Hey I have a 93 prelude with a h22a swap using a h23 distributor and external coil. Two days ago it was pouring rain and I was at a red light the car just dies, not like stall of anything just engine just drops dead. I try to start it back up all it does is keep cranking I smell fuel from trying to crank it to much. I pull out a spark plug wire check for spark no spark. I try it from the ignition coil still no spark. I try to see if the plug from the harness to the coil has juice is does. I changed the ignition coil with another coil I had lying around. still no spark from the coil, tried to change the ICM with one i had in my internal Jdm h22 distributor to my h23 distributor still no spark, now im pretty much at a lost. Anyone has any advice?

 

any suggestion guys? Im stuck right now any at all?

 

try opening your distributor and see if there is any water. also pull all 4 spark plugs and let the holes dry out, you can also spray some wd40 into the holes to help dry out any moisture. let it sit, then hit it with some compressed air.

 

no water in the distributor also ill try that when it stops raining around here. its been pouring the whole week.

 

any other ideas?

 

tried a new coil?

 

the ignition coil may have power but more importantly is it getting the proper signal to spark? try testing for that.

 

signal to spark how do i test? i tried using another coil i had but it still isnt sparking. i tried i different icm from my jdm h22 distributor still isnt sparking. with the old icm it sparked once but after that it wouldnt spark again.

 

Ok have you double checked to see if the distributor is turning while your cranking? pull the distributor off and spin it buy hand (still plugged in of course ) with the ignition on! is there spark? if you want to check for proper signal at the ignition coil let me do some research on the wiring of your car and ill get back to you and tell you witch wires to check you have an external coil with a 3 wire plug right? what are the colors of the wires?

 

i know its blue, black and yellow and i dont remember what color the last one is, ill double check tonight.

 

have you tested your ignition control module?

 

he said he did in his original post

 

so evidentially the ICM gets it ground from the ECM. the ECM gives the ground to the IMC when is sees a signal from the crank sensor. what kinda shape is the crank sensor in? Is it working? plugged in? wires to it in good shape?

 

the crank sensor is also in the distributor correct?

 

am i right about it being in the distributor?

 

I have the almost the same issue, when i turn on my car it wont stay on. But if i give it gas it wil. i replaced the Dizzy, autotensioner, timing belt(thinking it jumped timing), checked the ecu, and it still wont stay on without having to give it gas. I also have an external coil. Checked for vacuum leaks, did compression and all thats good. i cant figure it out. my wideband reads that its lean, so im thinking maybe injectors? fuel pump is good, stock fuel pressure regulator is good. Need help...

 

check to see if you have a sensor by the crank!!

 

you will have to start with giving me the details about what your car is doing and what you have checked! What engine? what model car? obd1?2?

 

What the car is doing is it wont stay on without giving it gas. This happened before any of the listed stuff before. So i replaced and checked everything to hopefully successfully troubleshooted this issue. But it still wont stay on withougt giving it gas.

Ive checked: fuel pressure regulator, checked for vacuum leaks, had the guy who tuned my car double check the tune, checked fuel pump(walbro 255),

Ive replaced: Dizzy, changed the timing belt, autotensioner, cam seals, water pump(while i had all this off).

Engine:H22a4 turbo obd2 with obd1 dizzy(MSD's external coil pack)
Chassis:00' civic si

Hope this is somewhat understood, i cant seem to be anything else besides the injectors, since they are the stock one's and the guy who tuned it maxed them out at 100% duty cycle, to get me reasonable power since i havent bought the 550cc yet. But what are the chances of the injectors going bad?

 

are the injectors firing at idle? what is your TPS output with throttle the plate closed? should be 0.5v

 

Yes they are firing at idle. I havent checked the TPS nor the IACV but i will tomorrow. Could this cause my car to read lean though? what i mean is when i turn my car on now it reads ~13-14 AFR's but gradually starts to go lean and read ~21. for instance lets say that my IACV is not connected would this cause my car not to stay on its by its self like what its doing and also cause the car to be lean? wouldnt it just controll the iddle control valve? this is driving me nuts. I also changed the plugs yesterday and checked for sparks and everything checks out.

 

the iacv helps the engine idle and come back to a smooth idle, also it makes the engine idle faster with load.Like lights,heater,ac, stuff electrical like that. running lean would not be from the ivac. have you checked your fuel pressure? filter? when you first start your car cold you should see 12ish air/fuel. when its warm it should sweep around 14.7 ish. Whats that tps voltage? do you have a check engine light on?

 

Ok I had a simular problem a while back mine was a ground wire on the thermostat housing that was ccorroded. I just pulled it off and hit it with a wire brush. Hope ya fix your problem.

 

update, so i took ecu out found it had a burn mark on it so i assumed it was fried. got another ecu hoping it would work still not starting. checked main relay tested out fine. i checked if i had fuel the fuel pump isnt even priming. So now im guessing I don't have fuel or spark. Things I have replaced are distributor coil even went from external to internal. Also I checked the thermostat ground when i take it off my fans turn off when i put it back on they turn on. Anything else I can check? Is it possible that the thermostat ground has one of the wires not being grounded? Checked my helms I saw that the main relay gets a ground from that thermostat if I am correct. Help please and thanks in advance

 

I think you unpluged the fan switch on the thermostat housing. There should be just a single black wire grounded on the thermostat, un bolt it clean it with a wire brush and see it that helps. I can take a picture of the ground and post it later if needed. Hope this helps man I hate seeing a lude down. And sorry for the late post.