I have read several posts and watched several YouTube videos and have tried to follow them and check why I'm not getting fire to my plugs. I have a 1997 Acura Integra with a B18C1. It has been swapped over to an OBD1. I'm using a 1995 Civic car harness and a 1995 Del Sol engine harness. The car has been stripped out and is a race car. It ran fine for three practice sessions and then I had an electrical problem and it was burning the R77 in the ecu. After changing the car harness, I have finally got it to where it isn't shorting out anything in the ecu. When I hit the ignition switch, I can hear the injectors click. When I turn it over, no spark to my plugs. I started following instructions and there was no fire to the coil. Here is my immediate question. When I check the coil with a test light, grounded to a body ground, and touch the positive side of the coil, there is power. When I touch the negative side of the coil, there is also power. I admit that I'm terrible with these engines, but this doesn't seem right. Am I correct and if so, what could cause this? OKAY ... I did some more reading and I think I have found that power on both sides is okay. I'm going to do some more diagnostic work tomorrow. You guys shouldn't make fun of me, I'm doing the best I can for an old man that just started trying to mess with these little engines.

 

Your ok man dont worrie about any one flaming ya lol sounds like your on the right path, im just waiting for FCM to chime in but in the mean time which car harness did you replace it with?


Could be a bad ground!

check the thermostat housing for the ground conection, confirm its bolted on the thermo housing and has clean contacts very common issue.

 

The car harness came out of a 1995 Civic. The engine harness is out of a Del Sol, not sure what year. If I did it correctly, it doesn't seem like the igniter is working. When I hold my test light to the negative side of the coil, it doesn't pulse when I crank the engine. Does that mean that either the igniter is bad or the igniter isn't receiving the pulse message from the ecu? How would I check to see if it's the igniter or lack of pulse from the ecu?

 

I checked the ground on the thermostat housing and it looks good. I undid it and cleaned it just in case and the problem persists. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

The only difference I can find in the harness I just replaced the other one with is that there are only four plugs that plug into the interior fuse box. There were five in the other. I was told it didn't matter. Don't know if that's correct or not.

***** I SEARCHED FOR 3 HOURS AND I'M PRETTY SURE THIS SPACE IS FOR POWER DOORS. SO I GUESS I WAS TOLD CORRECTLY. THIS PLUG MAKES NO DIFFERENCE TO MY APPLICATION. I'M GOING TO LEAVE THE REPLY UP THOUGH JUST TO DOCUMENT THE PROCESS I WENT THROUGH.******

 

This is a "new" distributor. I bought it 3 months ago and have only ran it for 45-55 minutes. I'm taking it tomorrow and having it checked to make sure it's good.

 

Is it a new "eBay" dizzy? Those things are hit or miss. I just bought one that worked for 2 weeks until the ignitor failed. I installed a used OEM igniter in it and now it works like a champ. Lets see how long before the coil fails. Previously, I bought 2 other eBay dizzy's that are still working after 5+ years.

Have you tried swapping a known working dizzy to isolate the issue?

 

It's not an EBay distributor. I can't remember the brand, but I bought it at Advance Auto and it cost $290. I know the cost has nothing to do with quality but I hope it's better than a cheap piece of junk off EBay. It seemed like a well machined part.

 

By the way spiff, I had another used one, it was almost the same but the mounting holes were off about an 1/8 of an inch. I have no idea where it came from but until I tried to put it on, I thought it was the same.

 

OK GUYS ... Here's the deal. I think I have a bad ignition control module.

 

I believe you are correct, [an open circuit] about after the plug.

Make sure terminals are free of corrosion and terminal in plug, [female pin] is "tight" you may have to de-pin it and "pinch" it tighter, also when it is de-pined hold the pin itself in one hand and the wire in the other hand and pull if it "stretches" right where wire is cinched the wire is broken inside the insulation, [not uncommon problem on older harnesses that have been "moved around"] 94

 

fcm .. I fixed the plug issue. I did exactly what you said to do and it now has power on both sides of the plug. I have discovered another problem. The ecm or icm whatever it's called doesn't appear to be working. The distributor still had a week of warranty so I swapped it. I'm going to put it back on tonight or tomorrow morning and I'll let y'all know what happens. I really do appreciate all the help. There is one thing that bothers me about these posts though. People like me need help, they get help and then sometimes they don't post if the problem was fixed or not. That shows no respect for people that take their time to help.

