New to the forum here, but sounds like a lot of experience to lean on. I just installed new plugs, wires, cap and rotor. Car ran fine prior to this but needed a tuneup and I am going to be selling the car this fall and figured it would better to have it running good when folks come to see it and drive it. 98 Civic EX with 198,000 miles. Everything went back together with no problems, but now it wont start. Cranks fine but wont start. Spark plugs all wet with fuel, fuel prime pump is working correctly, all plugs have good spark and in the correct firing order ( while out of the head) but when I put the plugs back in the head and snug them down and put the plug wires back on......nothing. cranks fine, but not even a hint of it trying to fire. The only thing I can come up with is the new plug wires are not seating well enough to allow a connection on the plug. I have checked the new wires against the old wires, confirmed the firing order and placement of the wires. They look identical and they seem to seat well enough on the valve cover seal, but I wonder it there is something not allowing it to make a connection on the plug. Any help is appreciated.

DO

 

did you use OEM components? Firing order, check it again. Check timing?

 

If your plugs are wet with fuel then your not getting spark. Make sure the wires on in the correct order on the dizzy and seated all the way to the cap. Sometimes you need to pull the wire into the boot a little more to the wire end makes contact with the spark plug but even if it does not the spark should arch to the plug (or head). Unless you moved or took off the dizzy you should not need to check timing and even if you did and timing was off it should still fire up. Oh also check to make sure you still have the little spring on the coil inside the dizzy, if you lost that not spark will make it to the cap.

 

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https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-del-sol-1992-2000-1/diy-96-00-honda-civic-tune-up-fuel-filter-2872418/

 

Thanks to all replies. Yes, double checked firing order and wire placement. Just replaced cap and rotor and did not monkey with anything else under the cap. I actually had all plugs out of the engine and connected to the wires and grounded them on the valve/cam cover and when I crank the engine, they all spark quite vigorously and all in the correct order. It is just when I put the plugs back in the engine and attach the wires that I have no spark apparently. I will try the 'push the wire further into the boot idea and see if that makes any difference. I purchased all parts at Autozone and they are labeled as OEM replacements. Since I am selling the vehicle soon, I did not get anything fancier than that.

Thanks again. I'll keep you posted on progress.

DO

 

Double checked everything again. Tried reseating the wires at both ends. Used all combinations of new/old wires/plugs all with no success. Any other ideas would be appreciated. I have confirmed continuity all the way to the plug. Plugs are wet with raw fuel after cranking so fuel is not the issue. Is it possible that the ECM could have been compromised? The strange thing about this situation is that the car was running fine before I started this project so it hard to comprehend that something as simple as a tune-up with cap/rotor, wires/plugs replacement would have caused such a mess.

DO.

 

Is your dizzy timing correct? Rotor could be off

 

Maybe you unplugged distributor? Open it up again and check the rotor. Did you put the inside cover back on?

 

i bet you left something unplugged or disconnected. def. a problem with dist.

 

Did you get the right wires?
I remember someone getting some d15b7 wires and they ended up being shorter then the z6.

So it's possible that they aren't making connect with the spark plug and its not firing them.
If you have the old wires pop them in and try to start it.
If it starts then the wires are not clicking.

Also hold the pedal down to get some fresh air in the cylinders.

 

For future reference: Why would you put any money into a car that you are selling and stated ran fine? Let the new owner put money, time and in this case stress into it.

Check out moderator RonJ@HT useful link threads for a possible solution: https://honda-tech.com/forums/members/former-user-999573189/

 

Thanks to all who posted. It lives again! Special thanks to HondaPartsHero for the pics. Not sure if I messed up the wiring during all my swapping things around, but I took everything back off and started at the beginning and used your pics as a reference. I also pulled the boots off the plug end of the wires and I definitely think it snaps to the plug better. Regardless, it runs great now:-) . Thanks again for the help.

DO

 

FYI, I think he was asking if you bought GENUINE HONDA parts. Those parts you bought at AutoZone are OEM (Original Equipment Equivalent) which is not the same. The only parts that is the same are the spark plugs.