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First Post - I have perused the forum some but this is my first time posting. I have tried everything I can think of and I am stumped along with all of my mechanically inclined friends.

This all started about a week and a half ago. I was returning from a work trip and when trying to start my car at the airport it was cranking but didn't want to start. On the second ~5sec crank it fired, I drove home with no issues.

A few day later I tried starting my car and the same thing, would crank but not start. Several tries and nothing. Later that day when it had warmed up some I went out to take a look at it and it started right up just like normal. Tried starting it a few more times that afternoon and it worked fine. At this point I'm thinking fuel issue. Possibly failing pump but I was leaning toward leaking injector, multiple attempts to start would build fuel pressure enough to get it going.

A few days later my wife was out of town so I was going to go pick up a fuel pressure gauge to confirm my suspicions. Car wouldn't start so I cycled the ignition off and on a few time to try and build fuel pressure and still nothing. I could hear the fuel pump kick on each time.

Because I didn't have anything else to do I went ahead and pulled the spark plugs to take a look at them and they were all wet and smelled like fresh gas so I was definitely getting fuel. I didn't have a spark tester or anybody to crank the car for me (at home alone with my 3 y/o) so I call a mechanic friend of mine and describe the issue. He said it may be the coolant temp sensor being failed causing the engine to flood.

I had a friend give me a ride to the parts store and picked up the temp sensor and an inline spark tester. Swapped out the sensor, dried out the plugs and nothing.

So next I test for spark. The first cylinder I get shocked, see the flash and the engine fires (friend heard me getting shocked and immediately kills the engine) so I have spark. Test the other 3 cylinders and get nothing, go back to the first one and now no spark.

Not sure if wet plugs will keep an inline spark tester from showing spark to I try again with a screwdriver to rule that out and no spark.

Here is a list of what I have checked since then:

- 12v and ground at each coil pack
- no blown fuses
- Crank position sensor has power/ground and is giving the 5v pulse
- Camshaft is turning (watched rocker arm move through oil fill)
- Spark plugs look good (~10-15k on them, they are NKG iridium's)
- Coil packs are in good condition (~2-3k on them)

I am seriously at a loss at this point, I don't know what else to even check. I cant find anything online of someone that has a problem similar to mine, every other civic/no spark condition has been on a car with a distributer. My symptoms are very different that what others have found with a fried ECM or failed camshaft indicator so I really don't think its that (could be, but those are expensive parts to replace on a maybe). I cant imagine I would have multiple coil pack failures that fix themselves and break again all together.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 
Rep Power: 222

Dry out the plugs and cylinders overnight (plugs out of the engine, having a fan blow over the motor might help)

Pour a tablespoon or two of oil down each cylinder to restore compression since the gas and cranking has washed out the cylinders.

Reassemble and try to start.

If it runs try lifting the coil packs off the sparkplugs while running to check if they working

 
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try wiggling the connector on the coil pack? the terminals may have loosened up over time
did you use oem coils?
screwdriver is clean and you're getting good contact?

 
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Thanks for the response. I will give that a try... Other that disconnecting the battery is there anything else I should be careful with working around the ECU? I know they can be a little fragile and I would hate to fry it while trying to fix something else.

Also - Does anybody have a wiring diagram for the ignition system on this car? I cant seem to find one online. A logic description/diagram for the ECU ignition sequence would be fantastic as well.

 
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At the time the coils aren't making spark....are both power and ground still present in a coil connector?
Main relay?

 
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Are there any more suggestions of what I could check? I am out of town for work until late Friday and I will be leaving again Sunday evening so I only have about 1.5 days to work on the car.

I think if I don't figure out the problem by the end of the weekend I am going to have to have my wife get the car towed to a mechanic. My fear is they will not be able to figure it out either and they will just want to throw parts at the problem.

I am willing to try anything that is reasonably feasible that is not too expensive or intrusive.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 
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How about corrosion in the terminals of the CKP harness connector....or the female terminals of the same connector spread out/loose grip?

Is the same 5v/0v signal reaching the PCM?

DURING a no spark event, I'd be wanting to backprobe a coil harness connector (live and connected) and use a scope or something that can show not only power/ground, but the trigger signal that comes from the PCM.

Getting it to act up consistently enough to isolate and track down the root cause is paramount.

 
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