Greetings serious Honda wrench turners - I will sincerely appreciate your help with this problem. My son drives a 1990 Honda Civic hatch back, a no frills, no options car. I bought it for his older brother years ago and it's a hand me down, but he prefers it to the '76 280Z that's available to him to drive, so when it blew a head gasket, I was obliged repair it. Two months later it blew the gasket again and I just finished the second round, more carefully. Just as we finished we ran into this problem, the car has no spark, intermittently. We started the car and two seconds later it quit. Then I realized that the cap had broke and I replace that, and the coil, and the rotor, and it started and ran very well for about a couple drives then I had to tow it home. Then I pulled the distributor, and looked closer at the igniter and found that it was covered with green death. So I cleaned all that up and while I was at it I checked for voltage between the black/yellow wire and the white/blue wire both okay. Then I checked for continuity between the blue wire and ground, okay. But between the white wire and ground I got something like 200K ohms. So, I now believe it's not the igniter and I put the car back together and for jollies I try to start it and as you'd probably guess, it starts up. So, while I had the distro off I had checked for continuity between the wire and the distro connector and I now know which wire the white one is at the connector. So, now the car starts, so I disconnect the connector and check the continuity and still none, 200K ohms. I believe that the test in the haynes manual isn't correct, section 5.8 # 16. I'm hoping that the problem was the green corrosion all over the igniter that was causing a bad connection. But if any of you guys have a suggestion, anything other than take it to a mechanic, I sure like to hear from you. I've been working on hot rods all my life but everything is just a little different. Thanks in advance for reading the long post.

 

Make sure all your grounds and other wiring outside the distributor are tight after putting the head back on. Since you've already changed the coil, I'd suspect the igniter next but it's kind of expensive to just try, maybe find a used one. Obviously this sort of problem is a lot easier to find if it would stay dead.

 

Thank you

 

If you think it would help, here are diagrams from the service manual showing the ignition system circuitry and the igniter input test.

 

Those igniters are a weak link, they tend to go relatively often. I'd say just replace it.

 

I appreciate the replies. Checking grounds, the page from the service manual and the firm advise from the administrator are all good advice - I'm going to roll over and spend another $60 on this repair and buy the igniter. You guys have been most helpful - thank you, sincerely.

 

I didn't mention that it had quit running until now. But I've replaced the igniter and the car runs, again. I'm not feeling too confident though - we'll give it week or two and see if I have to tow it home. I just can't thank everyone enough for the great advice.

Have a safe and happy holiday