93 Civic DX - Engine shut off while adjusting ignition timing. Now no spark. HELP!
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93 Civic DX - Engine shut off while adjusting ignition timing. Now no spark. HELP!
I was getting ready to adjust my ignition timing earlier today. I had the engine idling and and the timing light hooked up. I was attempting to make a good connection between the inductive wire and the #1 spark plug wire/plug. It kept grounding out on the valve cover so i disconnected it from the spark plug wire and as i was attempting to reattach it, the engine shut down. I tried to restart it and it just cranked. I immediately suspected I blew a fuse, so I checked all the fuses in the dash fuse box and the box under the hood and they're all intact. I checked to see if I have spark and there is no spark. What the hell happened? Did I just fry my distributor, rotor or cap? Should I be checking other fuses elsewhere? I resoldered a sketchy looking joint on my main relay yesterday and it cleared up a intermittent starting problem I was experiencing... is it possible that new solder joint coincidentally gave out while I was making this adjustment? This is my one and only mode of transportation, so ANY help or advice in troubleshooting would be appreciated tremendously!
If you think a good mechanic is expensive, try hiring a bad one
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Re: 93 Civic DX - Engine shut off while adjusting ignition timing. Now no spark. HE
Quite likely the coil burned a hole through the side of it when you pulled a plug wire off.
Not the only possibility, but a good place to start.
Got a dwell meter?
Pull the dist cap off, hook dwell meter to the Coil Neg and Battery Neg, the exact same way you would to check points.
Crank it.
If there is ANY dwell reading at all, then the ingniter is trying to fire the coil. I mean even if there is 2 degrees dwell, it is working. Bad coil in that case.
But if the meter reads 0 or 90, something else is wrong.
PS: Once timing is set, it should never ever need readjusted for the rest of the life of the engine, unless the distributor came out.
Not the only possibility, but a good place to start.
Got a dwell meter?
Pull the dist cap off, hook dwell meter to the Coil Neg and Battery Neg, the exact same way you would to check points.
Crank it.
If there is ANY dwell reading at all, then the ingniter is trying to fire the coil. I mean even if there is 2 degrees dwell, it is working. Bad coil in that case.
But if the meter reads 0 or 90, something else is wrong.
PS: Once timing is set, it should never ever need readjusted for the rest of the life of the engine, unless the distributor came out.
Thread Starter
Registered!!
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 38
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Rep Power: 0 Re: 93 Civic DX - Engine shut off while adjusting ignition timing. Now no spark. HE
Quite likely the coil burned a hole through the side of it when you pulled a plug wire off.
Not the only possibility, but a good place to start.
Got a dwell meter?
Pull the dist cap off, hook dwell meter to the Coil Neg and Battery Neg, the exact same way you would to check points.
Crank it.
If there is ANY dwell reading at all, then the ingniter is trying to fire the coil. I mean even if there is 2 degrees dwell, it is working. Bad coil in that case.
But if the meter reads 0 or 90, something else is wrong.
PS: Once timing is set, it should never ever need readjusted for the rest of the life of the engine, unless the distributor came out.
Not the only possibility, but a good place to start.
Got a dwell meter?
Pull the dist cap off, hook dwell meter to the Coil Neg and Battery Neg, the exact same way you would to check points.
Crank it.
If there is ANY dwell reading at all, then the ingniter is trying to fire the coil. I mean even if there is 2 degrees dwell, it is working. Bad coil in that case.
But if the meter reads 0 or 90, something else is wrong.
PS: Once timing is set, it should never ever need readjusted for the rest of the life of the engine, unless the distributor came out.
If you think a good mechanic is expensive, try hiring a bad one
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 32,017
Likes: 256
From: Midwest. Aiming about mid-chest
Rep Power: 518 
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