I have been searching all over the internt to see if someone has had the same problem as me but so far i have had no luck so here it goes: A few weeks ago I was driving into town from visiting a friend an hour away. I down shifted to slow for stopping at a red light and when I let the clutch out, my car died. I thought it might have just been a fluke so, i turned the key and it started again, but only for a few seconds. I was still coasting about 25mph so i dropped to clutch to see if i could pop start it and again it started but for only a split second and died again. The car ended up stopping halfway into a Radioshack driveway so i had to push it across the parking lot. After waiting a while i decided to try starting it again, this time all it did was turn over. The week before this happened it started developing a really hard jolt whenever i took of from a stop sign/light. I would start accelerating and then the car would like "burp" and act like it was dying and then it would be fine. the jolt was small at first then towards the end (on the way from my friends an hour away) it was getting really bad. I was actually hoping to get it home incase it died and wouldnt start again which inevitably happened. After i got it home on the trailer i checked for spark and found that there was no spark at all. My buddy has the same car (1996 Civic EX) as me so we brought it over and decided to check if the coil was bad. Not the problem. Next we tried the Ignition Control Module. Not the problem. We eventually changed the dizzy over from his car to mine along with his plugs and wires and STILL NO SPARK!!!!!! I also checked the fuel pump to rule that out and that was fine. I have no idea what is going on, and I miss my Honda. Anyone have any idea of whats wrong?! Is there a sensor somewhere that went bad that could cause this?!?!

P.S. The CEL has been on since i got the car (bad VTEC solenoid [going to fix that after i get it running again... or if i get it running again ] )

 

At the distributor there is a Black/Yellow wire. That is the power supply from the ignition switch. Unplug the connector, attach a test lamp to it and turn ignition ON. If test lamp turns on, power is available. Turn the ignition to crank and note if the test lamp goes off. It should stay on indicating nothing wrong with the power supply.

 

Is the timing belt stripped? Make sure the cam rotates when you crank. If it's not that, do what Anibis said. Also check for any new codes in the ECU.

You probably know this now, but downshifting to slow down for ordinary stops puts unnecessary wear and tear on your transmission, clutch, and engine. Much better to just buy the relatively inexpensive brake pads a little more often.

 

Anibis, ill have to check that for sure the next time i go back to my parents house as i live about an hour away now and thats where the car is.

mk378, i remember the cam rotating when we were cranking on it so inless it slipped a tooth i dont think its the belt. And pardon me if im wrong, im still a novice when it comes to honda's but any car ive ever dealt with the timing belt or chain doesnt have control over spark? Again i could be wrong about honda. Also we hooked it up to the computer and the only code that still shows is the Vtec malfunction. Could there be like a cam or crank position sensor that went bad? if there are such things for honda's? And could the Vtec solenoid finally have caused some other **** to go wrong? Im open to any ideas lol i just need to find out whats wrong because i cant afford to take it to a shop anytime soon

 

On the distributor models, all timing comes from the distributor. So if the distributor doesn't rotate, there will be no sparking.

 

Too true, I guess I knew that but when you said something about the cam, I was like huh? I guess that I never really processed that... I didnt mean to shut your idea down man. Do you think it could just be the ICM and that it was a fluke that my buddies dizzy didnt work on mine?

 

Did you do anibis' test for power to the distributor? Also you should consult a schematic and check that all the power inputs to the ECU have power, and all the grounds are grounded.

If you have access to two cars the same, one working and one not, you could put your distributor on the good car and see if it works.

Though that is often a good way to end up with two broken cars.