Ok, so I'll start off say I bought my car with a swap. 90 Civic with DOHC ZC. I bought it in Febuary and have been driving it ever since. Well Sunday I decided I was gonna replace my distributor. I replaced the old with the new and it turned over a few times but didnt start. So I just assumed that the dizzy was faulty so I put my old one back in. It turned over and fired a couple times then it just stops firing.

I thought it was the starter going bad and not engaging but I had it tested and it was fine. Basically this is what I've done......I've installed both distributors in multiple times and there's no fire to the coil to either of them, I've checked every fuse three times, I've check the ECU for any cracking or burn marks twice, I replaced the main relay, double checked to make sure my spark plugs are in the right firing order, I have doubled checked to make sure I ordered the right dizzy. TD-03 for OBD 0 ZC and I run on a PM7 ECU. I also earlier tonight followed the wires from the distributor all the way to the computer and theres now faulty grounding or cuts.

The dizzy I bought from a company called AIP Electronics. I did earlier tonight find out that the four wires in the distributor, from looking at it installed from top to bottom....1) has no current, 2) is hot 3) is hot 4) has no current. I'm sorry I'm not sure what that device is but it's beside the ignitor. And that goes for both dizzy's.

Well that's all I can think of in detail that I've found out and done in hopes that someone(s) can please shine some light for me.....I'm reaching in thin air at this point, I literally only unplugged the two wiring harnesses took off my old dizzy and then reinstalled the new one.... If you need to know more I'd be glad to answer.

 

Also, I have made sure that I installed the distributors right and not 180 degrees off.

 

is your fuel pump coming on?
is your ground wire at the thermostat housing clean and secure?

 

Yeah the fuel pump kicks on and everything....my spark plugs get soaked if I turn it over. But as far as the thermostat ground wire, I'll have to go check to be honest.......but was is it grounding?

 

from your description, it sounds like you were checking the igniter wires - this is the igniter:



1. unplug the 4 wires from the igniter
2. turn ignition on
3. check for voltage between black/yellow wire and ground - should be battery voltage - if not, check for open in black/yellow wire between distributor and ignition switch
4. check for voltage between white/blue wire and ground - should be battery voltage - if not, check coil - if coil o.k., check for open in white/blue wire and coil
5. check for continuity between white wire and ground - if no continuity, check for open in white wire between distributor and ECU pins B15 and B17
6. check for continuity between blue wire and ground - if no continuity, check for for open in blue wire between distributor and tachometer
7. check grounds - the ground wire at the thermostat housing is the ground for the ECU, main relay and most of the sensors

 

yeah that's exactly what I was refering to

 

I'll have to try the two things you told me and get back to you.

 

are you sure that the spark plug wires are in the correct location on the distributor? - #1 at top, #3 toward radiator, #4 at bottom and #2 toward firewall

 

Yep, the spark plugs are right......I've double check

 

So I checked the ground wire you were talking about and the wires were connected tight and the grounding was great, I have voltage to the black/yellow and white/blue wire but no continuity from the white and blue. If it means anything, I dont have a RPM gauge in the cluster I had to snip the wire from inside the dash and I installed my own. And I tried checking the ECU pins but I dont think I'm getting a good connection or something is wrong. I checked multiple other wires and couldn't get anything from them except a from a few. But I'm gonna try again a little later when I go back out.

I had a guy tell me that it could be my cam angle sensor on the exhaust cam.....is that a possibility to why I'm not getting any fire?

 

no, that would not be a possibility - it will run even if that sensor is completely bad or the wires are switched - by the way, that sensor on the end of the exhaust camshaft is the CYLINDER sensor not cam angle sensor - best not to listen to those that don't know what they are talking about

 

I hear ya', I'm just grasping for anything at this point and I thought I had read in a few threads about that the engine would still run even if it was a faulty sensor. I'm actually not too sure if my multimeter is reading correctly, what am I looking for in the reading for checking the ECU pins you suggested?

 

depends on what kind of multimeter you have - if you have one that has a continuity function, you would use that - if it doesn't have a continuity function, you just use the resistance or ohms function - meters with continuity function will beep when you have continuity - if you don't have continuity function, set the meter to the lowest ohms setting, like 100 ohms or whatever the lowest setting is - make sure that the red probe is plugged into the hole for checking ohms - ohms is indicated by a horseshoe shaped icon - you will see that with the probes not touching anything, the meter will read infinity or 1 - touch the probes together and you will see that you get a real low reading, like 0.5 ohms, which is just the resistance in the wires for the probes - when checking your wires for continuity, touch one probe to one end of the wire and the other to the other end of the wire - if the meter doesn't change and still reads 1, you don't have continuity - if it reads a low number of ohms, continuity exists - doesn't matter what the reading is and doesn't matter which probe is on which end of the wire - basically, all you are doing is checking to see if the wire is continuous from one end to the other or if a circuit is complete - for instance, place one probe on the negative battery terminal and the other on a bolt somewhere on the engine - if you have good grounds, the meter will show continuity

 

Ok so I've checked the continuity as you've suggested and all of the four except for the white/blue wire has it. I was checking it from inside the distributor and the wiring harness on the passenger side on top of the strut tower.

