i put the msd external coil and cap on my car and it road for 2 days then died on me. so i took it all off and put the internal coil and stock cap back on. tried to start it up and nothing. then i checked the plugs by plugging one into one of the spark plug wires and touching a ground with it and it didn't spark...could it be the plug, the wire or is th dizzy just fucked up.

 

did you try grounding all the wires or just one? you should also try grounding out the coil wire from the distributor. you might have a bad wire to the coil. you should also test the coil to see if it's still good. could also be the igniter.

 

how do i test it all? and i tried grounding all the wires and all the plugs...some one said i had bad plugs, some said bad wires, so one said ignitor and someone said i just need a new dizzy...i dunno

 

anyone?

 

here we go. I helped out another guy before.

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1505578

 

4 spark plugs or 4 ignition wires don't all go bad at once. You might have a better chance of getting struck by lightning. A lot of people are so eager to help on here, "replace the wires", or "replace the plugs", or "you need a new dizzy"....DIAGNOSIS DIAGNOSIS, determine the problem, then fix. What happens is that you pay 75 bucks for new wires and plugs or 150 for a new dizzy and the car still doesn't run so then you not only wasted time but money as well. Just friendly advice.

 

The igniter (ICM) is what fires the coil...whether it be an MSD coil or an OEM coil. It is probably what went bad.

You can try testing your coil with a multimeter and while it might give an accurate reading for the secondary, it may not for the primary because of how low in resistance it is. A meter also can't really tell you if the any of the windings are shorted internally. You'll still get a resistance reading that looks to be in the spec but it really may not be.

Like B16aSir2 said, DIAGNOSIS - way too much shotgun style repairing going on around here. But I guess if you don't have the tools to measure things...it's your only option.

Don't buy 3rd party ignition products either. Just stick with OEM especially on the distributor sub-assembly, coil and ignitor.

 

thanks for all the help. i'll try to get the ignitor tested

 

To get it tested, you really need a current probe and scope to look at the primary ramp. It'll also give you an indication of coil health too....for the most part. But using a multi-meter is going to be least accurate of all. So if the resistance readings come out to spec, don't auto-assume it's good and move on.

Google "ignition coil current ramp" for additional info.

 

ok cool...thanks alot...