My girlfriends 1997 civic died last night.
We drove it to dinner, came home and it sat for an hour or so. When we got back into the car to go to the store, it turned over but it wouldn't start up. We left it alone for the night, today I've been working on it and figured out that the plugs are not sparking. I put all new plugs in, a new distributor ignition rotor thing, the contacts inside the distributor cap itself look fine. I checked all fuses inside the box under the hood and under the dash. The starter sounds fine and strong but it just won't turn over and the plugs get no spark when grounded outside the block.
Any ideas of what else I need to chck would be awesome.

 

does it click? it doesnt turn over at all? if it doesnt turn over, the try this. it sounds ghetto, but it works. have your gfriend get into the car and start it. whille she cranks it over pound on the starter solenoid with a hammer and a metal rod or something like that. if it starts, then change your starter.

 

ok you say that it isn't turning over... did you check the battery? i know it ounds simple but you didn't say anything about it.

 

The battery light is on in the car and it hasn't been before. I figured that if the thing was turning over then it couldn't be the battery.
When you turn the key it makes that honda cranking sound like it's going to start but that's ALL it does. It never fires up.
If it's just the battery, i'll feel like an ***. I Spent like 50 bucks on parts for it yesterday. It needed them anyway, but still.

 

I think you need a new Ignitor Coil.

 

Anyone have a shop manual for this car? I have no idea where the coil is located.
2 other people have said the same thing, that it's the coil.
I hope that isn't expensive.

 

check the ground wire to the battery my civic did something like that a couple months ago and that was the problem good luck

 

I just had the same problem with my '95 civic. it would crank and crank but not start. there was no spark. it turns out i needed a new distributor. u said you changed the distributor rotor i tried that first too but still no spark, so went got a brand new distributor for it and she fired right up!! I bet that is ur problem.

 

I agree the distributor sounds like it is the problem. the ignition coil is built into the dist. It is very common for your civic and the year. i just put a new one in my 96 dx. You should absolutely have a shop manual for the job at hand. I think that jdmuniverse.com has a civic manual free download available also wich may help. a manual will help you troubleshoot the problem and save you from spending more money on uneeded things. to change out the dizzy you must set the No.1 piston at TDC(top Dead Center) make sure the rotor is pointing torward that No.1 plug wire pin or you will need to rotate the motor another 180 degrees. then scribe a mark where the position is of the distributor so it will be close in adjustment when swapped out. I also mark exactly where the rotor point is also to refer to the new dizzy. The dizzy is easy to pull out and only goes in one way (its offset). then you will want to check you timing with a timing light to advance or retard your dizzy to the premium location for proper rpm range listed in your manual and on the tag under the hood. well this is just a few pointers but you really need to check your manual and also verify with manual how to check to see if the dizzy is bad. hope this helped and not confused.