 

New distributor cranked and it fired for a split second and then wouldn't fire. Changed plugs, still no fire. Sprayed starting fluid in intake, still no fire. Checked coil and it was firing. Checked #1 spark pug wire and it was firing but I couldn't tell how strong because it's bright outside. Made sure I didn't cross wire the distributor when I put it on and it was good. Changed ecu, still no fire. DAMN DAMN DAMN

I checked the spark plugs and they are firing good. Next step ... I'll check for fuel and timing.

 

OKAY HERE'S THE DEAL ... I don't know how it happened but I had 2-3 problems that happened at the same time. I don't know how or even if they are connected but I finally got it running. There was an electrical problem in my car harness. There was a short that I couldn't find so i swapped car harnesses. That fixed the short. The plug from the car harness leading to the distributor, the GRN/YEL wire was hot on one side of the plug and not on the other. I did what fcn advised me to do and that took care of the connection problem. Spiff .. My ecm or icm, (what ever it's called) was bad in my distributor. I don't know what caused it but it was under warranty, so I swapped it for a new distributor. I have no idea how, but my timing was off a couple of teeth. I set the timing and the car started. DAMN IT'S ABOUT TIME. Y'all have to realize, this car was running perfect, like a scalded dog on the track and it just cut off and all these problems developed. I appreciate every body that helped. Believe me, I would have never figured it out without all the help I got. I'm learning a little about these little engines every day. I'm having to push out other stuff to make it fit in my little brain. I hope it's worth it. Thanks again.

****Found one more problem. Alternator bit the dust when the short developed. I replaced it today.****

 

 

Check your timing belt slack, you don't want to skip timing again your tensioner may have came loose or the belt is too loose. was the engine on decal when you shut down? timing belt flapping from being loose can cause the cam to skip as well as the engine at high rpm shutting down from ignition cut. Also check your ignition timing with a timing gun.

 

wunfstgsr .. I thought about it and I think over several weeks I tried to start my car and it got gas in the cylinder. I think it got semi hydro locked and when it skipped, it came out of time. I reset the timing and made sure the tension pulley was good. I have started the car several times and the long side of the belt is staying tight so it should be good. I think I'm taking it to the track to test today so I guess I'll find out.

 

The belt can feel tight but depending on the cams and belt slack the belt flaps on deceleration and causes the belt to skip teeth on the cam gears. This would have to be a loose belt for stock cams yo cause it but it's a possibility. Take off the cam cover and put the vc back on and rev the engine at the tb and look at the ex side of the belt when it decels and revs down if it flaps then it's loose or you need a timing belt tentioner like the endyne unit.

 

The first thing I did was take the timing belt cover off and toss it. When I rev it up and let off it doesn't have any play in it and doesn't flap any. If it reacts the same under load, it should be okay. In your experience .. if they don't flap under no load, will they flap under load? I think it is good but I have limited experience building and working on these engines. We have raced a bunch of them but I didn't have anything to do with building them or repairing them in the past. By the way, I went to the track but it poured rain and I didn't get to run it.

 

You should be fine if there is no flapping, however, I would replace the timing belt cover it is important especially on a race car, all it takes is a small piece of debris/pebble to jump up and get between the belt and a gear or pulley and the belt can skip or even break and if that happens at speed/high RPM, can you say "interference engine" the sound is ugly and so are the results. 94

 

Glad you mentioned this time after time I tell people put the cover back on because that can happen, this is what happened to my car when my supercharger belt ripped and got in between my timing belt and cause me to skip timing and destroyed my engine

 

That had to suck. In 2004 We were made to remove the timing belt cover three races in a row by track officials. We got so tired of it that we left it off. They have never asked, or even asked anyone since so you have me worried enough about it that I'm going to put it back on.