Hello to all. I'm in need of some advice. I have a 1992 Civic EX. My daughter borrowed it and while out the car overheated. After waiting a while she added water and continued driving. A few moments later the car stalled and would not start. I went to get it and still would not start.I figured the wires were wet and when dried out it would start. No such luck.I have since replaced the ignition coil and ignitor module in the distributer, the cap, roter,wires and plugs. I checked every fuse that I could find plus the wire harness connections. It's getting fuel as best as I can tell. There is no spark at the plugs. I'm totally stumped. Any help would be great.

 

Have you pulled a plug out and tried cranking the car and actually looking at the spark?

If it's sparking and no start, you may have warped the head.

 

Hello. Yes I've pulled a plug and looked for a spark and there is none. I also did a test light test for an intermittant ground on the neg side of the coil and that works so that should mean the coil is bad but I just bought a new one from Honda today ($90) so I' assuming its good. I'm lost.????

 

i was in that same boat. and knowing what it is all about, i would not replace the coil and ignitor unless i knew for sure that they are bad. because you are getting up to the cost of an entire dist (and i replaed the dist - only later to find a good deal on a rebuilt one on ebay - by an ebay store).
sorry to be so negative.
could check that you have current to the coil. if not, then the switch could be bad (although i doubt it). take the pos off of the coil. make sure that it is not touching anything, and turn the key to ON. want to see voltage at the plus coil wire and put the neg (of the meter) on the neg terminal of the battery.
if good, there are other components in the dist that may be bad.

 

Hello. I already replaced the ignitor and coil. I do have battery voltage at the positive terminal on the coil.

 

my coil was OK - and i bought a new igniter. fortunately, i was able to return it since it had already been sold to someone that returned it. i bought the entire dist (rebuilt one from oreilly - if i had more time, think i would have found one cheaper). i guess that pick-up coil was bad in my case. got spark afterwards. spent all day sat and part of sun troubleshooting.

When you turn the key to ON, does the check engine light come on for a brief time. if like mine, should come on about 3 seconds and then go off.

If that is OK, would think that it is the pick-up coil. but, no elec expert - so, dont want to give any conclusive advice. dont know what else is in there.
hard to do elec since 1 device could be out, then there is also another one out.

Hope this helps

 

I spoke to a very knowledgeable person today and he told me that the problem was very likley a bad distributor. I seems that there are two other components in it that can go bad besides the coil and ignitor. The usual suspects are the coil and ignitor so they're done first. Since my problem started from an overheated engine, he thinks that the heat was transmitted through the distributor and caused the other parts to fail. He says that it's a common problem with these cars and suggested that it be changed. I called a local junk yard and bought one for $75 changed my new parts to it and viola problem solved. If this should ever happen again I would try a junk yard part first because they claim that they sell only working distributors and it woud have been cheaper and less time consuming. Thanks for all the help.