I've worked on Civics and integras this is my first accord experience. The car died on his way to work. The main relay is fine. I checked the coil and it was not within spec so we got a new one but I still don't have spark. I checked the igniter as per the manual. Everything is good.

It is down to two things I'd like you guys to tell me what you think.
There is no CEL.
So:
The TDC CYP sensors in the dizzy are bad. even though that should instantly give a CEL
or the ECU is bad.

Any ideas?

 

Almost all of your theories are incorrect. You say there is no CEL and you say the main relay is fine, if the main relay is fine then it should give a bulb check for 2 seconds while it is priming the fuel system. So lets clear that up, do you have a burnt out CEL bulb, if so it will need to get changed so you can check for codes.

A out of range pick up in the distributor will not set a code so if it is bad (by being out of range) it will not turn on the CEL, you have to ohm out these sensors too BUT, an ohm test on the coil and the pickups is not a great test but I concide for folks with limited resources, it is a good place to start, just dont throw the old one away until you are 100% sure the old one was the cause, in your case, you have not yet proved the old coil to be bad. So you have 12 volts on the blk / yel wire going to both the coil and the ignitor, please verify that for us. Do you have a dwell meter to check the charge time at the coil negative, can you check the AC volts out of the pick ups in the distributor, if you put a test light on the coil negative and crank the engine does the light pulse on and off or just pulse the bulb enough to go a little dim and bright again. Best checked at night since you have time on your side. Back to the main relay, please list the items that get power when you know you have a good main relay for us and how you proved those items to be good.

I think the pick ups in the dizzy should be around 350 ohms, is this close? A scope is really needed to verify them but they rarely go bad, but possible. I assume there was no oil inside the distributor cap when you pulled it off. Let us know a little more info please. FORGOT, are you also sure the distributor is turning, just asking.

 

Thanks
The car is currently at my place of work. Checking the timing belt was like the second thing that I checked. All I have to work with is a very poor chilton manual. Thanks for the ohm reading on the pickups. I do not have access to a dwell tester I'll have to make do without. I'll have to check the negative side of the coil with a test light.

I haven't thrown anything away. The old coil was supposed to have 2k to 3.3k ohms between two of the terminals and the old coil had NO resistance. I thought for sure that the coil was the problem.

There was no oil in the dizzy.

Sorry, the CEL is functioning. You can turn the key on and the CEL turns on and then turns off. But it is not actually throwing any trouble codes.

I verified that the Main relay is working by hearing the fuel pump cycle for three seconds when the key is turned on. And there is power at the ecu.
I used to this to my integra I could keep everything plugged in and turn the key on and remove the dizzy from the head and physically turn the dizzy and get the injectors to click, but this car doesn't do this.
I checked continuity between the igniter and the coil. The wires all check out there.

 

Off the top of my head I do not know if your dizzy has two or three pick ups in it, if its two, yes you may need to crank the engine to get injection, if it has all three, then turning the dizzy by hand on many cars will work but on your Honda (if it does not work) then its because you are turning too slow.

You see a pick up works from magnatism, I know you know this but turning it by hand will only produce a little magnatism and a little AC Voltage, cranking at say 400 RPM will produce the 4 volts that Honda requires for the ECM to time the injectors and coil / ignitor. Something like that, I know that 2 volts AC peak to peak is not enough coming out ot the pick ups. Using a drill with a home made adaptor and making sure it is spinning in the correct direction should give both injection and spark. Spinning backwards, the ECM will not see a correctly oriented waveform such as going from positive to negative on the down slope, something like that.

 

I have the same damn problem....did a routine tune up for an uncle, and it ran, he drove it about a quarter mile and it died. It just cranks. I have fuel, but no spark. CEL goes on for 2 secs, and fuel pump primes. Let me know if you find the fix please, sounds as if we are in the same boat.


If you do find the cure can you email me at s_esquierdo@yahoo.com