I already posted this on the civic forum but i'm not getting much help. Okay so I have a 97 Civic with a B16 and lately i've been having a problem with no spark so I replaced the coil in the distributor because it looked burned internally. After replacing that I finally got some spark but it seemed weak and it was only from the second plug wire. This leads me to believe that either I have high resistance in my plug wires or that my ignition control module is on it's last leg. Please help me figure this out, i've done alot of tests on the ignition systam but can't quite figure it out. Thanks, Kevin.

 

Some help would be great.

 

if it was me i would check
A. the plugs condition
B. the resistance in the plugs as stated . and look for arching to the cylinder wall.
C. if both were good replace/swap the icm.
D. if those don't work look at the computer.

 

The plugs are new, and i'm looking into replacing the wires. Where do I buy an i.c.m? I can't seem to find a place that sells just the ignition control module.

 

I would suspect that the cause of firing only on the number two is the cap, wires, and/or plugs. While your ignitor COULD be bad, a bad ignitor causes erratic firing on ALL cylinders (if these other components are good). It has no way of knowing which cylinder is firing. And it would NOT reliably fire only every fourth time. So change these components first. On the other hand, it is entirely possible that the ignitor is bad and it IS firing erratically on all four cylinders. But you only see spark on the number two because one or more of the above components is bad. However, replace these components first, as the ignitor is MUCH more expensive.

I should also note that a bad ECU can cause erratic spark firing AND not throw a code. It happened to me.