hi everybody, i am new to the forum,
I have a 95 civic DX 1.5L SOHC 16V, and i believe i need a new head gasket. i have had some over heating issues randomly, as well as some rough idle at times, and occasional stalling. no external leaks with coolant though. i did a compression check, and sure enough #4 was at 105psi, #3 was at 150psi, #2 was at 180psi. so probably a bad head gasket. and #1 i couldnt check because the spark plug is so seized. DOH!!! so, anyways, for giggles i pulled the valve covers, loosened and retorqued the head bolts to factory specs and sequence. then, (since i have had some valve tap and rattling lately) i decided to adjust the valves for the heck of it. threw the cover back on, and thats all i did! go to start it, and NO START!! i figured out there was fuel, but found no spark. pulled the cap off, and with a spark tester connected inline from the coil to the ground terminal on the battery, i found that there WAS spark off the coil. inspected the cap and rotor..JUNK!! replaced them, went to start, and STILL NO START!! figured wires, but decided before that, to check spark off the cap..so connected my spark tester inline from one of the cap terminals to the battery negative terminal, and NO SPARK!! pretty odd to me it seemed. either the coil spring is not touching the cap, or the cap not touching the rotor. well, i stretched all those springs to make sure, and still NO SPARK!! it just seems very odd to me, that although probably a bad head gasket, i drove it into my garage, then a few hrs later there is no spark, without even messing with any related components.

anybody have an idea as to what i could be doing wrong or over looking?? i realize there could be plenty of reasons as to why it wont start. i probably messed up real bad adjusting the valves for all i know. BUT, that still doesnt explain no spark from the coil to the brand new cap. does the issue HAVE to be in the cap somewhere? i checked for resistance between rotor terminal and coil terminal on the cap, and its not OL, read like 0.7Ohms, so its gotta be a good cap.

im just very confused. oh, new spark plugs, too. well, 3 new ones haha.

any ideas would be greatly appreciated. thanks!!
Andrew

 

The money is on it beng a blown coil. Firing into an open circuit (cranking the engine with the spark wires disconnected) is prone to blow them. Always disconnect the distributor low voltage wires for a compression test.

Forget the spark tester, do a live fire test. Leave the cap off and hold a grounded test wire near the coil output spring. You need blue sparks that can jump 3/4 inch. Little yellow sparks, replace coil.