jdm_sai

today i tried to compression test my car.
i took out the spark plug wires from the dizzy and put them aside. then i didnt take out the all spark plugs, only the one that i was performing the test to. i didnt remove any fuse or unclip the injectors.
compression came out good and i smell fuel. now i dont think i have spark because i tested for spark.
how is it possible that the car was running fine before, and now no spark?
oh yea, and the spark plugs had a little white residue on the tips on all four spark plugs.

shogee

spark plugs are normal, when you cranked over engine did you disable distributor? that could've caused a short and burned out the coil or igniter

jdm_sai

no i didnt. i dont even know you can disable the distributor. so it looks like i could be buying a new distributer then.

zcar4me

I don't understand how not disabling the distributor would've caused it to fail.
I think you've got a problem elsewhere. Are you confident that you really have no spark? Did you disable the fuel pump when checking compression? If not, and especially if you smell fuel, there's probably large amounts of it in the cylinders.

jdm_sai

i looked in there and it was kinda wet (no visible puddles).
i have air gun blowned them in high pressure for 10 sec, stop 5 sec, blown again, stop, then blown with lower pressure on all four cylinders. i also have air gun blown the spark plugs and lighted them with matches a little. then waited for 30 minutes with the spark plugs out. i installed assembly and tried starting with no luck. yes, i checked firing order more than needed, its good.

jdm_sai

i do doubt my checking spark technique.
first, i had a homemade spark tester that i connect one end to ground and the other end to the spark plug treads. i connected the ground to the ground wire on vavle cover. the homemade spark tester is a basically wire split in the middle with nails about 1/8 inch apart so you can see the spark jump.
it didnt spark so i tried the normal way and touched the spark plug to the valve cover, then wouched it to the block. still no spark.

jdm_sai

by the way, its a I/H/E but basically stock 95 gsr engine.

zcar4me

Hmmm, yeah you should get a nice spark coming from the plug if you hold the threaded part to ground. How are your grounds anyway?

jdm_sai

i didnt touch the ground wires at all, but looked at them and visually look good.

jdm_sai

looking at distributer, from passanger wheel,
34
12

jdm_sai

Installed a working dizzy and thing fired right up. dono what the cause was that my old one went out, but i'll use your excuse.

Former User

Tip:
You must remove the ECU fuse in the hood fuse box to suppress spark and fuel when doing a cylinder compression test. If you don't remove the fuse, you will blow the coil in the distributor because spark produced by the coil will have nowhere to ground.

shogee

cool at least its fixed, now you know in the future what i usually do is just unplug the wiring harness to the dizzy. and also unplug all the injector clips to disable them too

jdm_sai

since the dizzy i tired is not mine, its time to dump money into one.
but first, what is this that i hear about replacing coils in the dizzy?
sounds cheaper to me. what do i got to do.

shogee

personally id just get a whole new one because you dont know what else can be fried inside the dizzy since honda dizzys have many built in sensors and stuff

Autointeg

just replace the coil/igniter, you blew it by sparking it with the chasis, dizzy'll cost you over a hundred, coil/igniter is only like 60 bucks, open up the cap and take off the rotor u'll see the coil, it has the spring on it, dont lose it.... has couple four head screws etc.. simple..

supra-n-civic

really its just easyer to pull the fuse to the ecu. it does the same job only in about 3 seconds

jdm_sai

after looking around for distributors...yes, over a $100. i think i'll just get a used one after winter since i'll have a couple months to save before the car comes out of storage. after thinking about buying coil/igniter, $60 is too much to be risky for me. dont wanna do it and end up still not working.
thanks everyone for your advices.

jdm_sai

ok, to end this tread, i'd like to say i bought a new ebay dizzy for 120 bucks.