I was driving to work tonight, everything was fine while I was cruising along at speed (~65) but then I came on some traffic/construction. The car stalled (when it should not have) and would not re-start. I pulled it right off the road and popped the hood.

- battery WAS sparking, but might not have been enough juice to start her.
- when the tow truck came, he hooked up the jumper box and it would turn over but not start, at that point it had been sitting for quite a while without me trying to start it
- ECU fuse was fine
- pulled the valve cover off and there were no chunks and the timing belt was still in one piece (and has been changed a year ago)
- car had 3/4 tank of fuel, I've driven 120 miles on this tank of gas so far
- I looked and there were NO puddles or holes in the engine or anything like that.
- car refused to be push/pop started

any ideas? Thanks! I was 2 hours late for work because of this damn thing

 

When you turn the key from the OFF to the ON position do you hear it click? also you checked all fuses in the engine bay fuse box and the fuse box under the dash right?

 

yes, there is a click when I turn it from the off to on position. my radio was still coming on, etc. (I have disconnected it though now)

I have checked all fuses under the hood (first thought was ECU), all look fine

did not get to check under the dash.

I should also mention: oil was changed 1000 miles ago, no water/coolant in oil, not blowing any smoke (at all, I've looked.), no leaks.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by darwin22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yes, there is a click when I turn it from the off to on position. my radio was still coming on, etc. (I have disconnected it though now)

I have checked all fuses under the hood (first thought was ECU), all look fine

did not get to check under the dash.

I should also mention: oil was changed 1000 miles ago, no water/coolant in oil, not blowing any smoke (at all, I've looked.), no leaks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I would check the fuses under the dash real quick. Also did you check the engine and tranny grounds? what condition is the dizzy in? how long ago did you change the spark plugs? battery condition?

I dont know if any of the last few would be in your problems, but if I was in your situation, I would also be checking them.

 

Thanks

the plugs were fine when I checked them last week (evenly black/carbon, no oil or coolant on them). Engine grounds should be good, I actually saw how old they were when I got the car a month ago and replaced them with new ones (I had some extra amp power cable)

The Dizzy was supposedly replaced a few months before I Got the car, but I will check it as well. Battery was done at the same time as the dizzy (and theoretically the alternator was replaced then too)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by darwin22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks

the plugs were fine when I checked them last week (evenly black/carbon, no oil or coolant on them). Engine grounds should be good, I actually saw how old they were when I got the car a month ago and replaced them with new ones (I had some extra amp power cable)

The Dizzy was supposedly replaced a few months before I Got the car, but I will check it as well. Battery was done at the same time as the dizzy (and theoretically the alternator was replaced then too)</TD></TR></TABLE>
Did you check the obvious? Fuel/Spark? if its turning over and sounds mechanically fine check the Fuel if you have fuel check the spark. If theres fuel but not Spark Check the rotor inside the distributor the rotor could have fallen off if thats not it consider replacing the coil if that doesnt work try the igniter. If you have spark but no fuel check the fuel pump. If you have neither fuel or spark check the main relay.

 

dizzy go boom cheapest I can find is $200 I think I'm probably going to have the guy buy the car back from me.

 

Was it just the coil that went out... I always had prob's with the coil going out on my crx, so I just went with external msd and I have not had a prob with it since... the msd cost the same as the stock coil

 

probably can find a cheaper one here on HT. it wasn't just the ignitor? there was a factory recall on those

 

It's either the coil or the igniter. Both are inside the distributor cap. You can do a test to determine which one.

Eric
EK Motorsports
Keller,TX

 

how's this for a test?

http://www.coronabeach.net/gallery/dizzy/

edit... new pics going up in a min or two...

 

ok, all pictures uploaded... link because it's easier (don't have photoshop ATM to resize them), so here's a gallery.

 

it looks like it was just the Coil why dont you just replace that..its about 75bux at autozone

 

yeah, that's what I'm going to do. I just wanted to make sure that nothing else was broken.... eg: often times something else will cause something to fail

thanks for the help

 

i went through two coils in a year on my ZC swap, i am still having issues with random luggin and missing so i ordered a new dist! 180 shipped woot woot

 

Well, it runs again...

got a new coil and cap (rotor is fine). Put everything together and threw it back on the CRX. still wouldn't start so I did a battery swap from my del Sol. She started right up and I adjusted the timing a bit. to get it back to where it was. Switched the battery back to the CRX one and the car didn't even hesitate (as I pulled the battery out), so I'm guessing that's a good indication that the alternator is fine.

Tomorrow I'll drive it around a bit and will do so for a day or two before I trust it to go all the way from work to home and back.

Also, she's running a LOT better. Before when I'd let off on the gas even just a little bit, she'd drop into full retard and bog down. Now when I let off of the gas, it's a nice, normal drop in RPM and speed.

...I wonder what's going to be next...

 

check the igniter, same time happened to me, it happened a few times but would eventually start, u would turn and nothing, die once in front of a honda dealer, so i pushed it in, and they said it was electrical one they had to fix and retrace all the wiring, they said it could take a full day.(i haad a zc swap) i said f... that ,they didnt even know what a zc was, so i brought it to my local performance shop which quickly said it was the igniter, $50 later i was on the road, no problem since,when checking for a problem always, check the cheapest things first before doing out and buying a new distributor

 

Well, as of now it's running fine. I drove it around a bit tonight before I had to be at work. The only thing is I think the battery that was in it is killed. I threw the battery from my del Sol in and it's starting and running fine, first try each time. I did disconnect the battery when I left it tonight, because I want to make sure it was a battery issue and not a slow drain caused by something.

I think and hope it was just the coil... since the coil was REALLY f'd. Smelled like really well cooked circuitry/electrical combonents and the end was blown off of it.

If it ends up being the ignitor, I'll just get a remanned distributer and take back the coil and cap I just got (Since the distributer is $180, or the $90 I spent on the coil and cap, plus the $70-90 Advance wants for an ignitor... I'd rather make sure the whole thing was fixed.