punkindrublic

well heres the scoup...

today i went out and bought a set of plugs and a new cap and rotor...

so i take it all apart as i've done twice already and all is normal...

so i go to start and nothing... the starter does spin but no firing what so ever...

the diagnosis i've done thus far is that voltage is leaving the distributor... but the problem seems to lie from that voltage leaving the distributor to where the wires plug into the cap... there is continuity between all the parts individually but must be something in the way they fit together

its really pissing me off cause yet again something that should have taken 20 mins is now taking hours and still no progress

any ideas?

imported_94EG6HB

Does the old part work if you put it on?

Origin of parts?

punkindrublic

negative... no parts work... no combination of rotor and cap work... just a whole lot of nothing... origin of parts is crappy tire... never had a problem with them previous so i dont know... it baffles me how voltage enters the cap just wont come out

ohmstable

what do you mean, voltage is leaving the cap?? How did you check that? You need to pull a plug out of the engine and ground it, and try cranking to see if there is spark. If there's no spark it's prob the igniter in the dizzy.

punkindrublic

yes the problem is in the igniter... it does show 12v... but i'm thinking its not giving the amps or soemthing cause it hardly arcs when you try to ground off the thingy that enters the cap... pretty bit **** off... it appears i'll be getting a rental car for the week till i find a distributor :norfair:

punkindrublic

sigh if only


looks like its a rental car for the week now

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

two thoughts... one, yeah, the dizzy might be gone but you said this started only after you changed the parts. so methinx you fuct up the firing order? did you check for spark at each spark plug?

punkindrublic

i checked where the juice would enter the cap and even from there when cranking it doesn't produce enough amps to arc... and i checked for spark in all plugs nothing... the weird thing though is that is does show 12V... but no amperage... the amperage reading on my dad bling multimeter is gone so i'm gonna get another possibly tonight or tomorrow to find out how much it actually is producing... but as a positive note i've just called 3 wreckers and they all want in the ballpark of $200-250 for a distributor... this for a used distributor that none of them would garuntee would work... so thats ****ed... they probably want $2000 for a d16z6 swap

ohmstable

you can't measure the voltage coming out of the distributor.. it's 1000v+ when ignitor is sparking.

Only way to troubleshoot would be to do the resistance measurements like the repair manual tells you.

If you got no spark coming at the plugs and you're sure the dizzy is wired right, then most likely its your ignitor

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

yeah, the manual has ways to test that. I did the test on my Samurai dizzy - it was a pretty tough test to set up, as I needed a gauge multimeter, not a digital one. It did, however, confirm that the dizzy was done, and the truck ran awesome after I replaced it. Look on ebay for dizzys, I got my Samurai one for $15 USD. Does your dad use a Fluke? That's what I use.

imported_loudsubz

flukes are overpriced IMO

punkindrublic

as a matter of fact it is a fluke its a pretty high end ****... you could actually measure the amperage going through a welding wire if you were so motivated...

are you sure about the 1000v ohmstable? i mean the multimeter doesn't lie... 12v all the time... i didn't know hondas has transformers in them

you can run 12v dc and have well over 2000 amps before the voltage will start to creep to 13-14...

ohmstable

Car ignitions step up the 12v dc to 40,000v+ to make it jump the spark plug gap. That is the purpose of ignition coils and ignitor in your case. The higher the voltage, the stronger the spark. Thats why people get MSD and stuff which have big *** external coils.
When the voltage gets stepped up the current get dropped so there's very little current flowing through the plugs, just high voltage.

punkindrublic

ah i see... i used to seeing voltage and amperage in a welding setting where you'd see like 25 volts and 300 amps


based on everything i have done its the ignitor... which i guess is cheaper the a complete distributor if i could find that

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

I'm not sure if this is the case... but I think if you upgrade to an MSD you remove the ignitor or something, and it becomes an external MSD peice? Am I on crack or is that true? Also, I priced out a new ignitor for my Samurai, it was over $500.

punkindrublic

well for everyone who said ignitor coil your were correct... got a new one for $40 including delivery off my buddy today...

so the civic is online again


now what to do about these pesky thoughts of an h22 in my engine bay