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My ignition coil is toast-- the resistance between the two screw terminals (primary coil test) is about 18 ohms (as opposed to 0.4-0.8). I also tested the ICM and noticed that the input test did not go so great. The white/blue wire to ground is showing 11.6 V, and the yellow/black wire to ground is 11.6 V. My battery positive to negative terminal is 12.3 V (all with the car off).
Does anyone know what it means when your inputs to the ICM are not the same as battery voltage? The HT thread above says that the inputs should be at least 11.9 V. You can see that my inputs are actually 0.7 V less than my battery voltage. I am wondering if there is something else wrong with my distributor.
Not sure if I need to replace the actual ICM as the main ICM test looks ok. Yes, I will be replacing the ignition coil with OEM in the next week or two. I would like to have an idea if there is an issue with my ICM or the rest of my distributor.
Thanks for getting back nonetheless. Yesterday I replaced the ignition coil with a brand new OEM one. The car seems to crank and start up fine now on the first key turn. My old coil was definitely bad as you can see from my pos-neg resistance test.
I wonder why my BLU/WHT (and BLK/YEL) to GRD is only 11.6 V when my battery is 12.3 V.
Let's see if my no crank issue comes back in a short time. Then I will know there is another issue (ICM related?)
Interesting that you say that! I just came on here to post about an unfortunate event that happened yesterday: another no crank.. After about two normal trips with the new ignition coil, I turned the key to leave the grocery store parking lot and bam- no crank. I needed to turn the key about 5-10 times to get it to crank.
Before I throw a new ICM at it, any other suggestions? New ICMs are about $300 so I would rather know 100% if it is the problem. Meanwhile, I have a new OEM cap and rotor coming in the next few days since I have not changed them in 5 years (cap looks good, but rotor looks a little burnt).
Interesting that you say that! I just came on here to post about an unfortunate event that happened yesterday: another no crank.. After about two normal trips with the new ignition coil, I turned the key to leave the grocery store parking lot and bam- no crank. I needed to turn the key about 5-10 times to get it to crank.
Before I throw a new ICM at it, any other suggestions? New ICMs are about $300 so I would rather know 100% if it is the problem. Meanwhile, I have a new OEM cap and rotor coming in the next few days since I have not changed them in 5 years (cap looks good, but rotor looks a little burnt).
For a crank problem like that, test the ignition switch.
Pretty sure I’ve tested it before, but I can do it again when I get a chance. Hard to believe because I do not have the classic ignition switch symptom which includes the car shutting off by wiggling the key. Mine is solid.
Also, with no brand new OEM option available what does one do if they need a new ignition switch? I believe it is discontinued from Honda.
So I am finally getting around to doing the ignition switch test, according to:
So strange, as I never usually go down here but I cannot seem to find any 7P connectors plugged into my fuse box, like the picture above shows. Here is what I see (brown 5P connector disconnected and being held by my hand). Where is the other connector supposed to be? [ please ignore the excess wires from my alarm ]
Ok, I found it after a few more minutes of searching. Come to find out that it is mounted on a metal brace up above the fuse box. Not on the fusebox, and not underneath, but the other direction. Either the service manual is wrong or mine has been moved.
Anyway, I performed all of the tests. They were all successful except for the last test: key in. BLU/WHT (key) and WHT/BLU (gnd) are not continuous when I simply put the key in (off position). Basically, key out and key in shows no difference. Though once I turn the key to any position other than off (I, II, III) it creates continuity between BLU/WHT and WHT/BLU.
What does this mean? With every other test being fine, I am not sure what to say.
I also want to mention that for many of the other tests, there is some resistance of around 50 ohms but never completely 0. That is normal, correct? For example, on the very first test of WHT/BLK and WHT in key position I, the resistance is 50 ohm and then in key position II the resistance drops to about 10 or less ohms (becoming more continuous as you could say).
Another thing that I would like to verify with you all: it looks like out of all 7 of the wires that are relevant here, most of them are 2-4 gauge. Only the BLU/WHT and WHT/BLU are about 18 gauge. This seems weird.. Can anyone confirm that the OEM wires are like this?
Any one else have experience with the ignition switch tests, particularly the KEY IN test?
As I have mentioned before, my no-crank issue is quite intermittent. I may have a whole week where the car cranks up first try, and then the issue randomly appears. It could be that during these tests, my cranking system was in the "no problem" state so that all of my tests were successful.
Any one else have experience with the ignition switch tests, particularly the KEY IN test?
As I have mentioned before, my no-crank issue is quite intermittent. I may have a whole week where the car cranks up first try, and then the issue randomly appears. It could be that during these tests, my cranking system was in the "no problem" state so that all of my tests were successful.
A few questions:
1) are the two KEY IN wires supposed to be way higher gauge wires?
2) is the resistance (between any two given wires that are meant to be contiuous) supposed to decrease as the key position moves from I to II to III?
3) are there any specific symptoms of an ign switch which fails the KEY IN test? can anyone confirm that they actually see continuity between wht/blu and BLU/WHT when just putting the key in and leaving it at the OFF position? I am not fully convinced that this is supposed to work in the way that I proposed.
5th Gen Civic ICM Input Test
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