Hi everyone,

I need some advice about the igniter in dizzy for this car. I have been out of the game for a while and my preferred Civic's were the EF. I fellow student in my class has 2000 Civic 4dr that will not start. It has been down for a week now so I offered to look at it today. I put plug in coil grounded no spark which he already confirmed at one plug. I was just making sure it was not spark plug related. After this test I used my test light to + wire at coil and to ground got light while trying to start. I did same to negative post on coil to positive post of battery got constant light then it flashed when cranking. I told friend it was probably coil but to buy where it can be returned just in case. Can't see how it could be anything else even though as usual coil tested proper ohm's. Had a spare igniter from 91 Ef's I use to hobby on same thing with test results. But here is the funny thing. The igniter in car only had 3 wires on it. The terminal on side had nothing. All the EF's I played with over 10 years always had four wires hooked up at igniter. The 91 igniter obviously doesn't screw in but is basically a final test to make sure coil is issue. My question is does the igniter in this car only have three wires to it. Friend said he has never been in dizzy before and car has ben running until that lucky morning. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Mar

 

The 00 Civic ICM only has three wires. The blue wire is not needed because the tach signal comes from the ECU.

 

Great thanks for reply.

 

Another question about cause of issue. Friend replaced starter when his car would not start, said it just clicked. Tried to jump it still nothing replaced it turned engine over. When I was at car and he started it, it turned over real slowly. I brushed it off as battery was weak from him trying to start it. At the end I did jump it and it still turned over slowly. I thinking now issue might be a bad ground cable or positive cable. Can be verified with voltage drop test at wires to starter I'm thinking. But what is bugging me, I do not have electrical diagram for car which would help, is that how would that cause his coil not to fire when he has 12v at coil. **** foot note- tested with 6-24v test light just looked at probe**** Maybe he was only getting 6v etc., should have used MM. My question is that wire from igniter to coil + terminal in anyway related to the 12v circuit tied into starter?

 

No

...but they do share ground wires ---> G3 transmission and G1 battery grounds.

 

Thanks for the response. It was 58 F out and coil tested 9200 ohm's and .9 without account for meter probes ohm's. Does anybody know ohm readings for this years car coil. So, if ground is poor it wouldn't complete circuit properly I'm thinking. But would 12v still be present at + terminal. So, I'm thinking if these grounds are poor, that would explain starter turning over slowly and not enough of the 12v getting to coil? I was getting 12v because I was going directly to ground with test light I'm thinking. I should probably test + and - terminal on coil and read voltage that way and see what I get. So the neg side goes thru -terminal on coil and then to igniter then to ground and this switches by signals from ECU. So turning neg on and off causes coil to fire?

Mar

 

Replace the coil.

Test the grounds with a multimeter.

 

Thanks for your immediate response. When you say test grounds with MM you mean continuity or voltage drop, probe on negative post of battery and other probe on ground point screw and meter should read .2 or less good ground.

Mar

 

Yes. Ohm test the from the G101, G3, and G1 ground bolts.

 

Here's an update. Went by his house car was gone. Spoke with friends sister boyfriend said they got it started but didn't know if coil was replaced. Said my friend called AAA which is a company that handles on the road jump starting service. So putting 2 to 2 together it looks like it was probably battery related from trying to start repeatedly. I did try to jump start but nothing but I might not have a good connection with ground was using motor mount bolts. If this is the case moral of story check battery voltage first which I over looked not putting 2 to 2 together starter struggling to turn over and when using test light make sure it is 12v not 6- 24v because I believe if I was aware of this I would have had no voltage at coil which I would have looked into fuse and checking battery voltage. I will update Monday when I find out if coil was replaced. Thanks RonJ for your quick responses.

Mar

 

Enjoy your weekend.