Car doesn't start - no spark

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B-SERIES_BOY

Junior Member
Fisrt off, sorry for posting another "car won't start" post but I can't figure out what to check next. Here goes, I was driving normally, then the tach dropped and it crapped out. Pulled over tried to restart but just cranking (at a normal speed). After I pushed the car about 2 miles, I replaced the coil and while I was there the plugs/wires cause I've had that problem before in other honda(s), same thing. The next day I checked all of the fuses. Everything was fine. Then I changed the ignitor and rotor. Still no spark at the end of the wire. I thought maybe the distributor was burnt so I ordered a new complete dist. I put it in and still nothing. I double checked the dist clips and there connected properly. Along the way I disconnected the negative battery cable and checked the engine grounds(just pulling at strings). I'm not sure what to do next. Maybe the ECU??? Btw, it's an obd1 b18c.
 
If youve still got power to the distributor ( check that ), then the next logical thing that could be broken, is your ignition module, and thats an expensive fucker. They are about $300 Canadian :eek: ..... I think
 
Thanks for the reply, in my post I said I replaced the ignitor. Ignitor to me is the ignition control module/ICM. Anyways I replaced that too.
 
pull the distributor cap off and while your cranking see if the rotor is turning. if not then you better check the timing belt it might of snapped. let me know what you found.
 
The last few days I have been thinking about the possibility of the timing belt being broken. The last time I worked on the car I checked again and the dist has power to it and the coil ohms out. I checked the timing belt about 3 months ago after I bought it and it looked okay but you never know. What really sucks is I have only driven/owned the car for about 2500 miles. I'll get back to you on whether or not the rotor is turning but that will have to wait a few days cause we just got around 6" of snow, which needless to say sucks monkey balls.

Okay, next question. When a timing belt snaps, do they destroy just the valves/valvetrain? Or is it possible the pistons and valves impacted? I'm just trying to get an idea of what I'm in for. Thanks again for the reply...
 
if a timing belt goes -------- you are more then likley in for a lot of engine repair but you can also get lucky and nothing go wrong, internally
 
check the timing belt and then try and turn the crank with a breaker bar. My car wouldnt start wadda you know, it was siezed :lol: :(
 
i just had my coil go out on my distributor. i checked it with an OHM meter and it was within spec, but once it was replace, the car started.
 
B16: after I checked the coil I replaced it anyway. I had a couple extra laying around. I get yelled at on a regular basis from my family about having a honda junkyard. lol. Hopefully today or tomm (weather permitting) I'll get to take the cap off and see if the rotor turns. Hopefully that turns out ok, I can scrape together the cash to rebuild the head/valvetrain if need be, but if the bottom end is messed up that'll have to wait.
 
hondas are non interferance motors if they are stock, if your timing belt breaks, your motor will be fine unless you have moded the engine, such as milled the dead, changed the pistons put a cam in with a bigger lift etc.
 
Finally got to work on the car. Took the cap off and had my brother crank the engine and the rotor just sat there. No movement. OK, so the timing belt snapped. What next?
 
wtf? i am pretty sure hondas are an INTERFERANCE motor...

i popped my timing belt on a 91 civic and i got lucky and just had one or two slightly bent valves, slapped it back together and suprisingly it runs...

smokes more than a crack whore, and ticks and all that good shit... but i didn;t need another replacement motor for it so i was thankful...

if i were you i would try throwing a new timing belt on it and see if it starts, its worth a shot, and if the motor is cooked, you're looking at a new head, lower end will probably be fine... so if you;re doing a head swap, why not do mini-me, or fuck, if you HAVE to work on it why make it b18 and make it worth your time..
 
I thought honda motors were interference too. I have seen some people that snap belts and have no damage and some people snap belts that have to redo the head so I guess I'll have to take it apart and see. I wasn't revving high when the car died maybe 2.5k-3k rpms, if that. But I guess I'll have to tear it down and see. If the head is screwed, while I'm fixing it I'll send it out for a Pnp and then I'll just build the head while everything is apart, I might as well.

BTW, the engine is a gsr so I have a good base but I understand what you are saying if it was a sohc.
 
OOH FUCK...
i thought we were talking single cam, i think your motor is def FUCKED...
sorry to say...
and i've seen bad things happen to gsr heads when the timing belt pops...

its still worth a shot to retime it with a new timing belt and just turn it over to see if it runs...

usually if the cams snapped back to TDC then you'll be ok... but if you take the timing belt cover off and they aren;t at TDC, then you may have serious issues...
best of luck man...

EDIT: and just a note, i saw a magazine article where they took a SMASHED B16 head and rebuilt it... like the valves were imbedded into the head and all that fucked up shit, so just so you know, anything can be fixed... just in case it is REAL bad...
 
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