I drove home Sunday night 50 miles with no problems. Turned the car off, went out to start it a couple hours later and it just cranked. I installed a stereo on Saturday, but I don't see how it could be a factor.

Things I've done so far:
Changed the battery.
Checked spark, had spark on all 4 cylinders.
I can hear the fuel pump and rail.

I pulled the distributor cap and the rotor looks a bit scorched and the nodes on the cap look corroded a bit. I'm about to crank it and pull a plug to make sure I'm getting fuel.

Any suggestions?

TIA

 

i would say get a helms and TEST your ignitor and coil, after replacing the cap and rotor.

 

Same thing happened to me about 2 weeks ago...ended up the timing belt jumped a few teeth...had to replace the timing belt (and water pump with it just for good measure). On top of that, when they were working on it, the ignition coil stopped working so that had to be replaced too.

 

Update, just cranked and pulled a plug. It was wet with gas so that ruled that out.

Checked spark again and it was definantely blue, which from what I understand means a weak spark. Not enough to ignite the fuel?

I'm going to track down a cap and rotor and see what that does.

 

Could be the coil, cap/rotor, possibly alternator?

I think you can use a coil from a civic, so try anything you can find..I know chase has some dizzys lying around.

 

Going to replace the cap & rotor tomorrow and go from there. The rotor is beat as shit.

 

ah snap...didn't see this thread.

i would lean more towards either rotor or coil. its not the ignitor because you are getting spark, although its good to change the 2 together.

good luck!

 

i had a rotor melt partially and retard the timing enough that the car wouldnt fire. long shot but worth a look

 

Haha if it comes to that it'll be cheaper to replace the whole dizzy.

My rotor is also partially melted.

 

I replaced the rotor and cap. It started :eek3:.

It definantely runs much better than before, I'm suprised I didn't notice.