honda civic tune up trouble

i recently performed a minor tune up including spark plugs air filter fuel
filter and throttle body cleaning with finger tips and carb spray. upon
completion of the job, i tried to start the vehicle. no dice. checked fuel
pressure good, air supply as good as it has ever been. no spark. what did i
un wittingly mess up when i was tuning. i tried the original plugs. no
fire. i checked the relay, three clicks as it should have. it has 140,000
miles on it and was running pretty good until i tuned vehicle. please
help.

"BADMOJO" > wrote in
lkaboutautos.com:

> i recently performed a minor tune up including spark plugs air filter
> fuel filter and throttle body cleaning with finger tips and carb
> spray. upon completion of the job, i tried to start the vehicle. no
> dice. checked fuel pressure good, air supply as good as it has ever
> been. no spark. what did i un wittingly mess up when i was tuning. i
> tried the original plugs. no fire. i checked the relay, three clicks
> as it should have. it has 140,000 miles on it and was running pretty
> good until i tuned vehicle. please help.
>


You replaced the fuel filter. Turn the ignition key to II (NOT to "start").
Wait for the Check Engine light to go off. Now do this ten more times or
so.

Still no start?

Do you have the plug wires the right way around?

Did you plug in all the hoses that were attached to the intake hose?


--
TeGGeR®

The Unofficial Honda/Acura FAQ
www.tegger.com/hondafaq/

I had a similar thing happen to me after doing a valve adjustment on my 95
Civic Ex. Because I did not ground the coil's high voltage lead when I
bumped the starter, I fried my coil. I have learned my lesson here.
Either ground the high voltage side on your coil or disconnect the input
to the coil before turning the motor over with the coil disconnected for
maint. purposes. I was also told by two different dealerships that
Honda's sometimes lose their ignitor and coil at the same time, but I
would check the coil first. Good luck.

duckbill wrote:
<snip>
> I was also told by two different dealerships that
> Honda's sometimes lose their ignitor and coil at the same time

not likely - that's just dealers with their "we've got it open, let's
replace everything" policy. makes sense for them 'cos they don't want
returns. makes no sense for you if you're doing the work yourself.

i originaly spun the engine over a couple of times without the throttle
body hose hooked up in order to clean the throttle body. i have the plug
wires in the correct order and i have fuel pressure to the fuel rail as is
apparent by loosening the bolt on it to bleed the line and it about
showered me with fuel. I am about 98 percent positive that i have no fire.
i have done all but hold the plug while it is spinning over to test it. i
just dont understand why i lost fire when i simply removed the plugs. i
believe that it is cursed.

is there any way to check the ignitor/ coil with a test light. which wires
should i probe. is the ignitor the little black bar in the dist with the
contact that brushes the rotor button or is it the piece that has the
wires plugged into it? the inside of the dist cap was relatively clean for
the mileage with only slight oxidation on the contacts. i cleaned all of
them, still no fire. its a conspiracy i believe.

Your can't check the coil (most likely problem) with a test light. You
need an Ohms meter to check resistance and continuity. Almost anyone with
a meter should be able to check it. An Advance / AutoZone store might
check it for free. You need the specs on the coil. Do you have them?

duckbill wrote:
> Your can't check the coil (most likely problem) with a test light. You
> need an Ohms meter to check resistance and continuity. Almost anyone with
> a meter should be able to check it. An Advance / AutoZone store might
> check it for free. You need the specs on the coil. Do you have them?
>
the ohm meter test only tells you if the coil's burnt right out - it
can't reliably test the coil for operation - the winding may be perfect
and test perfect, but if the internal insulation has broken down, it may
be conducting at say 5kV, not holding to 40kV like a good coil. if it
breaks down at 5kV, you'll never spark a plug with it.

to test, you need an old plug [with the outer electrode gapped /huge/]
and some leads to connect up the lug to the coil & battery. disconnect
all other leads.

BADMOJO I'm not sure what year your Civic is but the Honda Factory Service
Manual for the 95 Civic tells you to check your coil with an ohmeter. As
follows:
primary winding 0.6 to .08 ohms........secondary winding resistance 12.8
to 19.2 thousand ohms. The ohmeter will tell you if the coil is shorted or
open (burnt out). You might consider purchasing a Hayes Repair Manual for
around $15 or check one out from the library. That will help make things
very clear.
Good Luck

On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 09:21:53 -0700, jim beam >
wrote:

>duckbill wrote:
><snip>
> > I was also told by two different dealerships that
>> Honda's sometimes lose their ignitor and coil at the same time
>
>not likely - that's just dealers with their "we've got it open, let's
>replace everything" policy. makes sense for them 'cos they don't want
>returns. makes no sense for you if you're doing the work yourself.

My independent mechanic couldn't solve the so start condition on my
'94 GS-R. Wouldn't start after replacing the ignitor. He finally
called a mechanic friend at the Honda dealership who told him to
replace the coil also. He said that a bad coil damages the ignitor.