I just bought my daughter a 96 Civic ex 1.6L Vtec SOHC for some cheap transportation. I put a radiator in it, changed hoses, etc. and then changed plugs and rotor. after seeing the parts store gave me the wrong rotor I put the original back on and no fire. I purchased the correct one and installed it, and it still doesn't fire. Is it possible that I broke a timing belt just bumping the starter to get the rotor turned so I could reach the screw that holds it on? How could tell?

 

I think it's more likely that you blew the coil in the distributor by cranking the engine with the cap off. To verify, check for the lack of spark.

If you have a multimeter, you can perform resistance tests on the coil or take it to AutoZone for testing.

 

Thanks Ron, that would be a much simpler fix! I haven't ever had a Honda. I'm assuming the coil is inside the distributor under the cap that is below the rotor. Is that correct?

 

Yeah, inside the distributor. This diagram may help:

 

Ok, looks simple enough. I can find that. Thanks for your help!

 

Ron,
I found primary resistance to be 1.0 and the secondary to be 15.9
Although the primary is out of the range, is that a number that would be acceptable, given the meter could be off hat much?

Bob

 

The resistance test is will not reliably find all bad coils. Do a spark test by holding a grounded test wire about 1/2 inch from the coil output spring. Big blue sparks should jump that gap. If you have to move the wire closer and only get weak orange sparks, the coil is bad. If you see that the rotor doesn't rotate while cranking the engine, the timing belt is bad.

Like Ron said, people have blown coils by cranking the engine with the cap or wires off so the coil is trying to fire into an open circuit. To bring the roitor around, you should put a socket wrench on the crank pulley bolt and turn the engine (counterclockwise is the normal direction of rotation) by hand.

You should strongly consider replacing the timing belt on any newly acquired used Civic anyway, unless you are sure when the previous owner last did it.

 

Thanks MK, I think I'm going to try the spark test. Although my ohmeter is digital the lowest setting is 0-200 and when I connect the leads it doesn't zero out...it reads .2

The rotor does turn. Thanks for the tip on the method for rotating the rotor. You can bet I won't do that one again. For now, it's back outside to try the spark test!

 

Well, first off, I'd recommend that you purchase a new digital multimeter. I've seen them at Walmart and Sears, with prices ranging from $15 to $25. In my opinion, this is an excellent investment.

Also, any coil readings out of spec would indicate that it is bad.

Here's a more conventional way to test for spark, though it requires you to reassemble the distributor:

1) Disconnect a plug wire from one spark plug, and then insert a good properly-gapped plug into the end of the wire.

2) Ground the threads of the plug against a metallic part of the valve cover, and then have a buddy crank the engine.

3) You should see bright white bluish spark rather than weak orange spark at the tip of the plug. This should be true for all four plugs.

 

The VOM meter isn't too old and is a Sears Craftsman...maybe they will accept it like they do hand tools. I replaced the coil and it solved that problem. I have her fan set to run all the time right now till I get a proper cool tempo sensor in my hands...dealer had to order.I was able to read and reset the CEL code. It shows a bad O2 sensor...number 1. I'll have to figure out which one that is. I also see the ICM has a crack in it which can't be good. ....Another trip to Honda!!

Thanks guys, you were a big help and I'm sure I'll have more questions.