My daughter hasa 1999 Honda CivicEX with SOHC D16Y8 VTEC engine. The car died while driving and she had it towed to ex-boyfriend of hers.One of the spark plug terminals on the distributor cap was charred. The cap, rotor, and spark plug wires were replaced. The car would not start and there was no spark at any of the plugs. Several supposedly car knowledgeable people looked at it and could not figure anything out. The old boyfriend ordered a PCM off of E-Bay for $20 which seems unbelievable price for a PCM. Any way weeks went by and we could not find anything out about the fix. The old boyfriend has personal issues and is not very reliable. I ended up getting a tow dolly and retrieved the car and towed it to my garage. I asked old boyfriends mom for what work was done on the car but never got anything. Closed that book and started over.

I got the Haynes shop manual and checked all of the ignition items like the ignition coil resistances, ignition control module voltages, and wiring. Everything seemed to check okay, so going by the manual I replaced the ICM. Still no spark at the plug wires.I swapped the original PCM and EBay PCM back and forth and there was still no spark. I checked the resistances of the TDC/CKP/CYP sensors andthey were okay. Faced with uncertainty of coil, PCM, or distributor, I bought a reman distributor from NAPA. Installed the distributor, lined up TDC and rotor to #1 terminal, and got good spark on all four plugs, but the car would stillnot start.Checked the plugs and they were in bad shape, kind of charred, about 7 out of 10 on scale of bad. Replaced the plugs. Still no start. The fuel pump energizes when the ignition switch to turned to on and can smellgas at the cylinders when cranking.

This is what I know. Car died while driving with no check engine lights. One of the terminals on distributor cap was charred.Replaced distributor cap, rotor, and spark plug wires - No spark. Replaced distributor and got good spark but no start.I am at the point or past that of not knowing what to do next. I am thinking about possibility of original PCM failure and faulty PCM off of EBAY or maybe a wiring problem that has caused multiple failures.

Here is specific question.The Haynes Repair manual says tocheck the CKP/TDC/CYC sensors at the distributor electrical connector and to check if any sensor terminal is shorted to ground. None of the sensors were shorted to ground; however, on the supply (PCM side) of the connector terminals 5, 6, 7, and 8 were measured very low resistance to ground. Is it normal forPCM sensor return side to connect to ground? Also, the Ignition start/on black/yellow wire is also very low resistance to ground. Is this normal? I appreciate any feedback or comments.

 

Just in case anyone looks at this and wants to know the result. I took the car to Honda dealer.The replacement cap was apparently not correctly marked for 1999 Honda Civic Ex and the firing order was not right. The incorrect cap was marked with an "A" by #4 terminal. The correct cap is marked with a "C" by #1 terminal which is 180° from #4 terminal. The non-starting distributor cap was firingon #1 terminal on the #1 cylinder TDC on the exhaust stroke.The car starts fine and runs great now. Case closed.

 

wow that was some excelent diagnosis there, im glad u got it figured out .....and that it was a cheap fix