91 Civic Hatchback...Turns over..Wont start.

[BiggWaukegan]

Please help a fellow honda owner out here. My car has been running fine. But last week I took it for emmissions test and it failed? Ok fine. But now a week later as I went start it this morning it wouldnt start. Turns over fine (getting power) and I can even smell gas(getting gas) so what in the hell could it be? All it does is crank over. help me out ASAP

[amy@af]

check for spark. it's your coil and/or ignitor

[BiggWaukegan]

i will be checking for spark real soon here. But b4 i go check...what coil?

[amy@af]

both are within the dist.

[VTISC007]

Originally Posted by LadyNRedSi

check for spark. it's your coil and/or ignitor

I know what the coil is......I'm just not sure what the ignitor is.........

I'm having similar problems and I'm trying to troubleshoot.

[ukrkoz]

http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#startrun

u'll find any answer to ignition problems/repairs

[VTISC007]

Thanks for the info.

I took the distributor off yesterday to replace the oil seal behind it because I notice some oil inside. Upon closer inspection, I saw that some of the wires insulation was damaged due to the oil. These are the wires that go to the igniter. The little coils inside the distributor also look a little dirty and old (maybe from the oil). I'm wondering if this would be a good time to replace the distributor, and if so, does the new distributor come with new wires???

[ukrkoz]

replace distributor.
in one shot, you'll have ignitor and coil replaced, along with all the samll stuff.
absolutely find out why oil was getting inside.
best i know, u looking at about $200 expense internet or schucks. make sure you order the right one, they have 2 different vendors for those in your car, denso and someone else, hitachi i believe. they vary. probably, remove distributor and bring it to a store to refer to, they can look up numbers in their system.

[VTISC007]

I'm going to look into finding a new distributor....Hopefully I'll have it done by next week.

[ukrkoz]

yep, toyo denso and hitachi distributors.
i looked them up yesterday, doorman i think can be found over the internet for $160. yours should be T-01, T-02 is for 1.6L engines. but i am hesitant to buy those, as there's good chance of something not matching.
i'd suggest, check with local stores 1st. all of them have price match policy - AND THAT GOES FOR INTERNET PRICES TOO. so, inquire about price match, find same distributor on the web, print price out, and have it matched in the store. at least, you can return it any time you want to.
but yes, you will have many things that can go wrong replaced in one shot - cap, rotor, ignitor, coil, and all the rest of the doohickeys.
replacing it is a snap, just make sure you match wires right after. remove cap and spray electrical sealant everywhere on contacts. small expense of buying a can of dielectric grease and lubricating every contact with it, will go long way for you.

[VTISC007]

Yes indeed...

I replaced the distributor with a rebuilt one, it came with all brand new stuff inside.

The car started immediately.

Now I just need to replace the valve cover gaskets....Some oil got down into the spark plugs from the top.

[VTISC007]

As I mentioned earlier, I replaced the distributor on my car and it fired right up. The car drove well for at least a good month, then it just shut off on me while driving on the freeway. This is exactly how the problem first started. I exchanged the distributor out for another one (lifetime warranty). Problem not fixed. The car has no spark. My next guess is the ignition switch.

It seems like the car has not been the same ever since it got stolen.

[VTISC007]

The ignition switch contacts appeared to be in good codition. I'm getting ready to take it to the mechanic. I don't know what to do anymore.