I recently bought a Civic, I was driving it into town one morning when the tach gauge started to bounce from 4000 rpm to 0 at nearly idle speeds. I lost all dash lights, gauges and fuel injection in about 5 minutes later, it died. I checked the battery connections, and everything seemed to be connected. This car is (was) my daily driver, so getting to and from both my classes in addition to my job is really causing me some pain. The engine died as if it had run out of gas, which makes sense if the fuel injection had no power. I have very limited knowledge of this vehicle, as its previous owner has passed away and finding specifics on the forums is more than just struggling. Please help.

 

Check ecu ground at thermostat housing, if that is good, check ecu plug at pins B2 and B10 for ground connection.

You can also check the 15 amp ecm fuse in the under hood fuse panel, but generally when that one pops you keep guage functionality and most power, just no fuel or spark.

 

Sounds like the ICM inside the distributor failed, or it can also be the ignition coil in the distributor, both are easy to test and replace.

 

Do you know if your battery is in good condition? Take it out and bring it to Autozone, and they can charge it and see if it holds a charge. That's where you should start. The connections might be good, but the battery could be bad. Then, it could be your alternator. When a car has a bad alternator that's the way the engine shuts down. All the dash lights flicker, turn off, then the engine uses the battery until the battery is drained, then the engine shuts off.