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Hey guys, I should have created a thread asking about this days ago but there seemed to be so many threads similar to my problem I thought I could solve it by searching but I'm still coming up empty handed.

As brief as I can make it: I have a 1997 honda civic EX, automatic, all stock daily driver with 180K miles on it. It's been a dream car, have had it for years and never had to do a thing other than routine maintenance. Well the other day driving on the highway to work it randomly stalled out and shut off. Didnt really even struggle just kind of lurched a little and poof nothing. I pulled over to the side of the road highway and tried to start it with no luck.

It cranks and has power but will not fire for anything. Had it towed home and went through every process I could find people had tried. I was a little hastey and just quickly replaced the fuel pump and fuel filter without testing thinking that may be the most obvious solution. Nothing.

Then I checked the plugs, they were very oxidized and almost double what the gap should have been. Spark is good and blue across all 4 cylinders.

After that I took off the valve cover and the belt cover to check for timing belt, it looked fine but since I had already called off work and was down there I changed out the timing belt and the accessory belts. There's no indication that the old belt slipped.

Finally I went to autozone and rented a fuel pressure test kit. Turned the key and primed the pump. The car bettery has actually died at this point but had enough power to prime the pump just not crank (waiting for wife to get home to jump) But I was getting about 40 psi reading.

I'm desperate and out of solutions. The only thing I really haven't checked/replaced that people have mentioned is the main relay but since the pump is priming I'm guessing its fine?

Lastly this was my late night hail marry and I know many people dont condone this but I took off the intake and shot starter fluid into the T/B while a friend cranked it and not even a sputter..... So I still havent really narrowed down if this is an ignition problem or a fuel. I have spark, I have fuel. The only thing left Im not sure is properly working are the injectors themselves but I cant imagine they would just all go crap out on me like that mid drive. Never had an issue with gas mileage or anything.

THANK YOU to anyone who takes the time to read all this. I've taken off 4 days already and NEED to have my car up and running by Monday. I cant afford to miss anymore work.

 
Rep Power: 173

Well I WAS gonna say timing belt, but you nixed that idea! When you try starting it, does the cranking sound weak or about the same as always, just without the startup?
All the fuses are good?

 
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I just double and triple checked the timing belt after it a buddy of mine got me paranoid. Everything seems TDC and I even pulled the plug in cylinder 1 to make sure the piston position was correct for TDC. All seems right.

When I crank it over it sounds pretty normal I think. Literally just WILL NOT FIRE. Its driving me insane.

A little more detail on how it died I found someone who described it perfectly but it ended up being a different problem. As I was driving it was as if I shut the key off and turned the car off.

Checked every fuse and they are all good. Main relay is clicking like its supposed to. I'm at complete loss. Common sense keeps telling me that its something with the ignition. Its getting gas, and I even flooded it out (had to take plugs out and dry.)

All 4 spark though and from what I've read everyone moves on after seeing that they spark and are blue clean sparks. Is it possible to have a "weak spark????"

 
Rep Power: 518

Color of a spark tells me nothing about the available voltage from the coil. Length of the spark does.

You can have enough spark to jump a spark plugs' gap with the plug laying on the valve cover-- but it may not have enough available voltage to jump that same gap inside the cylinder under pressure.

A good coil should have at least 30kV available to ionize a spark gap in free air.
Will your spark jump a (roughly) 1/2 inch air gap or more? (screwdriver in the end of the plug wire, then hold it 1/2 inch away from grounded metal like the valve cover).




40 PSI is plenty to run. Still got 40 while cranking?
Does the check engine light come on when you first turn the key on?

These have issues with the ignition switch wearing out and losing contacts. Do the rest of the idiot lights stay on while you crank it? When bad, the dash lights usually all flicker on and off as you slowly rotate the ignition key from accessory position through to the cranking position... instead of coming on and staying on throughout the key movements.

If the plugs were already wet, they will not fire even if you give a whiff of Ether. Gotta start with dry plugs.
Dry plugs, will it fire?
Do plugs get wet again right away?
Got scanner, data list---read coolant temp value?

Got new plugs? NGK, I would hope?

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One more thing: If you flooded it out, you may need to put a wee bit of motor oil in each cylinder to restore the rings sealing ability, and compression.

If there is raw fuel in the cylinders from flooding it out, they need to dry out... It's gonna be damn hard to fire soaked cylinders and they will keep getting the plugs wet when you crank it.

Hold the gas pedal to the floor during cranking to cancel the injectors.

 
Rep Power: 173

Well that definitely sounds like an electrical thing... it could be this right here: http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/sol...oblems?start=3

Check under Honda Start/Stall issues

EDIT: Ezone beat me this time... eh, I'm just slow today I guess!

 
Rep Power: 518

From his site

"Also, aftermarket distributors for Hondas are junk. Yep, I said that. Can't tell you how many people have come to me with check engine lights and no-starts because they have an aftermarket distributor on their vehicle."

I LOL'd. I should just copy and paste this from now on.


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I see one of the videos with ScannerDanner on that page too.

CSB: Back in 2011 I was e-consulting with Mr Danner about his videography for some of his projects. Believe it or not.

 
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ezone and poopies thanks for the responses that was an extremely helpful link. That guy knows his stuff.

ezone- yes it maintained 40psi fuel pressure while cranking then would remain 39-40 and hold.

I've tried the "clearing flood" trick pushing pedal down and drying plugs. Nothin.

I just tried to have autozone test the actual coil but they said they didnt have means of doing so other than checking resitivity and it could still be bad even with a solid resitivity reading. I bought the little do-dad spark plug tester that they sold that I think was highway robbery for 8 bucks since ive seen people on here find them for 2-3 but this one seems neat in the aspect that you can adjust the gap to whatever you want using a threaded screw inside of a little window to see how far the spark will jump. Im going to put it all back together and check the spark using this and see what I get.

Also with what you described as the ignition switch issues I dont think thats my problem all the lights seem to be responding normally.

I also rented a compression test from autozone and planning on checking that but I've heard it should still be at least chugging, coughing, or trying to fire even with bad compression if it is getting spark air and fuel??

I'm quickly running out of things to check so hopefully I find a weak spark and can finally get going in the right direction!!

 
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Thank you guys for your responses they really helped diagnose. It turned out to just be a bad ignition coil..... I couldn't believe it. I had taken the same coil into autozone where they told me they didnt test them and also that they really couldn't be tested. The guy informed me I could test resistance but it could still be bad.

I went home checked resistance. It was right in the sweet spot range. So I sat there most the day playing with the spark and trying to decide whether to just drop the cash on the ignition components even though the spark seems strong coming off of the coil. Something just didn't seem right since the fuel was perfect.

Went to the store and bought new coil and cap and rotor. It took some "unflooding" pedal work but she fired up!!!!! couldn't believe it. Thanks again for the support, I'll definitely be using this site from now on.