Ticket2ride21

Hiya... Im Dave. /wave hand

I just found this forum cause im trying to figure out what the hell happened to my civic.

I have a 96 civic EX with Vtec Engine. Im not entirely "fluent" in mechanics but I speak a lil. So i was running about 3k rpms and my car sputtered ONCE then hard stalled. I rolled it into a parking lot and tried to start it. It wouldnt fire. it will turn over but wont even remotely fire. I let it sit for 12 hours. tried again...same problem. Had it towed to my house and now im working on it. Things i've tried...

1. timing belt. I thought maybe it snapped. Still in tact and working fine it looks like.
2. distributer cap checked to see if it was turning...
3. pulled the spark plug wires and my buddy who's helping me (knows a lil more than i do) said when you ground those and try to start the car you should see a spark. He said he checked 3 out of 4 and none of them were sparking...

which leaves me here. We took a break...and here I am. What could it possibly be?

~Dave

AutoXer

Are you getting fuel?

snatch

3 things to usually check for in this situation are fuel, spark, and compression. You checked for spark and weren't getting it. It could be the distributor, or something internal to the distributor. Did the rotor look good inside the distributor? I'm not sure if the ignitor inside might cause this problem as well.

You might also need to check your main relay. Turn the car to the 'on' position, see if you can hear the fuel pump prime, if you can it's not the main relay.

coneheadsracing

ICM or distributor. The icm is in the distributor, could me coil too. Check all the wiring leading up to the distributor also. Any mods done, recent work you've performed.

Ticket2ride21

nope. none. NONE of the spark plug wires are sparking. Im gonna take the cap back off and start looking....

Ticket2ride21

is there anything I should try before i try taking to rotor out of the distributor? I'd like to work these problems out from simplest to most difficult.

what about the ECU? how would i know if it was bad?

~Dave

x_outlaw_x

i think its the coil...ive had this problem tons of times

Ticket2ride21

is that a bitch to replace?

x_outlaw_x

no, just pull off the distributor cap, rotor, then theres 2 philips screws holding the wires on the coil, undo those and pull the coil out

Ticket2ride21

im having the vehicle towed to the mechanic near me. Free towing and 45 bucks later he'll tell me what's wrong with my vehicle

FLyByZTYler

You might need a new ignition module and most likely new wires. the wires arn't too expensive, but the module your gonna get raped on.

TurboGoKart

Were the spark plugs attached to the spark plug wires when you were checking for spark?