Alright... I was driving with my girl today and when i left a stop sign, the car seemed a little jerky. The gas pedal was down but the rev's didn't move. It sounded like the engine was muffled. Instead of the high revving high pitched sound, it sounded like a sock was stuck in my throttle body. The car died on me but i tried starting it again, it took another 2 tries but it finally started. One thing i noticed, when i Rev'd it with about %10 throttle, the rev's climbed and it was smooth, just like normal driving. If i gave it any thing more, it would start to die out on me. The rev's get rough and it eventually dies, then i hear the noise from the Intake manifold. It sounds like a mild horn, not as loud or high pitched. I seperated the intake (AEM CAI ) from the throttle body and gave a mild tug on the throttle cable, it died again. I left it alone but when i got back around to the car, i tried starting it and this time, it won't start. I didn't pop a CEL at all during all this.

I had a screw driver in my car so I checked for a spark. I pulled my wires out and stuck teh screw driver in the tip. A friend of mine Cranked the Engine to check for a spark. Nothing. Im guessing its the distributor but there's no reason for it die out on me. I advanced my timing just a little bit without a timing gun. I posted pictures of it and everyone said that it was advanced too much so i dialed it back. It ran fine with no problems and now this happened. I don't think its got anything to do with the timing advanced but it could be a factor. The car ran strong and i didn't beat on her at all. I took it easy. What should i look for and are there any other ways to diagnose the problem at all?

Thanks for your help,

 

replace with a buddies distro and see if thats the problem. Takes 2 secs to replace a distro.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nvious R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I advanced my timing just a little bit without a timing gun. I posted pictures of it and everyone said that it was advanced too much so i dialed it back. It ran fine with no problems and now this happened. I don't think its got anything to do with the timing advanced but it could be a factor. The car ran strong and i didn't beat on her at all. I took it easy. What should i look for and are there any other ways to diagnose the problem at all?

Thanks for your help, </TD></TR></TABLE>

FYI, you cant tell how far advanced the timing is by looking at a distributor.
WIthout a light, theres no way to be sure. Doubtful you could blow the ignitor
with overadvanced timing.

 

no spark: ignitor dead. 212$ from acura, it is 172 on acuraautoprts.net i think. takes 10 minutes to change. doubt it was the timing killed it, coincidence i would think

 

sure, kenny...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nvious R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">=The car ran strong and i didn't beat on her at all. I took it easy.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

take off the distributor cap. (3 screws)

check to see if rotor button is still screwed in place.

Also check for bad distributor cap.

If neither of those, it's most likely in the ignitor.

 

check your cap, rotor and the wires connected to the ignitor. i've had mishaps before while i was driving. one time my rotor shredded everything inside my dist. cut all the little wires and cracked the cap. sorry i couldn't answer my phone last night kenny... if you want, stop by and we'll check it out.

 

that's what happened to me on the way back from Expo and finally the car died. Replaced both ignitors in the distributor and it runs like a champ now 300.00 dollars though Save yourself some money and purchase the ones from a 99-00 SI

 

I took off my distro and i removed the 3 screws. everything looks fine inside, although i can't figure out how to get the cap off cause the rotor's on the way.
I wanted to take it apart and check everything out but i only manager to get the cap off. I need to find someone with a distro so i can check it out. Most of my friends have OBD1 cars so its kinda hard.
I was also wondering if it was the timing belt as well. I don't see how my distro could go bad so quickly, it could just be a stroke of bad luck but i really hope its not my timing belt that snapped cause when i cranked it, no spark. At first i was thinking it was my fuel pump or something involved with the fuel system because i had CEL 45 ( System too lean/rich ) before. I did the valve adjustment and with my previous post, everything checked out to be ok so far. Now this happened.

When i took teh Distro apart, attatched to teh Rotor was a little piece that stuck out, looks like it was made out of paper. I guess thats the part that touches the inside of the cap where the metal is. My fingers were a little oily last night and i touched it on accident. Would that matter? I noticed the material not really being metallic so im not sure.

Is it a bitch to swap the ignitor? I think im going to try and find someone with an OBD2 Distro to see if she starts first. After that, i guess i can try and diagnose the problem further from there. Question, If the Distro goes bad, won't i get a CEL?
My main concern right now is the timing belt. I hope i didn't snap that. I washed my engine bay with Simple Green before and i was wondering if that might have taken a toll on the Belt itself by somehow seeping into the belt cover somehow.
This sucks, BBQ's and stuff coming up. Just painted my grills black with Al and then Bam, she's not moving. Thanks for the help guys. Anymore suggestions are always appreciated!

