car just died on me!!

[silicon_ghost]

ok. i hope someone can help me. I was driving my car and all of a sudden it just died...didnt sputter or anything, took me a couple of secs. to notice it was dead....had the radio on, looked down and it was shut off. A guy driving by hapened to be a mechanic so he stopped and thought my timing belt snapped. So we took the cap off and the rotor was still turning so it wasnt the timing belt. I have a D16z6 and i have accel wires and a MSD cap and MSD blaster coil. We thought it was the blaster coil also so we swapped it with another one and it still wouldnt start. The mechanic guy said it isnt getting a spark. It wants to turn over but it wont start. My friend said it also might be my ECU, so we are going to try to swap it with a new ECU to see if that helps. I sure hope someone might know what it could be. Today was a very bad day by the way!!!!lol..

 

[micah]

same thing happened to me just a few days ago. havent been able to fix it yet.

was driving along then all the sudden my rpm's dropped real low, i downshifted and was the same in every gear. when i put in 1st the car died. it never backfired or sputtered or drove rough.
now it wont start up. has new spark plugs, fuel pump is working, im hoping my timing just slipped. maybe its retarded enough that it wont crank up, would explain the sudden drop in rpm's also.

honestly dont know though :\

 

[91civicsiracer]

Did yall try the ignition relay in the distributor?

 

[reckedracing]

i concur, prob in the distributor...

 

[brc80]

My car is doing the same thing (not to thread jack) but ill be driving and then it will just just off with no warning. But it starts right up evertime.

Anyone?

 

[micah]

i havent checked the ignition relay, but my ignition and dist ( whole thing not just cap) have less then 10k miles on them, doubt its that

 

[silicon_ghost]

My rpm's didnt drop or anything. My car just died with no warning. I think i will probably have to replace the whole distributor. Is there a way to tell if it is the distributor without having to replace it? I dont want to spend $150 on a new one and it not be that.

 

[micah]

turns out my timing belt broke :\
mechanic said no visible damage though, but they wont know if anything is messed up until they get a new belt on and get timing set, etc

new belt, new water pump, antifreeze + 5 hours labor = 594$ estimate

 

[adidas_man]

Check the ICM (Ignition Control Module) its located in the distributer, its at the bottom of the distributer once you take the cap off, it has 4 wires that come off of it. that is alwayz something that is overlooked.

 

[ryangt]

write back if you find out what up, my rex died 2 months ago and still nothing ive resorted to ripping out both wiring harnesses and replacing for new. ive replaced everything so im not sure how to help yall.

 

[silicon_ghost]

ok. I think it might be my distributor or ignition module. I am getting a new distributor tommorrow and it comes with everything and a lifetime warranty. $174 compared to $90 for just the ignition module with no lifetime warranty. I will post back when i find out what exactly went wrong and how i fixed it. I am just hoping that we remember how the 4 wires go in the ignition module. Hope it wont mess anything up if we get a couple mixed up. Just have to keep switching them around until something happens. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[silicon_ghost]

I got GREAT news!! My car is fixed and back on the streets!. Turns out it was my distributor. Got it installed and i turned the key and it fired right up. Got the new one at advanced auto parts with a lifetime warranty so if it goes bad again...its free!! I just want to thank everyone for helping me and hope this topic helps others with the same problem. Thanks again.