I have a 96 civic ex all stock. The last two or three days it's been taking alittle longer then normal for the car to fire over. Today I get in to go to work and the car wouldn't fire over. Any ideas on the culprit?

 

Any CEL codes?

When the engine won't start:

1) Listen for whether the fuel pump primes (low humming.buzzing noise in rear) for 2 seconds when the key is turned to ON(II).

2) Check for spark at the plugs. Click spark link in my signature.

 

Update:

I checked for spark and there was none. The engine is deff getting fuel (u can smell it). So I went out and purchased new plugs, wires, cap and rotor. Advance gave me two different style caps and rotors (TEK and Hitachi). I installed the ones that most resembled what was on the car which was the TEK style. Once everything was back together. I tried to fire it up and it still isn't getting spark. And the engine continues to get fuel still...

 

1) Check whether the timing belt snapped.

2) Resistance test the coil inside the distributor, and have an auto parts store test the ICM.

 

When I replaced the ignition rotor the screw was facing down. So I cracked the key twice for the engine to turn over just enough that I could get the screw out. With that said, if the timing belt was broke. Would that rotor still spin since its connected to the cam witch is connected to cam gear / t-belt?

 

You are correct. Movement of the rotor while cranking tells you that the timing belt is not broken, though it may have slipped. But first test the coil and ICM.

(for future reference, remove the 15A hood ECU fuse before cranking the engine with the distributor cap off to avoid blowing the coil)

 

Update:

Tested the ignition coil and it read lower then what it's suppose to read. So we changed that out for a new one. Slapped the stuff back in the car and still not receiving any spark.

 

Find an auto parts store that will test the ICM.

Also verify that the Blk/Yel wire attached to either the coil or ICM has battery voltage to body ground when the key is turned to ON(II).

When the key is turned to ON(II), does the CEL turn on and then off after 2 seconds?

 

We changed the ICM out with two other ones from my buddies shop and it still didn't help.

When the key is turned ON (II), the light CEL turns on and goes off after two seconds.

 

Interior lights turn off when brights are flipped on. Any wiring diragram for dash?

 

Check whether the distributor gets voltage.

 

Update:

So my mom had her civic towed to a local garage and they diagnosed the problem. It was a bad ecu. Friday morning (7/23) they put a replacement ecu in. The car fired up and drove fine no CEL's etc. Today my mom was driving home from grocery store and the CEL light came on. The code it's giving me is a P0453 evap. Any insight?

 

I did some small investigating...

I checked the canister vac lines under the hood to make sure they had a firm connection and no torn lines. All look OK. No Leaks

I looked at the ECU they installed as a replacement. The code on the replacement ecu is 37820-p2p-A84 and the one that was deemed "bad" is 37820-p2p-A71.

After looking at this page, could it be that there is a difference between the 98 ECU and the stock 96 ecu that could be throwing this code?

 

anyone??