94 RS DC2 w/ 97 B18C1 head.
Basic bolt ons: i/im/h/e/pulley/skunk2 ecu/vafc/clutch/fly.
None of these are new mods.

2 weeks ago I was in a drive through w/ the car off. I went to start it and it would not start right away. After about 1 minute of crank attempts it did start. There was not trouble until last monday.

I left work for lunch ok, then I returned to the office. After my shift I could not get the car to start. The starter sounds ok and the fuel pump is clicking on. (BTW WHERE is the fuel pump fuse/ WHAT is it labled). I can't smell very well but I don't smell fuel so I don't think I've flooded the car w/ gas in my start attempts.

The battery was weak from cranking the car over and over so I took it to be tested/charged, the battery is now fully charged and it is fine.
My cap & rotor were long overdue to be replaced, and the rotor looked worn.
1 brand new OEM rotor/cap directly from the dealer later and the car still refuses to start.

I did some more searching here and I'm starting the think the coil could be blown.
I see people have testd the coil by taking a plug wire and putting it on a ground or tapping w/ a screwdriver, I have tired this and I get no spark.
Now my ?'s. does the car need to be cranking or just in the 'on' position for me to get spark here? I have tried both by tapping the lead on the plug wire (and w/ the wire removed right at the dist) and I have nothing on my intgra.
I tried this on my prelude while 'on' and running and I also have nothing - but my prelude is running.
This leads me to belive that I am not doing something right, or the problem lies elsewhere.

I tried putting a piece of metal on the plug contact of the wire and then touching the front engine ground while the integra was being cranked and 'on' and I still have seen no spark.

This is pretty much all I've done with it today. I'm now frustrated and I'm going into work for some sat OT.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by coil222 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I can't smell very well but I don't smell fuel so I don't think I've flooded the car w/ gas in my start attempts.</TD></TR></TABLE>
you had to gas while you started your car?

 

ttt

 

no spark-probably the coil or ignitor

also, when was the last time you change your timing belt?

 

When i had the head swap performed (by a shop) about 1.8 years/ 28,000 miles ago.

 

well I pulled the plugs and had my g/f crank the car.. I get a puff of air on each cyl.
I put the plugs into the wires again and had her crank the car, no spark at all.

So Coil or igniter would likely be the cluprit.. time to search for driections to replace these.
Any way to tell which of the 2 it is?

 

to get a spark on the screw driver, you should be cranking it.

check your fuel filter... if it hasnt been changed its probably full of sludge.. that happened to me when i first got my 94 ls... if i beat the hell out of it with a ratchet, it helped, then i changed it and no problems since then

 

shortly afte buying the car (~ 120,000 ) I took to acura and had them do thier 120,000 service. This was before I could do anything to fix a car myself. So the fuel filter should only have 40,000 on it. I used these steps to test the coil, I'm having lunch now then I will test the other part.
I'm about 80% positive i did the steps right and I'm NOT getting spark at the coil.

Okay, I will tell you how to test bench test both the coil and ignitor.

first let's test the coil: remove the distributor cap install a plug wire to the coil and a spark plug at othe end of the wire. You will need to ground the plug to a good ground. Now here's what you need to do (BE CAREFUL AND TRY NOT TO KILL YOUR SELF - SECONDARY IGNITION SYSTEM ARE NO JOKE. THEY CAN PRODUCE 20+ KV) find a good size wire connect one side to a body ground. Then turn the key on with engine off. Now your going to ground the negative side of the ignition coil and while your doing this whatch if spark is produced at the plug.(DO NOT APPLY THE GROUND LONGER THAN 1 SECOND OR JUST TAP THE GROUND SIDE OF COIL - DO IT FAST) REMEMBER BECAREFUL YOU ARE DEALING WITH VOLT AT SECONDARY IGNITION..

Now to test ignitor: leave everything as is expect for wire that you use to ground the coil. On the distributor connector there is a whit wire this wire is the ignition input signal. Again key on engine off you need to ground this wire and as same with the coil process.
Don't ground the wire longer than 1 second - you will need a wiring circuit for your car to find out which wire is the Ignition input signal.


If you got a good spark at the plugs with both test your coil and ignitor are okay.

if no spark is produce during the test you have a bad coil - but make sure that you got voltage at positive side of the coil.

if you had spark at coil and no spark during the ignitor test then you ignitor is bad.

Good Luck!

 

i know the black part on top is the coil, not sure where the igniter is.

I connected a wire/plug to the spring then tapped a wire attached to the coil's (-) attached to the ground point for the motor. The ground sparked but not the sparkplug - this is a bad coil right?


Modified by coil222 at 6:17 PM 10/5/2003

 

fixed it w/ a new coil, 70.00 from advance auto.

is the ignitor the entire bottom part of the dist. housing, or just the metal attached the the brown part that spins (under the dist. rotor).

Also fixed a possible oil leak.. my dist. only had 2 bolts holding it in.

A very sincere thank you to Honda-tech.com for the help.