Hey guys, I'm having a bit of a problem with my 1990 Civic Wagon RT4WD. I've had the car a few years now. It came swapped with a B20 VTEC. Yes, the previous owner converted it to FWD.... Anyways, long story short the car hasn't been getting attention for the better part of a year here lately and I'm trying to make a long drive with it soon. I've periodically started it, taken it for a drive here and there. Well one day after it had been a while since I started it I took it for a drive. I was leaving the neighborhood and put my foot into it. It started to sputter bad and as soon as I would let off it would go back to running smooth. After diagnosing it, I noticed a melted distributor cap where it makes contact with the ignition coil. So, I ordered a distributor (eBay if I'm being completely honest here) and swapped it out. I also made my own jumper harness as the old distributor plugs were cut off and had OBD0 plugs attached. Nothing... It cranks over, fuel pump primes, main relay clicks on and all that. So I sourced a new distributor from Autozone in the off chance the eBay one was a dud and also ordered an actual distributor jumper harness. Still nothing. Among checking fuel and spark, I figured out that the injectors are not firing. So I tried a new a new main relay to no avail. Okay, so maybe not a long story short, I just wanted to include everything in case I missed something. I don't have another ECU to try at the moment. I'm at a loss at this point. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. In the mean time, I'm going to go back over everything.

 

I think B20 vtec has a ground on the intake manifold or fuel rail for the injectors specifically.
Perhaps. Won't hurt to check.

 

I did some more investigating with the car today and confirmed that my injectors are definitely not getting a signal to them and that all of my fuses are good. I also messed with some ground points. I'm almost at a complete loss here, not too sure where to go from here. Does anyone else have an suggestions?

 

No. That's just bad info.

Each injector has a wire that runs to the ECU. The ECU provides the ground to close the circuit fire the injector.
All injectors run to a common wire for + voltage. This runs directly to the Main Relay and it energized when you turn the key to ON.


OP, easy check to see if you are getting that +12 at the injectors. Put key in, turn to ON, hook voltmeter to any ground (chassis or battery), disconnect an injector and probe the contacts in the connector to see if you get that 12V.


If you do get the 12V, then find a troubleshooting guide for the distributor.
ECU uses the distributor sensors to figure out when to fire the injectors.

 

Also test for continuity to body ground at ECU connector pins A2 and A4.

 

Hey guys, so I got around to working on the car some more today in the cold. Good news and bad news. The good news is I tested voltage at the injector clips as you suggested 4drEF, and they're getting 12+ volts. I hooked up an injector a while back that I had laying around to one of the clips (so I didn't have to pull the fuel rail) and it didn't spray, so I assumed it was that. In the process I also checked continuity for the A2 & A4 ECU like you said, RonJ, and they're good. So I guess it's NOT an injector issue. The bad news is it's an ignition issue. I tested spark and got nothing. So I checked the ignition signal wire on the 2-wire plug and it's reading 12+ volts as well as continuity for the crank position ground, CYP ground and TDC ground and they checked good. I even switched to the first new distributor I purchased and still nothing. So once again I'm at a loss. I'm going to start looking up distributor troubleshooting as you recommended, 4drEF, and go form there. As usual, any other recommendations are much appreciated.

 

Check whether the timing belt snapped or stripped.

 

I was just sitting on my couch reading around and saw that could be a cause, went outside and it's intact. Is there a way to check the rest of the wires running to the distributor? I bought an FSM for the car along with an electrical troubleshooting guide but it just has schematics. It's better than nothing I suppose.

 

Unplug the distributor connector and remove distributor cap. When you crank the engine, does the rotor spin?