I had mentioned on this forum when I first joined that I was having issues with my car idling a little oddly (really low RPM) and that sometimes the acceleration felt a little laggy. In some cases, the RPMs would drop to almost stalled levels and then pick right back up like nothing was ever wrong. I drove the car last night with no problems, but this morning, I went to start it up so I could go to work and no dice. It made the "chuga chuga" (technical term, I'm sure) noise but wouldn't fire. Since my dad was in the area and is a good mechanic in his own right, I had him help me check for spark, and there wasn't any. I didn't hear the fuel pump come on, but due to my affinity for loud music, I can't say that I've ever actually listened for the sound of the fuel pump humming. I did try some basic stuff like making sure all the cables from the distributor cap to the spark plugs were seated well. I've replaced the distributor cap and rotor after noticing that both of them looked like hell. I also checked the PGM-FI fuse as well as the IG fuse. I'm not sure what else to try, and you guys have helped me a ton before. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

did you check the timing belt? does the cam spin when you turn it over?
could be a bad coil..

 

I haven't checked the timing belt yet (yeah, stupid of me), but the cam does spin. Assuming so anyways, since I had to crank the engine just a bit to get at the rotor screw, or are those entirely separate?

 

Lights on the dash (oil, battery, and check engine) should come on when you turn the key on but not all the way to start. The check engine light should go out after 2 seconds. During that 2 seconds, the fuel pump will run then stop. The oil light should stay on at least briefly while cranking the engine. Turn the key to start but don't press the clutch down so it doesn't actually crank. Oil and battery lights should stay on. If not, bad key switch.

Take the oil cap off and look that the rocker arms move when you crank. If they don't move, the timing belt is bad. That will cause no spark because the distributor doesn't turn either.

Take the distributor cap off and hold a grounded test wire near the spring on the end of the coil. Crank the engine, it should throw strong blue sparks to the wire. If you only get weak yellow sparks, the coil is bad. If no sparks at all it could be a bad coil or it could be something else. Also take note of whether the rotor rotates when cranking.

Edit, sounds like the cam is turning, so rule that out for now.

 

Thanks for the tests, I'll give those a shot in a minute. I did hear the fuel pump kick in. Kind of a low humming ish noise. Never listened for it before now.

 

So I tried the grounded wire near the coil spring while my roomie cranks it test, and while I did watch the rotor spin, there was never any spark. Am I possibly in line to replace the coil, and how much does that run, and are there other things I can test that might cause this?

 

i have a complete dizzy that works good for sale has a new coil in it all it needs is the rotor i took it off. comes with good cap and wires and has a new oring doesnt leak oil..

 

I'm not sure that's the problem just yet, but if I do wind up needing to replace it, will yours fit a 95 civic, and how much do you want for it? Also, does that include the ignition coil and all that jazz?
Edit: Sorry, just saw that you did just replace the coil on it.

 

its in my forsale thread and its from a 95

https://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=77028

 

I just figured I'd ask since you specifically mentioned in your FS thread that it's a non-vtec distributor. My car is the Vtec model, so is it a different distributor, or same piece?