I have been trying to solve this for 3 days - so if anyone responds, i will be very gratefull.

driving down the highway - my 1988 Honda Civic 1.5 liter throttle body injection (standard trans) just quite running. towed home and found that i had no spark.

both primary and secondary of coil reads within specs. cap is new (bout 2 weeks old and wires are good (only bout 12 months old)), and have installed new rotor today. also installed a new ignition control module (in the distributor) today.

this is what is odd: when i check for voltage (with the key ON) at the plus and minus connectors within the distributor (on the coil), i do not get a reading. however, if i remove the connectors and check them not touching or connected to the terminal, i get a good voltage reading. did this bout 6 times. WHY is that. ?? Also, if i connect the positive one, and check it and with the neg on the neg post of the battery (with the key ON) , i also get a good voltage reading. i did not see the test at the positive and neg terminals inside the distributor in the Haynes Manual that i recently bought. i wonder: any reason WHY?

Also, I got 1 question: Is a good reading of the primary and secondary resistance of the coil a definite indication that the coil is GOOD ??

fred

 

put on an entire new (rebuilt) distributor to solve this

 

You can't check the primary or secondary side of the ignition system with a voltmeter/multimeter. The voltage changes several times a second, you need a scope. When you checked the voltage with the the connector disconnected, did you put the meter on the connector? If you did, this means that there is a resistance in the circuit that shouldn't be there. The coil isn't getting any power and this is the reason it doesn't work. How many volts did it read?
I was thinking about this today, and if this is the wire that goes to your ignition coil (primary side) then the meter reading 12v is not at all unusual. The meter is pretty much telling you that the switch (ICM) is open. If the switch was closed, your ignition coil would burn out. I was thinking that the wire that goes to the switch (ICM) was showing 12V (or any voltage). In this case, that would show that there is a resistance in the wire or the wire is open. That would cause your car to not start since the voltage would not make it to the coil.

 

thanxs for the reply. my 3rd paragraph and 4th are different tests. the primary and sec of the coil are tests of ohms. i have a VOM meter from the 1970's. it is analog - wish i had a digital one. the resistance can appear to be correct when in fact there is a short in the coil and i would not detect it with an analog meter. i think an intermal short would be ususual , though.

i could make the test of voltage as described in the 4th paragraph but i have been thru so much in the last 3 weeks that now it is running - too tired to mess with it and cause something else (am interested to know what it shows, though). after puttin on the new distributor, i knew that i had spark right away. the timing belt slipped and i had to go back into there and adjust it tighter (just put on a new timing belts a couple of weeks ago).

the ignition start module that i got from the parts store had been used before because i saw the marks on it. i wanted to take it anyway because i would have cause to return it if it did not work. and they took it back. of course i took the gamble that it was good (or would be good). the module cannot be checked except by the dealers computer - at least by the Haynes manual.

the only thing left is the pick-up coil. i did check that the magnet in there is a good magnet. i don;t know of any way to check the pick-up coil.

fred

 

Resistance tests are some of the worst tests you can do, they should never be done on a circuit that has power going to it. Also, the only resistance you can really check is on the coils, to see if the coils are open or shorted. But you would have to have the spec for the reisistance of the coil to do that test.