'98 Civic Died on Freeway

[Racinfan83]

98 Civic EX with stock 1.6 engine. Changed distributor cap and rotor 2 days ago due to a 303 code I get about once a year and new cap and rotor fixes it. Ran like a champ since. Going down freeway about 75 today and motor just quit. No sputter no nothing just shut off. Had all power still - just no motor. Got to side of freeway, tried to restart, cranks over fine, acted like it was going to catch and run a few times just for a hit or two but never did. Towed it home with truck and tow strap. I thought it was a fuel pump issue due to how it tried to catch a couple times - but now I have it home in quiet garage I can hear the pump running. Shot ether in intake to see if it was a fuel issue - still no start no catch. Pulled #1 plug wire and put screwdriver in it - held next to ground wire and no spark. Pulled #4 wire same thing no spark. Checked PCM fuse it is good. Pulled new dist cap off. The only thing I wonder about with it is I was thinking there was some time ago some kind of spring in there where the coil post is and it is missing. Don't know if that is even a problem or if it has been running fine without it for some time?? The other strange thing was that the coil pin in the dist cap has rubbed on the coil post - not sure if that is a problem or not.
Timing belt only has like 50k miles on it and the motor made no noise like that broke so I'm pretty sure that isn't it. I'm at the end of my "what to look at next" rope. SO if someone can point me in the right direction it would be awesome..

 

[HeX]

I tweaked your title for better clarity.

Im confident your issue is in the distributor. No one should need to replace the cap & rotor yearly. Perhaps you need to replace the internal ignition coil. Consider getting another distributor altogether.

 

[mc360]

Yep take the dizzy apart, you can't find new oem coils I don't think but you could buy a used dizzy off ebay for 70$ and swap the ignitor over. I had to do this to the girlfriends car when it died in the parking lot, spent all day trying all the easy fixes like main fuel relay, spark plugs, wires and It ended up being the ignitor.

 

[nd4sped]

Yep take the dizzy apart, you can't find new oem coils I don't think but you could buy a used dizzy off ebay for 70$ and swap the ignitor over. I had to do this to the girlfriends car when it died in the parking lot, spent all day trying all the easy fixes like main fuel relay, spark plugs, wires and It ended up being the ignitor.

You can get them from oriellys or advance auto parts.

 

[HeX]

If you go the route of another distributor, I suggest against an aftermarket one. Instead, consider a used JDM distributor. There's at least one seller on eBay who sells them, sourced from Japan from low mileage Civics. Thats what I did about 4 years ago and havent had a single issue with it.

 

[mc360]

You can get them from oriellys or advance auto parts.

That wouldn't be oem then, I know accel (spelling?) Makes an internal ignitor for civics but I like oem and everyone says aftermarket honda ignition parts suck.

 

[nd4sped]

That wouldn't be oem then, I know accel (spelling?) Makes an internal ignitor for civics but I like oem and everyone says aftermarket honda ignition parts suck.

A coil is a coil. They are almost all made by the same damn company, TEC or Hitachi. Just depends on which distributor you have. A coil is a f**king coil. There is nothing special about them or how they are wound. It uses magnetic induction to produce voltage.

You're obviously not looking very hard. I have used these before and they are perfectly fine. The one that's in the SI has been there for almost 10 years without a problem. Only replaced it because I damaged (dropped the coil and cracked the plastic) the old one by accident when I disassembled the old distributor while replacing the shaft support bearing.

1998 Honda Civic EX D16Y8
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/search.oap?year=1998&make=Honda&model=Civic&vi=1315643&keyword=ignition+coil

The coils used in Hondas are almost all interchangeable as they are used on almost every engine Honda has manufactured.

 

[Racinfan83]

Update: got a new distributor, put it on, started right up. Ran decent though a bit sluggish first couple days. NOW I got a P0420 code for the cat. Heard some rattling underneath and the one that's on it is 4 years old so that is entirely plausible. Ordered a new one just now. But I have a couple more questions....
#1 - I noticed today it's pretty sluggish and water temp running hot which is unusual. (replaced radiator, etc last fall) Can a bad Cat/code cause this??
#2 - Does the distributor position set the timing or does the computer automatically adjust it? I put the bolts about in the middle of the adjustment holes which is close to where the old one was. I have no clue how to check timing on this thing - nor do I have a timing light...

 

[mc360]

If your hearing rattling under your car and have a cel for bad cat then most likely your cat is plugged, if your cat is plugged you will lose power (I lost probably 20hp when mine plugged, it would barely climb a hill anymore). When mine plugged it sounded like sand running through the motor.

When you remove the distributor you have to time your car again, rotating the dizzy one way retards ignition and the other way advances ignition (you probably retarded the ignition).

 

[HeX]

If your hearing rattling under your car and have a cel for bad cat then most likely your cat is plugged, if your cat is plugged you will lose power (I lost probably 20hp when mine plugged, it would barely climb a hill anymore). When mine plugged it sounded like sand running through the motor.

When you remove the distributor you have to time your car again, rotating the dizzy one way retards ignition and the other way advances ignition (you probably retarded the ignition).

I agree. You can check the cat by tapping it hard with a broom stick or something to test for rattling debris. Badly clogged catalytics may even glow from excessive heat blockage after a lengthy drive.

 

[Racinfan83]

Yeah pretty sure cat was junk. Just didn't know if that would make engine overheat - but after googling it - it does because of the backpressure.

Looking at the motor from front - turning top of distributor toward the rear retards or advances timing? I can set it by ear and by messing with it if I know which way is which...

 

[mc360]

You won't be able to set timing by ear, only thing you will hear is the idle change. Just go buy a cheap 10$ harbor freight timing light and look at the fsm to figure out how to time it.

 

[Joe Mason]

Update: got a new distributor, put it on, started right up. Ran decent though a bit sluggish first couple days. NOW I got a P0420 code for the cat. Heard some rattling underneath and the one that's on it is 4 years old so that is entirely plausible. Ordered a new one just now. But I have a couple more questions....
#1 - I noticed today it's pretty sluggish and water temp running hot which is unusual. (replaced radiator, etc last fall) Can a bad Cat/code cause this??
#2 - Does the distributor position set the timing or does the computer automatically adjust it? I put the bolts about in the middle of the adjustment holes which is close to where the old one was. I have no clue how to check timing on this thing - nor do I have a timing light...

The code is probably indicating the O2 sensor behind the cat is bad. That's at least what I've seen in my experience.

 

[Racinfan83]

I'm changing the cat today after work and resetting the timing. See what happens from there..