b16a swap issues

alright so my boy and i just finished putting in a b16a sir2 engine in his 95 civic ex. everythings hooked up, sealed, etc. basically the engine is not turning over it starts but doesn't turn over, like it might not be sparking...we're hoping the distributor isn't bad (god that would suck ass) any suggestions? the spark plugs are new and spaced correctly and the wires are new as well.

battery perhaps?

not to nitpick but i think you should say it turns over but doesnt start that makes more sense....anyway I would quadruple check that your plug wires are all on correctly. One way to check for sure that your spark plugs are sparking is just to pull it out and touch it to the chassis and have a friend turn it over for like 3 seconds and see if it sparks. I wouldnt reccomend touching anything but the rubber boot on the plug wire though. I have done this before you arent going to be electricuted Also check that you put the distributor rotor in the end of the intake cam correctly it isnt easy to make it 180 degrees off but it is possible. If that isnt it, i dont know if you had to splice a dif. set of fuel injector plugs onto the harness you're using but if you did, check that those wires are all correct. (i had to for my swap) If the starter cranks fast (like normal) then it isnt the battery. Other than that i would just check the basics like engine ground, tranny ground make sure all of it is grounded.

it's okay to nitpick...:) yeah well we think it's the distributor now b/c we checked the plugs and it's not firing. the problem is we don't have the resources to check if my just the coil or the icm is bad....so the options left are...replacing one or both of those parts or buying a whole new distributor?

multimeter...cheap....$5...

I think it's the distributor. Same thing happened to me too and my friend let me borrow a distributor and now he wants it back so my car doesn't run because it has no fricking distributor...gosh that sucks

First off you want to check to see if the dizzy has power. There is no use of replacing items that don't need to be replaced. Look up a wiring diagram and see what is constant power and what is break power off the coil. When I did my swap the pin connector in the harness fell into the plug for the dizzy, therefore not giving the coil power. try jumping the coil with a 12v signal. Make sure everything checks out okay like no un pluged wires or so. AND ANOTHER THING, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD EARTH GROUND!!!! If needed so run a secondary ground wire to the chassis and one to the engine. I had that problem and was about to replace the ecu or dist. Luckly I found out it was only the main relay. Make sure if your problem is fuel or spark related. spray some carb cleaner or so into the throttle body and try to start it. If it somewhat tries to start its fuel related. Like the others said check for spark by pulling a plug wire off and putting a screw driver into it to reach the metal end inside the plug. Then have it close to a ground like the valve cover or intake then have a friend crank it and if it doesn't spark then its spark/timing related. If it EVEN TRIES to start then your spark is okay or it is weak which could be caused by a bad coil. You can take one of you old dist. because they are all the same. Now heres how you check your distributor. Take your old one and plug it in DO NOT BOLT IT TO THE HEAD. Just plug the wirings in and make sure it has a ground so touch the metal end to the head or something. Turn the key on and then spin the distributor with your hand. if it sparks with your old one and not the one off the b16 then your dizzy is for sure bad but try replacing the coil before you go and replace that. Dizzy usually go for 500-560 bucks but mine went bad and i got one off ebay for 150. There is a guy selling b16a dizzys for 208 shipped with a 4 year warranty. Hope that bit of trouble shooting helps. Good Luck!!

thanx dude...tomorrow we're going up to the shop and trying some stuff(we needed a day off and i had to work)..among which is testing it with another distributor (same year gs-r) and seeing if that yeilds any results...we're also going to test the coil to see if it's bad..we wouldn't just replace it without knowing either way. the suck thing is...even if it is just the coil...we're not sure if we can get the part seperate or not. we'll see how it goes.

did u make sure u put the distributor rotor in right?

yeah the rotors in right it's pretty much impossible not to, it doesn't fit snugly the other way. well...we tried the 94 gsr distributor today and the engine started right up. it sounds beautiful, runs perfectly, unfortunately that distributor was off a friends car that we had to give back so now we're trying to figure out what the hell's wrong with the one we have. the coil and the ignition control checked out fine...so we're like what the fuck? we think it might be this one little piece but we're gonna fuck with it tomorrow and if it comes down to it, even buy another distributor...but we know the engine works so that's awesome. :) it didn't even throw a code.

Sorry to say but you won't know if it will throw a code till ya drive it! Mine didnt throw any and it took me 2 months to get Vtec to engage properly. Try replacing the igniter or stator eiter one. Oh I can get you true JDM dizzy brand new w/ a 4 year warranty if you want it for about 200 and some odd bucks. Congrats on the swap and have fun with your new ride!

~Alex~

where can I get that? Cause everywhere I look it's 300

yeah that's true a/b throwing a code...you're right we haven't driven it yet we really don't know if the vtec will engage or not...hopefully it will guess we'll find out today went 5 hours to greenville yesterday and bought a new distributor we're just going to sell the other one or sell pieces of it...whatever works...we might just have it rebuilt and sell it as well. :) anyhow...hope it'll start...i'm exhuasted from driving fucking 10 hours yesterday didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning...thanx for the offer on the distributor but we've been fucked over before so now we only buy local....

Good it runs!! I can get anyone the hook up for 175 or a brand new one for 250 with a 4 year warranty. Just email me at Wildfire7777@hotmail.com if anyone decides they want to buy one for replacement or just to have as a spare.

where is the main relay located in a 97 civic ex