just swap they're coil out and see if it really is my coil.

slambedcivic

checker = idiots..... its an internal coil and can not be checked while in the car. it needs to be removed and taken to autozone. They employees there are almost fool proof because they have catalogs on HOW to test the coils. get a ride and do it right.

94EG8

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jadziasman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Not necessarily, the dizzy has three sensors built into it that run on the rotor shaft - if any of the three fails the car won't continue to run.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I've heard that a lot, but i've had 2 seperate distributors that the crankshaft position sensor died in and the car ran fine, i just had a cel, in one of the these distributors i also had the cylinder position sensor die, the crankshaft position sensor was also bad at this time and it still ran with 2 out of 3 sensors bad, but it would only rev up to 3 grand or so and worked like crap.

EcivicG

alright man thanks. i'll end up having to bus it, but 2.50 and an hour in a half is better then 85.00 wasted

but you guys think its probably the coil and if not that 1 out of the three sensors?

jadziasman

If you're sure you have a no spark condition, it's probably a bad coil or igniter. You realize of course that YOU will be the one changing it out of the dizzy and not Autozone or Checker.

EcivicG

lol yeah i would think that i would have to work on my own car. plus i'm pretty sure they won't cater to me by driving to my house to check my **** out.

but you make it out to be something hard.

whats the difficulty rating on this?

EcivicG

it should only be removing the cap, rotor, that black cover, the two screws holding the black/yellow and white/blue wires, and two screws holding the coil onto the dizzy right??


Modified by EcivicG at 12:20 PM 8/10/2008

jadziasman

Basically, yeah. However, sometimes the rotor screw is a real pain to loosen and sometimes the rotor just won't come off the shaft easily. Sooooooo, a ten minute job can end up a 2 hour one pretty easily. Let's hope you don't run into too many surprises.

EcivicG

yeah when i tried replacing my fuel filter thinking maybe it was clogged on the return line i had to get my *** in the engine comartment and try to get all the leverage i could fit in there to lossen it.

but i've taken out the rotor and switched it out at least 2 different times in the last 2 days so the screw holding that on is all good..

so i called two autzones and one of them said that they can test coils, i mentioned it was an internal coil so i could jsut take it out and bring it to them and they could test it and he said yes. but they don't have the harness to test the ICM's or ignition coils. called up one that was actually closer then the last one and he said that autozone can't test internal coils, and that they can only test external msd/old school chevy types with the wire running from the cap to the coil.

jadziasman

Page 23-101 in the Helm manual has the test procedure for the coil. All you need is an ohm meter. I'm surprised (well maybe NOT surprised) that the guys at Autozone would not know how to test an ignition coil. Anyway - get a digital multimeter - even a cheap one from Radio Shack will do - and test it.

EcivicG

the resistance between the coil primary terminals should be about 01.2 and the resistance between the positive coil terminal and the high tension [secondary] terminal shoud be about 16.0 right?

how much do multimeters cost about? cause im kinda tight on money and i've already spent about 150 on the minor tune up, 100 on the tow, and now 85 on a coil if its bad.

but then again i don't want to spend 85 on something thats not broken, but what esle could it be

but all in alll you think its probably the coil?

jadziasman

If you don't have the basic tools - a voltmeter being one - it's difficult to pinpoint an electrical problem. My 99 Buick LeSabre had two bad spark plug wires that were causing a severe misfire problem just a couple of months ago. I needed a multimeter to test the wires.

Multimeters are cheap now - believe me. The store I mentioned to you earlier - Harbor Freight has them on sale for $2.99 sometimes. I own two of these.

Go to http://www.harborfreight.com and see for yourself. Sears should have a cheapo multimeter also. No way would I spend $85 for a "good" multimeter (Fluke) because I just don't need all the features and functions they have. Harbor Freight has a store in Las Vegas - I just checked.


Modified by jadziasman at 4:22 PM 8/10/2008

x69tooshort69x

hey bro.. i had the same problem but i replaced the whole distributor, did a full tune up and everything possible to fix the problem.. tell me this!! when you put the key in the ignition and turn it to the second setting(the one right before starting the car) does your check engine light go off after 2 seconds???? do that and get back to me!!!!!