yakobm

so i've had this 1994 DX Hatch for about half a year. the chassis has like 280,000 miles, and the engine was said to have had about 85,000 (more around 91,000 now) but no papers.... has a d16y8, but the guy who sold it to me told me it was vtec-e because the valve cover said "vtec-e" on it. not sure what was done to it in the past, but it has been stolen and through many owners.

for about as long as i can remember it would idle rough, sometimes as low as 300-400 RPM's. also, on a hot day, it would have trouble starting. but if it didn't start the first time, it would always start the second time after pumping the gas pedal a few times.

just got back from a long trip, and it won't run at all. i had oil spill all over on the inside, i think i didn't push the dipstick in all the way (yeah, stupid). not sure if that's relevant, however, with my car's history.

another problem on my long trip was the positive cable attached to the battery. the day before all this happened, i would have to pop the hood and hold the positive cable and have my girlfriend start the car, because if i tried to start it myself the power would simply cut out. after some fiddling with it, i got that figured out for now, i think the sleeve wasn't covering the wires and that was causing an issue one way or another. once again, not sure if that's relevant.

cleaned out the IAC Valve which was filthy and black. that didn't help. i don't think it's the main relay because i hear the hum and click of what i believe is the fuel pump priming when i switch to IGN2. in fact, i've been able to get the engine to start by pumping the gas 4 times, and priming the fuel pump 3 times or until the hum becomes quiet.

the other day i unplugged the primary O2 sensor and since then i've been able to start the car every time, even after plugging the O2 sensor back in. but it just revs up to 1,500-2000 RPM's and then cuts out and stalls out. if i try to hit the gas while the engine's running, it cuts out and stalls out immediately.

any ideas? i don't know what to check next.

yakobm

haha. can't seem to get an answer anywhere.

honda fossil

try a new i.c.m and coil

yakobm

forgot to mention that all the metal contacts in the distributor cap are corroded and blue/green in color. how likely is it that that is what is causing my problems?

and i don't want to buy $70+ in parts just to try. i'll look up ways to test those parts you mentioned though.

chope045

make sure the tps wires and map wires arnt switched i know the car will run if they are reversed but not right just something to look at

yakobm

the sensor wires weren't switched. not sure how to test the coil and ICM. if i take the spark plugs out of the head and into the plug wire, and hold it near a ground to look for a spark while someone cranks the engine, would that let me know whether the coil and ICM are good or not?

yakobm

so i took a spark plug out, put it back into the wire, and when grounding it to metal, i didn't see any spark.

i then tested for spark at the end of each wire by putting the end of the spark plug wire near a bolt, and there was spark for each one.

are my spark plugs bad? they look fine.

yakobm

so it looks like to check the coil and ICM out i'll probably have to remove the whole distributor, since removing the rotor is a pain in the *** according to this article

yakobm

i removed the distributor.

not sure how to get the rotor off so i can get to the ICM and coil. i removed the screw, the rotor had to be facing downward so i could see it. but it won't just pop off and i don't wanna pry too hard...

hmm.

honda fossil

if you remove the screw on the shaft holding on rotor on then there is nothin holdin the rotor to the shaft just pull it off

yakobm

just to be 100% certain, this is what i'm working with http://i56.tinypic.com/34y8swj.jpg

it won't just come off, it must be stuck on there one way or another. anything i can do to loosen it up?

honda fossil

yep sure remove the screw and pull it off .

yakobm

screw is removed. still won't come off with pulling or prying

yakobm

well, that went bad. tried to pry it off again today and the rotor snapped off, leaving the plastic around the shaft. got some of the plastic off but not all. oh well.

guess it's time to test the icm and coil.

yakobm

between the positive and negative terminal, i get inconsistent readings, but it seems to vary from 1.00 to 10.00, and i guess it's supposed to be at 0.6-0.8 ohms. so that would indicate bad, way too much resistance. i think that makes sense since the screws were corroded and rusted pretty bad. at least one of them was.

between the positive and the secondary terminal, i get a reading of 1 on every scale. basically completely resistant. i don't know if i'm doing it wrong or if it's just gone bad.

gonna take the ICM down to get tested soon.

yakobm

ok, no shops around here can do it for me.

how can i test the ICM with my multimeter?