Drew - I REally Didn't beat on her AT ALL, Hahahahaha. I was being nice to her

 

I just checked the timing belt. EVerything checks out and its ok. Should i try and push for warranty coverage? I've got 53k on the clocks.

 

i'd probably put money on the ignitor if your rotor button is in place. The ignitor is not that hard to replace if you can get the rotor button off.

Warranty? you could try, but they'll probably try to lay it back on your wallet.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Russ713 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i'd probably put money on the ignitor if your rotor button is in place. The ignitor is not that hard to replace if you can get the rotor button off.

Warranty? you could try, but they'll probably try to lay it back on your wallet. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Ignitor huh? I checked up on prices today. $171 for the Civic Si one, and $212 for Type R one from Acura. Fark

 

unfortunately, they prize those items

 

Yeah, it sucks. Im thinking about taking off my AEM CAI and replacing it with my stock one. I lost the throttle response but im thinking about modifying my stock intake. Do the comptech icebox thing to it. Im leaving the resonator out. I think i might play with it and do a little DIY stuff to it. Anyways, im going to test out the distro tmw. Im swapping it with a friends first to check that out. What could cause a distro to go bad??

 

Kenny and I decided to pull out the spark plug and check it out. This is how they look.



Any idea as to how the last spark plug tip cracked off? Also, is the color of the plug tips suppose to be that black?

 

Those plugs are fuxored!

 

I checked the distro's and i swapped em with my friends Type R.
When i installed my Distro into my friends R, it started fine, i put his on and it started fine too. After i switched it, the car started to bog. I had my intake off and my throttle plate exposed. There was the " horn" noise from the manifold again, and then there was a little white smoke that came out. What do you guys think?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gohandbz8 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Kenny and I decided to pull out the spark plug and check it out. This is how they look.



Any idea as to how the last spark plug tip cracked off? Also, is the color of the plug tips suppose to be that black?</TD></TR></TABLE> nvious R.. are these your plugs???

 

Yeah, those are my plugs. Any idea on why there was white smoke coming out of the throttle body? I checked the plugs but i still don't think that there should be a problem starting unless i fucked all the plugs. I ran a compression test and i hit 250's across the board. I used the screw driver and checked the wires for spark. there was no spark assuming i did it right. I swapped the distro's with my friends and his R started up fine. I heard a noise come out of my intake manifold and it sounded like a mild soft horn. Still confused. Ya think it could be the plugs? I don't htink thats any reason for the smoke or the noise. Still no CEL.

 

First of all, get rid of those POS sparkplugs. Autozone has stock denso plugs for like $7 a piece. Next I would establish that you are getting spark to all cylinders. Check the cap, rotor, and wires. Next check all vacum lines, and see if the engine is throwing a code (CEL light on?). If your not sure about your cap and rotor, replace it. It's only like $25 or $30 from the dealer - money well spent. If you do all that, and it's still running like crap, then it's probably the ignitor. Replace it with a known good part and see if that fix's the problem.... Might want to do a compression test too - I'd be worried if the tip of my plug was missing
Good Luck.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nvious R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I heard a noise come out of my intake manifold and it sounded like a mild soft horn. Still confused.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I wonder if maybe you sucked a piece of the AEM bypass valve into the TB...did you have one installed with the intake? And if so, are the pieces all still there?

 

Yeah, spark plugs are going. The distro's sparking now. No problem but here's the thing. When i had my plug wires out, i pulled the plugs out and plugged em into the wires. Its funny cause when i cranked the motor, the plug wouldn't spark. When i put it near a ground or metal, the plug sparked. No Code right now. I did a compression check, i just realized i was supposed to crank it 7 times for an accurate reading on the motor. I hit 250's across all 4 cylinders with the engine cold and only cranking it 4 times. That sounds about decent right? I do'n think that explains the " horn type sound" from the manifold and the little amount of white smoke coming out of the throttle body. I have an AEM CAI and i didn't have a bypass on it.

 

You should do the compression test when the motor is hot.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by baonest &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> nvious R.. are these your plugs???

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Fawk man, Id be wondering how hell the ground strap on the plug broke off. Those plugs look like an abortion clinic

 

compression test sounds solid..regardless of engine temp. If there was a problem there, it would have surfaced.

Definitely change those plugs, wires, dist. and see where that puts you. I suggest buying a cheap timing gun/light to check your timing as well.

Keep us posted.