Hi Everyone!

I have a 90' Honda Civic hatchback, 1.5L, 4spd, with 108K original miles.

Short version is we have no spark after a blown battery.

Below is the long version.

Driving down the highway yesterday my car battery blew real bad. Acid oozing out sides...it was cooked.

Put in new battery and we have good power. Car turns over strong and power to everything as it should.

But car won't start. No spark.

At the moment that the battery blew, a puff of smoke shot from under driver's side dash, just under steering wheel.

Checked under dash for anything obviously wrong, like burned wire, but all looked fine.

All fuses are fine.
ECU is fine
Main relay is fine
We replaced coil with new coil, but still no spark

Has this ever happened to anyone? If the battery blows, what would it likely short out that still allows power to everything and for the car to turn over fine, but prevents spark?

Our last hope is to replace the whole distributor. An expensive gamble, but not sure what else to try.

The "check engine light" is not on.

Thx for any suggestions!

 

Turn key on but don't crank. The oil and battery lights should be on steady. The CEL should come on for 2 seconds then go out. The fuel pump should run during that time then stop. Then pull down the carpet where the passenger's feet would be and check the LED on the ECU. It should be off-- not blinking. If it is blinking count the blinks and look up the code.

Next check under the hood and confirm that battery voltage is reaching the distributor on the large black and yellow wire. If all the above checks OK it is probably the coil or the ICM in the distributor that is bad.

After you get the car started, you will probably need to replace the alternator. The reason that batteries explode like that is because of a faulty voltage regulator (inside the alternator) causing overcharging. The excessive voltage will naturally wreak havoc on the rest of the system. If you have excessive voltage (more than 15.0 volts at the battery with engine running and everything else off), don't use the car before fixing it.

 

Thank you MK378 for the suggestions! I will follow your recommdations in the next 48 hours and I'll update the post here with how it worked out.

Happy Holidays.

 

Hi Everyone.

Great news. I bought a new distributor off eBay and installed it this morning and my 90' Civic fired right up! Felt great to be able to accomplish this without bringing it to a dealer. Thx for your help!!

BTW, the distributor was only $100. Here's the link in case anyone is in the market for it:

eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

Oh, I have another question related to this thread. How do I check to see if my alternator (or should I say regulator) is putting out too much power and thus overcharging my battery? I have a multimeter, but have never used it. Do I simply sart the car and hold it to the alternator somehow and as long as it's around 14 I'm golden??

Thx!!

 

I installed a new distributor and she started!

Related to this post, I now need to check what the alternator/regulator is putting out in the way of power to confirm it's overcharging the battery. Anyone familiar enough with how to check alternator and give me the run down? (I guess I can just run the car for a few seconds and check the battery with a DC multimeter?? But is it that simple? If that test says 13.9v, then I'm good?)

Thx!

 

It's that simple. Run the engine but turn off lights, A/C, etc. Measure voltage at the battery with engine running. More than 15 volts is bad.

 

Awesome. Thanks MK378!