theidealone

Ok, so my car ran just fine in October, last time I drove it. It had a fried clutch and blew the diff, so I tore it apart for winter. Here is the run down and some history. Sorry for such a novel. I just figure I should touch all points in the first post.

Car is a 1989 Civic SI with a 92 OBD1 DOHC ZC swap, turbo'd. It ran great all last year, minus I had a main relay issue. I resoldered the relay last year, and never had the problem again.

Over the winter I replaced the tranny, clutch, intercooler, manifold, ECU/EMS, wideband, etc., and traced the dash wiring to find why my brake lights and sunroof didnt work (previous owner's soldering connection broke, at the main fuse box).

Since I had previously done a wire tuck, when I pulled the interior/dash harness, I had to cut those wires at the door/firewall on both sides, and resolder when I put the harness back in. Also, I dont have wipers or the washer fluid. So when I wired in my boost solenoid, I decided to use the green/black wires that are normally for the washer fluid pumps, so I didnt have to route new wires through the frame rail (along with my tuck). Since I dont have that combo switch (wiper/right side), I decided to cut those plugs/connectors out as well.

I pulled the dash harness, and found a wire that was completely fried, had melted the coating/sleeve off of it completely. Its a yellow wire that runs to a 6 pin connector near the main fuse box (would have been located near the shock tower IIRC). So I replaced that with a new wire. I then found that the brake wire had completely broken at the main fuse box, and the white/red main power wire had broken at the fuse box. So I fixed those solder joints.

I also cut out my homemade OBD0-OBD1 ECU jumper, and wired it strictly to OBD1 plugs. (I checked my wiring, all of the color correspond, and I had done this one wire at a time, so I cant imagine I messed it up).

I then soldered everything back up, checked the brake lights (they worked), opened the sunroof (it worked, so I went to putting the car back together. Got the dash, gauges, everything back in and together.

When we went to start it, the main relay seemed the be acting up. It wouldnt come on consistently, same with the CEL. When it did come on, the fuel pump would prime, and I did have fuel pressure. As I kept turning the ignition on and off, the main relay become more consistent. But it wouldnt start. So I checked for spark, and had none.

Put a different ECU in the car (although my new ECU had worked in another car) just for good measure, and nothing changed.

I took a multimeter and found no voltage/power at the distributor (black/yellow wire to the coil). Then I ran a wire straight from the ignition (black/yellow) to the coil, checked for voltage (had 12.xx), went to crank it, and no spark!

I have now pulled the distributor, just to check the coil for the hell of it, it checked out fine. Havent checked my ignitor/ICM yet, because Checkers/Oreilly sucks. I will tomorrow at Auto Zone.

I also pulled the whole dash wiring harness, and cant find any issues with my wiring. I cross checked the colors for the ECU, and that all checked out.

So I need some ideas!!!! What could be my issue? Does anyone have a better interpretation of the distributor wiring than Helms or Honda ETM? My dad (20+ year Honda Tech) said the main relay, although I cant find a reason that it would keep me from receiving power at the coil. Does the main relay interfere with the ignition/distributor power in any way?

Im pretty lost, and losing motivation. Ive tried to do a lot of research, but Im not finding anything that clicks with my situation. Thanks for reading, and thank in advance for any input or help. Sorry for the long read.

theidealone

Sorry, I like to be thorough. :D

Cliffs:
-89 Civic Si, 92 DOHC ZC swap, Turbo, ran fine before I parked it in October.
-Replaced tranny, clutch, turbo mani, intercooler, ECU/EMS, etc.
-Redid some of the dash wiring to find why my brake lights and sunroof didnt work. Also wired in boost solenoid using the washer fluid pump wiring.
-Rewired my ECU harness to OBD1 plugs, getting rid of the OBD0/jumper.
-Car has no spark now.
-No power at the black/yellow wire.
-WHY? Could it be the main relay????
-I need some ideas, before I lose motivation.
-I re-pulled the dash harness to go through. ECU wiring checks out color wise, and the only wires I can see missing are wires to the right/wiper combo switch that I did away with.

ryanseverson

i had the same problem with my crx and we did everything and replaced the ignition control module and the coil and got a new test computer and nothing worked. we finally asked an expert about it and he gave us a wiring diagram for the distributer and we ended up hooking up the wires wrong and we had no spark. switched them around and it fired right up no problem. i guess its worth a try.

theidealone

Thanks for the response. Havent had a chance to get the wiring back in and mess with it. I will try a few things tomorrow...

What wiring for the distributor? Maybe youre referring to the OBD0-OBD1 conversion at the plugs? Yea, its pretty easy to swap the two white wires. But I didnt touch my distributor wiring, so Im sure thats not it.

ryanseverson

go ahead and try that the wires were in the distributer that i got miss placed but it might be different on the civic. The Ignition control module might be bad too because in my car it was bad and when i replaced it i just got the wires misplaced so you should try to replace that it was only like 50 dollars.

ryanseverson

if your tachometer was acting up thats a good sign that your ignition control module is going bad.

theidealone

Naw, Tach never bounced, no issues, ran perfect before I shut it off. And I havent even pulled the ignitor out, let alone mess with any wiring or the dizzy. The worst I have done was pull the coil out to test that, and put it back in.

theidealone

K, so I double checked the wiring at the ECU, just to be sure. Everything there is spot on. So Im sure it has to do with the coil wiring, the black/yellow wire.

So if it has no power, it obviously isnt getting power for spark. But when I ran a wire straight from the ignition to the dizzy connector, I still had no spark??? Any idea where the ground for that is, and if it would keep me from getting voltage at the black/yellow wire?

drawnayr

I finally got me an EF and it is fun! But need to deghettoize it if you know what I mean. I am looking for stock parts like tail lights steering wheel bumpers stuff like that.