Hi,

I've built a B20VTEC N/A about 2 summers ago. The car starts up fine when cold, but when the engine is hot (after a 10 - 15 minutes ride), I can't restart the engine. I've changed the dizzy last summer for a new after market one. Can that be the problem? It looks like the engine isn't making the spark. I've noticed also that when I pull out a spark plug wire, I don't always get a spark (when turning the engine to start) when bringing it to a ground spot.

Is there such a thing that after market dizzy have tendency to fail when heated?

 

look up main relay.

 

The main relay may get faulty when it's hot? I do have fuel pressure all the time though, isn't the fuel pump dependent of the main relay?

 

check your dist cap and rotor. problem needs replacing. also check the tps. I had a problem once the car got warmed up, the car ran like crap because the tps had a wire problem.

 

The thing is, the car, when it runs, it runs great. No miss fire, smooth idle and it pulls strong. Wouldn't the TPS jerk the car around if it was faulty?

 

If your car will not spark from time to time then I would look into your distributor. Try an OEM replacement.

 

Yeah, that's what I think too: the distributor. Should I go MSD with ext. coil kit? Would it be less inclined to fail since it has better temperature capabilities? Also, my battery is relocated to truck, and it is grounded there too (I removed the bolt that had a little hinge on it near the lights, grinded the paint to have a clean metal contact and bolted with an impact the ground with a golden right). The contact should be good, but still, the grounding for the engine has to pass through the entire chassis before going to the battery... Not good right?

 

You don't need an MSD Ignition setup. Waste of money IMO

 

I have a 97 dx. Started having similar issues, the car will start if it's been sitting long enough for the engine to cool all the way down. Run the car up to temp, shut it off and try to restart and it just cranks. I've figured out that it's getting excessive fuel and that's the reason for the start trouble. I was checking my fuel pump and decided to see what would happen if I disconnected the pump. Did do andit fired up within a few seconds. I'm trying to figure out what's causing it to dump so much fuel in. When the engine is warm it'll just crank and I smell raw fuel. It also started idling high when it was hot. Cleaned out the IACV and it helped with the idling but not the no start when hot problem. I can get it to start once the engine has cranked long enough for the battery to run down almost completely. My guess is that it starts when the fuel pump doesn't have enough battery power to dump all the excess gas in it.

 

In my case, it was the coolant sensor that went to the ECU that was shot (2 wire sensor). They are about 50$ at the dealer. The ECU always thinks that your engine is cold. This explains the high idle, running rich and no start when hot. It's not your fuel pump, it's the ECU that is sending too much fuel in to start. Too much gas in a hot piston will fail to start.

Hope this helps.

 

This does help a lot thank you. It's what a buddy of mine suspected and what you're saying makes prefect sense to me based on what I know is NOT causing the problem. Any tips for replacing it? It is the one going into the block under the distributor right after the main coolant hose going into (coming out of?) the block, correct? I figure I should drain coolant, disconnect sensor plug, remove sensor, replace, reconnect, refil coolant. Also, when your went out did it throw a CEL code? Mine obviously hasn't or it would have been replaced by now. Thanks a butt load man!