And correct me if I'm wrong with the next set of things I did.....I checked the white/blue wire from the ignition switch and the first wiring harness under the steering wheel and there's continuity there. Then it seems that the wire feeds to a conjuction of wires under a insulator at the firewall going to the passenger side. So I check the same white/blue from the ignition to the ECU white/blue and there was continuity. Then from the ignition to the wiring harness on the passenger strut tower and had the same readings. Then I tested from the ECU white/blue wire to the wiring harness on the passenger strut tower and got nothing.

But like I said correct me if I'm wrong with what I proceeded to do, because wiring is not my strong point. If I am or not correct in what I did, what is my next step?

And thank you so much for helping me, I've really appreciated it.

 

I have a 91 sedan d15b2 DPFI and I have been having issues with it not starting lately with only previous codes 16 & no start intermittently. I would like to know if the distributor troubleshooting diagram with the ignitor wires applies to my d15b2??? I seen an 88 or 89 civic in the junkyard today with a vacuum advance distributor and DPFI - mine has no vacuum advance. Thanks

 

let's back up to the beginning

1. the car was running when you decided to change the distributor - is this correct or did it quit running and you thought it was the distributor?

2. installed new distributor and it wouldn't start - put old distributor back on and it still wouldn't start

3. you did not do any modifications to the wiring connectors at the new distributor - correct?

4. given the above, it would seem to me that you have only two possibilities - one is that there is something wrong with the distributor, although not likely since it won't run with either - two is that there is a problem in the wiring - if you did nothing but unplug the old and plug in the new, my guess would be that you have a loose wire in the distributor connector - did you check to see if the rotor screw is secure and the rotor turns with the distributor shaft?

some aftermarket distributors have wires in the wrong locations in the connectors - have you verified that the wires on the new distributor are in the right locations?

 

The car was running when I was replacing the distributor. I just didn't know the coil could be seperately replaced, I thought since it was in the distributor that it was built in. So I decided to just go ahead and install the new one since I had bought it, so I unplugged the two connectors from it then installed the new one, then reconnected the harnesses. Cranked it and it was firing but not starting so I assumed the new distributor was just faulty. Reinstalled my old one and cranked it over and it was firing but not starting. This happened for a couple turn overs and then it just stopped firing and has been like that ever since. It turns over, has fuel, but no spark.

Also, ever since this problem I've been using my old distributor since it's stock and the wires are the same and it wasn't bad to begin with......I just thought my hot start problem was my coil going bad. I do know that the rotor does get screwed on tightly and rotates when the cap is off.

But I will check my wire harnesses......but one thing still doesn't make since to me is that the white/blue wire in the distributor doesn't have continuity to it. I do have a manual to try and follow the wire diagram but it's a Haynes and the manual for some reason only goes up to '87 and just CRX for the whole wiring diagram. Which I'm not sure if it would be the same or not.

 

And ED3Sleeper.....Code 16 I believe is a fuel injector code. Google it to make sure but you should try starting from basics (When you have the problem) is are you getting fuel and/or spark.

 

you need to be sure of which wires you are checking - the distributor itself has a white/blue wire inside that runs from the igniter to the coil - doesn't run anywhere else and is connected to nothing else - the distributor has another white/blue wire, completely separate from the one at the igniter, that runs from the TDC sensor in the distributor to the rectangular 5-wire connector on the distributor - the 5-wire distributor connector mates up with a 5-wire connector on the engine harness - the engine harness has a white/blue wire with location matching the distributor connector - the other end of the engine harness has a round 14-wire connector that plugs into another 14-wire connector on the main chassis harness at the passenger side firewall - the main chassis harness has a white/blue wire that runs from the 14-wire connector to the ECU connector at ECU pin C4 - the white blue/wire essentially runs from the TDC sensor in the distributor, through the connectors, to the ECU - it does not go anywhere else and there are no other wires connecting to it - you may find other white/blue wires throughout the car, but they have nothing to do with the distributor - you need to check continuity on the white/blue wire from ECU pin C4 to the distributor - if continuity does not exist, you have a broken wire or are not making contact inside one of the connectors

 

Ok, well that's where I'm at now I suppose.....and if even a attempt for making a good connection fails to show power or continuity to the wire, I suppose that means my computer is damaged?

 

After testing and retesting the wires the white/blue wire just isnt getting any voltage from the computer. The other night I had forgotten that I left the ignition on for a couple hours so I left the battery on a trickle charge for a while. went out today and turned the ignition on and the computer was flashing code 20. So I took the hazard fuse out and put it back in and the computer isn't showing a code anymore.......I have no idea what that was about. So I'm assuming my next step would be a new computer.