Started car other morning car started missing really badly, began troubleshooting ignition. Pulled plugs, cap, rotor and started to diagnois, put back together now no spark. Sounded like a case of a bad ICM, so troubleshooted ICM, Coil, replaced ICM, still no spark. Any ideas? Reading through different forums, threads seems might be a ground problem? Any/all ideas would be appreciated.

 

by icm do you mean ignition control module ??? honda has lot's of problem's with ignitor's (what tells the coil to fire) if you have a tach and it doesnt move when cranking it's probaly bad if move's but still no spark try a new coil. i have seen dizzys with bad bearings melt the rotor and it spin on the shaft. but the you would have spark still

 

Yes - ICM - Ignition Control Module. I will check out the tach. Any way to cross check the coil? ICM cost $230.00 don't want to throw money into if with a new coil ($100.00) without knowing for sure. Anything else to cross check or rule out. Seems awful funny I went from missing to no spark.

 

put plug wire on coil and plug in wire then put 12 volts to 1 terminal and ground to other then pull off ground and watch for spark . you should be able to get a whole new distributer for around $300.

 

you were better off buying another working used dizzy for that price. i would check the fuses first....

 

Problem that I have been having is that I have the Hitachi Dizzy. All parts that are at the local part stores (Advanced Auto Parts, Auto Zone, Oreillys) are all Tech. Are they universal? The parts look very similar, but do not completely match, so had to get the ICM from the dealer. Dealer doesn't even carry the whole distributor anymore.

 

Looking for clarity on the parts differences between Tech and Hitachi.. please respond (see posts above). Any other suggestions on troubleshooting?

 

Thought I would update this thread as I was able to resolve my no spark issue. Problem ended up being the Ignition Coil. Problem is that all the troubleshooting in both a Haynes manual and the actual Honda Full Service Manual would otherwise point you to the ICM given that there was resistant being put out by the coil, it kept reading good, where as the ICM was reading faulty. The other confusing part is that I actually had the Tech Distributor dispite the fact that it had a Hitachi stamped ICM, another very confusing deal by Honda. If you need any additional clarity on what I did to help the next person please post and I will update.

 

hey man...I ran into the problem on my 98 hatch auto matic, now I put my 97 civic coupe dizzy which is working fine and still wouldnt work...I changed the main relay, nothing, ecu and nothing...so im running out options.....any ideas!?!? thanks!

 

check all of your fuse's check for power at coil in dizzy. check crank and cam sensor's

 

checked all the fuses and they are good....now i havent checked the cam or crank sensors yet...do those go out that fast?? thanks!

 

ya they ethier work or they don't.