1992 Accord Sedan Auto w/ 273k

My wife killed the car today i haven't been on the honda forums in a while so i am hoping you guys can help me out. By the explanation she gave me, "The car just turned off and I was losing speed, coasted to a stop and couldn't start it again" I immediately though Timing Belt, which on a car this old and high mileage pretty much meant junk yard to me. When I checked the car at the scene, no fluids on the ground, coolant reservoir looks ok (not milky and foamy) Got it towed back home and here are the facts and how it stands right now:

Removed valve cover of F22, inspected timing belt from cam gear, no snap, tear, or adbnormal wearing. Plenty of oil in remaining in the head, not suspection oil pump failure. Turned the engine over by hand with a wrench on the crank pulley, no flapping belt, nor any mechanical resistance or grinding.

With the battery connected, the engine will turn over several times with normal resistance and no mechanical errors. Confirmed fuel pump does prime and the line is pressurized,

Removed sparkplugs, cyl 1,3,4 plugs are all ok. Cyl 2 plug was somewhat wet with oil, but has a known leak from a valve seal, no concern there.

Removed dist cap, cleaned contact, clean rotor contact.

Checked all fuses, relays under hood and dash, nothing blown.

Jumpered ECU diagnostics harness, no error codes from ECU.

Things left to try:
Alternator? How do I check it? Can a bad alternator shut off a car with no prior warning or erratic behaviour?

Ignition coil, Distributor? How to I check this?

(Insert your suggestions here)


Modified by dogpile5 at 2:20 PM 4/9/2006

 

If you said the car turns over ok then I don't suspect the alternator.
Pull one of the spark plug wires out and stick a screwdriver in it and place the remaining metal shaft of the screwdriver near a valve cover bolt. Have the wife spin it over to see if you have any spark. If no go to the next part. If yes disregard the following.
Have you replaced the coil or ignitor lately? Pull the distributor cap off, button and dust cover. Then pull the coil out. Inspect it for arcing behind the heat shield and check resistance from all three points. If that ends up ok then I would suspect you have a bad ignitor.
Good checking though.

 

for the coil you can check with a multimeter.. pretty easy and only takes couple minutes.. the primary resistance between the square terminal and round terminal should be between 0.6 and 0.8..secondary resistance should be between 14k and 22k ohms for a 92.

 

i can tell you that we do very minimal work on this car. in the 3 years i have been with my wife, she has done nothing but oil changes and tire rotations. i will check on the things you mentioned, thanks for the tips.

 

how's this look?

 

99.789% sure that it is the ignitor. I had to replace them on most high milage accords. Bad altanator will give you a battry light for about a week before the car dies. hope that helps.

 

You are measuring the primary resistance. Your ignition coil is shot. Should read 0.8 to 1 ohm.
Just to be sure you are not measuring resistance across a shorted ignitor, remove one wire to the coil and measure again.

About $60 from Advance Auto.

 

Please don't buy a coil or ignitor from anywhere but your dealer. Majestic Honda will have a pretty good price if you want to check them out. But aftermarket ignitors and coils for a DD arent a good idea. If you use the dealer part you will probably never have to replace it again.

 

thanks for the tips, i'll post more information in this thread when i get off work today.

 

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/home.htm
Sorry I forgot the link here ya go.
BTW I have the same meeter at home in my toolbox. (I have my Blue Point at work)

 

did you chk to see if you car is getting spark at plug wires like MOO suggested ?? if not yet ,, i would chk that before checking operation of coil and ignitor ..
If you get spark at plug wires than you are wasting your time checking coil and ignitor ,, the problem is somewhere also
If no spark than you are on the right tracks

 

hey guys im new to this forum but i am having somewhat the same problems with my 92 ex accord. it was workin completely fine just yesterday and now that i went to my car this afternoon i wouldnt start. same symptoms somewhat... the engine just turns and it doesnt sound weak at all. battery seems fine. they only known problem that i have is that my dizzy kinda leaks a bit of oil due to the dizzy o-ring i believe. other than that, could it possibly be my starter? ignitor? once again sorry for the newb qustions.

any help would be great.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by t0md0 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hey guys im new to this forum but i am having somewhat the same problems with my 92 ex accord. it was workin completely fine just yesterday and now that i went to my car this afternoon i wouldnt start. same symptoms somewhat... the engine just turns and it doesnt sound weak at all. battery seems fine. they only known problem that i have is that my dizzy kinda leaks a bit of oil due to the dizzy o-ring i believe. other than that, could it possibly be my starter? ignitor? once again sorry for the newb qustions.

any help would be great.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Create a new thread and i'll be happy to help. I don't want to get away from the topic at hand.

 

i have tested with the screwdriver grounding to the valve cover, and there is no spark. i waiting til night to do it, and cut off all the lights in the garage. looks like i'll be ordering from manchester here shortly.. thanks for advice and quick responses.

 

you check the main relay?

 

i just noticed something..........you said your car is a 92,, the distributor that you have in the picture has internal coil,, I could have sworn 92 accords had external coil..is that a different distributor that you are testing ??looks like from a 90-91 car..

 

yes, you are correct. the distributor is not from a 92 accord. since this is my wifes car, and she inheirited it from her family i just found out that her dad had put in a new motor 8 years ago when the first one died. also confused the hell out of the sales rep at autozone when i brought it in and told him what i needed. ended up selling me the the ignition coil from a civic which was an identical match and part #. put everything back together and it fired right up on the first shot. yes i agree, i should only buy honda oem parts, but i seriously only want to get another 6-12 months out of this car and dump it on a tradein as graduation gift for my wife. $75 + 1 year warranty from manufucturer and this case is closed. thanks for all the help!

 

well,, the main thing is, that it is fixed.........