My GF’s 2000 Honda Civic EX which has 103,000 and is completely STOCK, was dead when she tried to start it this morning and thus called me to look at it.

First off the Starter is spinning the motor over fine, so I know the Starter isn’t the problem?

I then went and made sure the Air Filter wasn’t clogged, or any of the Air Inlet tubes, all these checked out fine.

I went on to check if the motor was getting fuel by pulling the line off at the Fuel Rail having her turn the key on, which primed the system and had fuel shooting out with some good pressure, so I assume I can rule out a Fuel Pump as being the culprit?

So having Fuel and Air, I decided it has to be a Spark issue so I pulled 1 plug at a time, attached the removed sparkplug to it’s cap, grounded it to the valve cover and had her turn the motor over, each plug failed to produce a spark, even a miniscule one. Additionally these STOCK plugs seemed trashed; the center electrode was almost non-existent, was very badly worn down (Melted?), though the color was fine, a nice cinnamon color. Also I noticed that the porcelain part of the plug body seemed discolored where it bonds with the metal body of the plug, sort of like it was burnt, though this rust color could have come from the plug boot?

I took the Distributor Cap off and the parts inside don’t come close to resembling anything I’ve ever dealt with, being a American V-8 mechanic by hobby, anyway I cleaned the 4 contact points of the cap, looked for anything obvious, made sure it went back together they way it came apart, yet this also failed to yield any results?

So on a wing and a prayer I’m bringing over a few new spark plugs to test to see if the cap/wires are producing Spark…..If they do I’ll go purchase 4 correct plugs for the car and be done with it, however I know it won’t be this easy….

I’m at a bit of a loss on how to or what to test next? I’m going to bring a Digi/Volt meter over and test what wires I can see going into the distributor; however what else should I check? Is there a crank trigger that gives the Dist. It’s signal? Or is there some other module(S) I should be looking at….

I will also take off the Oil Fill Cap, and use a flashlight while having her turn it over, to see if the valve train is moving, indicating that the Timing Belt/Chain didn’t let go.

Or am I completely off track here, and should be looking elsewhere?

I see where a lot of people change out there ECU and such, do the computers go bad in these cars often, and could that be my problem?

Additionally are there any On-Line manuals out there? When reading some of the posts here in the General Tech. section and elsewhere On-Line a lot of the Terms/Part names I have no idea what they are, and where there located, so when and if you give me a rec. on what to look for and or test, please explain exactly where there located and what there suppose to do, as I’m a total newbee to these Civics….Unfortunately I don’t have access to a Code Scanner, and the car is immobile so I’m SOL on that….

I suppose Ill just go buy a new cap and rotor kit, new wires, and plugs, and try that?

 

UPDATE

Well I replaced the Cap, Rotor, Wires and Plugs, yet Im still not getting any spark at the Sparkplug?

My brother says replace the Dist., which is all well and good, but for $144 and a core charge, I'd like to be sure it's the Dist. thats bad? My Brothers buddy also mentioned the ignitor and coil?

Well back to scratching my **** til someone points me in the right direction...

 

just want to give ya some hope, help will be on it's way shortly, i'm not sure it could be a number of problems

 

Thanks for the uplifiting words....

I can't get a rebuilt/Remafct. Dist for 3-4 days anyways.....

Urgh.....

 

check this out:

http://www.hondacivic.info/subpages/...nda_civic.html

this may help

 

O.K seeing a list of Trouble codes posted on this site, I decided to go back to the GF's car and see if I could pull a Trouble Code.....First off let me state that the CEL/Maintiance Light(Little Red one in Center of dash) has been on a long time.....Long before this problem.

OK not knowing exactly what terminals/area's to "Jump" I will post exactly what I did.....I believe I read that I had to jump the 2 pronged terminal, so with that in mind and no schematics I removed Passenger side kick panel, unbolted the ABS computer, then removed the Engine computer, though I kept everything plugged in.....Not seeing any Obvious 2 Prongs that were ready to have a "Jumper" wire applied, I looked alittle deeper.....

Close to where the main harness enters the kick panel area from the firewall, on it's way to the computer I found a Bright Green Rubber Holder glued to the harness. In this holder was a Blue Plastic Terminal with 2 wires going into it, 1 Brwn with silver spots, 1Blk with silver spots. This Green Rubber Holder also had an empty spot for where a similar Blue Terminal would be placed. When I pulled this Blue Terminal/Connector with it's 2 wires, from the Green rubber holder, it had 2 female connectors on it's end, which I assumed was the spot to jump, so I did, heres what I found..

When putting the key into the ignition, and to the "On" position, the Green Rectangle light that goes around the D4 indicator on the dash, Flashes 5 times, then stops for a short time, then flash again 5 times repeating this until I shut the car off? When looking up the codes I beleive this would indicate a MAP sensor? How could a faulty MAP sensr be causing a NO Spark condition? Or did I jump the wrong thing, or something else catestrophic?

Also when I turn the key to the "On" position(Without the Jumper wire applied) I hear 6 beeps, the FP running, then 1 click from somewhere under the dash, which coincides with when the FP shuts off? Does this mean anything?

Thanks for the help....

 

Whelp after more reading and digging on the "Net" I realized I did Pull the Code in the correct way/ correct location however, I did not pay attention to the CEL which I should have to retrieve the proper "CODE"......Rather I watched the green D4 Light (Tranny Gear Indicator Light) flash which I never saw happen before?

Why the hell the D4 Indicator Light FLashed 5 times as described in the last post is beyond me....?

Well I'm done with the car tonight and will have to wait til tommorow to go get the correct code, and move on from there....This time I'll pay attention to the CEL.....Duh!!!!

Again, thanks for all the help.....

 

Did you check the wire coming from the coil to see if you get any spark? If no spark there, it could be the wire or the coil.

 

There is probably no wire coming from the coil since the coil is inside the distrubutor, like mine. If you replaced the plugs, cap and rotor, the next thing I would test is the coil and the ignition control unit, or module. I don't remember how to check them at the moment(impedance check for the coil), but it was in the factory service manuel, or haynes. The coil is pretty sturdy and the ICU is a very common item to just die without warning. Also, autozone will rent out an OBDII code reader for free. You pay for it in full, but get your money back after you return it. This way you don't have to bother with the jumper wire trick. If the former two items are not it, then I would say either the ECU or something with the ECU might be the issue. Now for the next time a CEL comes on, remember, with the new OBDII style computers you shouldn't dismiss that as a simple maintenance light. The computer senses something is going wrong and will be running in limp mode. This mode will have many ill effects. I suspect the car may have been running lean causing high EGTs which will eat up your electrodes just like you described.

 

First off I finally pulled the correct code, and from the Info. I got on the net, the 7 Long Flashes of the CEL indicates CODE #7

This Code indicates: TP Sensor; Defective circuit or unplugged/defective sensor.

How in the World does a bad TPS creat a No Spark condition?

97Civic I hear you about paying more attention to the CEL.....However even though the plugs were toast, the color didn;t seem to indicate a Rich or Lean condition, rather they were a nice Cinniamon color, Argh who knows....

So can someone please tell me that this code is causing my problem? If the computer sense a bad sensor, does it shut down everything(Like my Spark) until that sensor is replaced?

Also when I replace this sensor, how do I reset the Computer?