Honda help needed

What year Civic is it?..The older Civics have a main relay under the dash that controls the power to the dizzy and fuel pump..Turn the car to the on posistion and listen for the fuel pump to turn on its pretty loud so you should be able to hear it and a click under the dash also.Alos are you getting any codes?

I too am confused by honda civics. My roommate has one and ever since I've been here (5 months) his 2001 has been stuck in the driveway 3 times compared to none for my car.

calloway03 said:

What year Civic is it?..The older Civics have a main relay under the dash that controls the power to the dizzy and fuel pump..Turn the car to the on posistion and listen for the fuel pump to turn on its pretty loud so you should be able to hear it and a click under the dash also.Alos are you getting any codes?

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I had the fuel pump out and checkedit as well it is good, I will have to check the relay under the dash. BTW it is a 98 1.6l sohc

Sounds like the DISTRIBUTOR to me.

Check engine light?..If its the dizzy it should be throwing a code for it.Also check all the fuses some will also not let the dizzy or fp come on like the altenator solinoid fuse..Also check the grounds from the harness to the thermostat housing.

See if its getting fuel pressure aswell..If you dont have a gauge you can pull the return line on the fpr and see if any comes out.

Keeloh said:

Sounds like the DISTRIBUTOR to me.

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Almost always the case on these cars. Try the cap and rotor first and if that fails, make a junk yard run for a distributor.

The D16Y7 and D16Y8 are both known for this. But the cap and rotor are cheap from Honda, so start there first. Doing that fixed my issue with my last 2 Civics, each one having one of the already mentioned engines.

^^^ Yup all the time the Distributors goes out on civics.

and MX6's.. growing trend in foreign cars..

disty cap and rotor should be fine, spark isn't even getting to those so maybe I have to look at the distributor, any way to check it without just buying a new one. I have a multimeter that will test resistance and voltage (probably more but that is all I use it for) I guess worst case senario it is time fir a trip to the junk yard

check for power to internal coil. Now if your not getting any spark out of the cap at all i would say most likely the internal coil within the disty is dead. Because if you have ground control of the circuit from the ecu and power to the coil but no spark, well then you problem pretty much lies between the two.

Just put a test light on the ground and the other end on the power side of the battery. If it flashes quickly your problem is the coil because it shows that the ecu is telling the coil when to collapse and induce its magnetic field within the secondary windings.

back at it again tonight and have about an hour to get to the parts store before it closes for thenight. replaced the disty cap and rotor just to make sure, no change. I have everything torn apart abd using a circuit tester I have power getting to the ignition coil. but no power out of the coil with the car on or trying to crank the car over. the confusing thing is that according to the test procedures in the haynes manual the coil is fine, even testing it against a brand new one at auto zone monday with a ohm meter they tested the same. but if it is getting power but not putting power out that means it is bad correct?. As far as the disty goes the rotor is spinning fine and seams to have no problem so I think it is fine. any help is appreciated especially quick help..... thanks

the rotor will spin as it is connected to the disty shaft, which is in turn driven by the cam. So the rotor will sping regardless if it works or not.

You have stated you have power to the coil but what about ground. Takes both halves to make a complete ciruit. Did you check for ground control at the coil? I'm sure you have that but i would just buy another coil. i forget if they are external or internal. I know honda has a real boner for internal coils so i would just buy a new one and see what happens. You have no spark and power to it as you said. The coil is kind of....well in the middle of the two. Just buy another and see what happens. Worst case scenario you take the new one back and have to do some more diagnosis.

Thankfully the car is fixed now, ended up just being the ignition coil which tested fine according to everytest I threw at it. Then was talking to a honda mechanic that said they always test fine. Who would guess that a part would test fine when it is broken...


Anyway, Thank you all for your help, it is much appreciated....

professorblaze said:

and MX6's.. growing trend in foreign cars..

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WRONG. Foreign cars stopped using disty's several years ago.