Car died 200ft down the road

Shav3d

Guest
Hey everyone,

I have a 2000 Civic Si, pretty much bone stock other than bolt-on's.

I got a CEL last week that O2 sensor was bad, replaced the O2 sensor yesterday and the CEL went away. I drove the car for about 15 miles, no more CEL no issues and the car ran great.

Today I take it to go to work, 200ft down the street from my garage and it just dies. No CEL, code scanners find nothing. So I started the process.

Now I'm by myself for now so I can't check spark on the wires, however I've done the following with no luck. I will test the wires as soon as I can get someone to crank the car for me. The wires are a few years old and look ok during physical inspection. No rips/tears, everything seems in good shape with them but again, I have no way to see an actual spark by myself.

- Replaced Cap/Rotor - They were in 'ok' shape so I figured why not.
- Replaced Spark Plugs - Looked ok but put new ones in anyways.
- Fuel pump is priming. I have a fuel pressure gauge and it shows psi when the car is off and the ignition is turned on. I depressurized the fuel system and gauge went to 0psi. Re-pressurized and PSI is reading normal.
- Replaced the ignition coil (it tested ok according to spec but figured to replace it and take it back if it didn't work) ( reading 1.1ohm for +\- and 16.2kohm for +\Spring, these are in spec with the Duralast Coil which is installed in it and reads the exact same as the brand new coil I bought today that had no effect)
- Took out the ICM and had it tested at Vatozone. Tested ok, ran the test 6 times.
- Battery is charged and is brand new , tested it and it's ok.
- Took the Dizzy out to get to the ICM, all wired connections look good.
- Starter was replaced 2 months ago


Have not tested

- injectors - don't know how to yet and haven't had time to read up on how to test them.
- TPS - I had an error with it awhile back (months ago) where it threw a CEL. Cleaned it and CEL never came back. Maybe it died? Figured a CEL would come up if it did. I read somewhere that a TPS 'could' cause this issue but typically it will throw a code.
- The dizzy. I'm unsure if there is any way to test a dizzy other than confirming the other 2 parts (ICM/Coil) are working properly.
- ECM - I don't think this is it as all my other sensor are reading, no issues with lights/gauges/anything
- Ignition Switch - took it apart, look to be good, not getting any issues where I have to giggle the key to make the car electronics come on/off.


Things I've noticed

- I have 2 Tach's, one is aftermarket (obviously) the other is stock. During start up the stock tach doesn't move at all where the aftermarket one is jumping around like a spastic ADHD child. I don't recall if this is normal since I never looked at the stock tach (was covered up by a picture). However the aftermarket tach did jump around when started, but I do not recall if it jumped like this. I've seen it go all the way up to 11k RPM's and jump back down and bounce in between this range. Typically I'd see the aftermarket tach hop around rom 1k and below during start up.


This could be wires, but again they look good and I get ohm readings through the wires, but I don't know what they ohms should read since they are aftermarket wires.


Until I get another hand to test the wires I am totally out of options right now. I've been at this for 6+ hours today and am getting no progress at all.

Can someone help a girl out? Suggestions/thoughts/ideas? I'm open to anything that will help at this point in time. Hell I'll sacrifice a virgin if it makes my car run.

thanks everyone.
 

RonJ

Banned
Have you checked whether dash fuse 9 is blown?

You need to check for bright white spark at all 4 spark plugs.

You also need to check the mechanical timing and whether the timing belt snapped.
 


Shav3d

Guest
RonJ said:
Have you checked whether dash fuse 9 is blown?

You need to check for bright white spark at all 4 spark plugs.

You also need to check the mechanical timing and whether the timing belt snapped.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply. I've been reading a lot about this and found a great thread where you walked a guy through most of this stuff already on Honda-tech. So I've been going off that. Just not having a hand to test spark is killing me but the guts of the dizzy are testing ok.

Fuse is good, replaced it (wasn't burnt out) no effect.

Waiting on someone to help me check the plugs/wires for spark. I can't find a good way to test without someone cranking the car for me.

The crank is moving as every time I try and start it the rotor will have moved when I take it apart. I don't think the belt snapped but it is possible that maybe the belt jumped a tooth or two? What is the best way to check the timing? I would guess I'd have to manually crank the motor to some point.
 

Shav3d

Guest
Thank you for the image. I just replaced the valve cover gasket so I'm going to wait till someone comes home and I can check my spark before I check the timing so I don't have to buy another gasket.

Edit: Should I trust Vatozone's ICM tester? I didn't plug the new one in to test with since the old one said it was ok, but this is vatozone we are talking about...
 

RonJ

Banned
Shav3d said:
Thank you for the image. I just replaced the valve cover gasket so I'm going to wait till someone comes home and I can check my spark before I check the spark so I don't have to buy another gasket.
Click to expand...
:thumbs up

If the gasket is new and the valve cover bolts weren't over-torqued, then it can probably safely be re-used.
 

RonJ

Banned
Shav3d said:
Edit: Should I trust Vatozone's ICM tester? I didn't plug the new one in to test with since the old one said it was ok, but this is vatozone we are talking about...
Click to expand...
If you verified that the employee used the correct adaptor and testing instructions, then I would trust.
 

Shav3d

Guest
RonJ said:
:thumbs up

If the gasket is new and the valve cover bolts weren't over-torqued, then it can probably safely be re-used.
Click to expand...
The gasket has less than 50 miles on it.. I always use a TQ wrench. So back to the garage I go and will test that now.

Thanks for the quick help Sir.
 

RonJ

Banned
Turn the crank pulley ONLY counterclockwise just until the cams are set at TDC1. Then look to see whether the pointer on the lower timing belt cover aligns with the white mark on the crank pulley.

If the cam pulleys can't be set at TDC1 or the pointer fails to align with the white mark, then the timing is off (jumped teeth).
 

Shav3d

Guest
Timing good and the belt looks good.

Finally got some help pulled a plug out and hooked it up to the wire, no spark on any wire. So the dizzy must be the issue. Just ordered a new one and it will be here Friday.
 

RonJ

Banned
Before you make expensive purchases, check whether voltage reaches the Blk/Yel wire attached to the coil and ICM. Also do the other ICM input tests.

A bad distributor is only one of many possible causes of no spark.

 

Attachments

RonJ

Banned
- I have 2 Tach's, one is aftermarket (obviously) the other is stock. During start up the stock tach doesn't move at all where the aftermarket one is jumping around like a spastic ADHD child. I don't recall if this is normal since I never looked at the stock tach (was covered up by a picture). However the aftermarket tach did jump around when started, but I do not recall if it jumped like this. I've seen it go all the way up to 11k RPM's and jump back down and bounce in between this range. Typically I'd see the aftermarket tach hop around rom 1k and below during start up.
Click to expand...
This^ may be related to the issue.

You probably should start by Ohm and short testing the CKP sensor from pins C8 and C9 of ECU connector C.



 

Attachments

Shav3d

Guest
I get voltage to the ICM and I've disconnected the other tach. Still no go.. will test the other stuff you listed after work today.
 

Shav3d

Guest
RonJ said:
One tach doesn't work at all and the other malfunctions, right?
Click to expand...
Nope the other tach works 100%. Just the aftermarket one began to jump around. The aftermarket one is very old as well so its just time to get it out of there anyways.
 

Shav3d

Guest
New dizzy came in and it is now running. Needs valve adjustments but that's another issue.

Thanks for the assistance!
 
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