Distributor recall!!!

[WilliamW]

Hey, Did you guys know that the 1991 Honda accord models had a recall on the distributor assembly? Well, I didnt lol. Anyway my 91 honda accord isnt getting spark. The wiring harness is good, the ECU is good, and everything else I've checked is good; Even the distributor and the three sensors (CRANK/TDC and CYL) checked out to be good by repair manual specs. I had another post in the technical section about the repair manuals and the procedure for checking the distributor. The tests on the three sensors are resistance tests. All three sensors were in spec, but I still have no spark. Heres the odd thing... The last procedure for checking each sensor is to take it to a dealership to be serviced. This makes no sense in my mind but ok.
My honda never made it to the dealership to be fixed on this recall. I didnt know about it since i bought it 8 months ago and only gotten to drive it for 2 months until this "no spark" thing happened. I'm really looking to get this fixed and just drive my beloved non-abused CB7.

What do you guys think, if the wiring harness is good, the ecu is good, and the entire engine is in time theres not too many ignition related parts left are there? And more importantly WHY would my distributor just not work like that? What happens to these "defective" distributors, and is mine one of them? Thanks you guys. I'll be online for the next few days so hope to hear from someone. Thanks you guys are the best!

[dbsharp]

if the distributor checks out fine then maby its not the problem.

[ZeRoCooLCB7R]

My girls brother had a cb7 sittin for 2 years cuzz of that now its mines.Should be a simple fix.Open up the distributor and replace the coil.

[F22PwrdInspire]

If you feel the problem lies within your distributor, then you should take your vehicle to Honda and have them install the new distributor. I checked on our internet database and what is done is the igniter is replaced with an updated ignitor and you also recieve a new distributor cap and rotor and an overhaul of the distributor. If you want to know if this service has or has not been already performed on your vehicle PM me your VIN number and I can check on the Honda Internet Database to see if it has been performed.

[cp[mike]]

maybe some of the responses in my thread could help you out: http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=57421

[WilliamW]

Thanks guys.

Hey, mike. When you found the short on your distributor, was it just a couple of wires inside the distributor? I found your thread very interesting and helpful. I've done basically everything you have only without running my own wires. I was planning on getting a distributor from the junk yard and calling honda and seeing if that honda had been serviced with the recall. Then, if what you say IS true then I can probably just secure the wires (make sure they dont cross/short/mess up by the will of God). I've went over my wiring harness several times, ecu several times, and ignition sensors several times; all of which reads as good.

Thanks mike, it seems that this problem has stumped alot of us, but that thread really helped out.

[AccordChic90]

damn, I prolly could have saved some $ if I'd known sooner

[cp[mike]]

yeah, its a pain in the neck finding tiny little issues like this.

if you know the parts are good (which you should probably grab a whole new dizzy from the junkyard like you said) then the only other piece of the puzzle is wiring. all 7 of the wires coming from that 8pin distributor plug lead to the center smallest connector on the ECU, with the same wire colors. they are for the 3 coil pickups in the dizzy. use a meter and check continuity between the distributor's connector and the ecu connector. make sure none of the wires are shorted to each other as well. i have a feeling these arent the issue for you, though, as the car usually gets spark or manages to sputter a bit if one of the coils are bad, itll just end up throwing a CEL light. no spark at all, it would lead me to believe its more ignitor / coil related.

i should get you a diagram of the ignition system, so you can test each of the wires... theres a couple wires between the ignitor and coil and such that you should check.

besides physical wiring connections, you can also check that they are working like they should... certain wires get power at certain times, certain pins should give different resistance readings... if you go through and test each aspect, youll narrow it down.

my issue ended up being that the ignitor-to-coil wire was shorted to a power wire, INSIDE of the engine wiring harness. when i tested continuity, there were no breaks in either wire. everything seemed perfect, but the moment i turned the key on, power was incorrectly being sent to the ignitor and coil, killing any chance of the coil making spark when it should. but then again i had just recently torn apart the engine bay and moved all the wiring around...

im busy this weekend working on somebodys motor swap, if i get time maybe sunday, ill try hooking up my scanner to see if i can get that page scanned for ya.

[WilliamW]

Thanks mike that would be great, I guess it's about time for me to start checking wires, and possibly running new ones.

[WilliamW]

Update:

So I got a new distributor from the junk yard along with some other cosmetic parts. I got my engine back in and wired everything up. I tried to turn over the engine but alas nothing, my battery then died. Theres a possibility that it's just very very very weak since I've not been around my car for about 3 months... (sigh) I'm going to try and see what happens tomorrow after a nice tripple charge. Cross your fingers everyone!!!!

[Alex13mod]

check ur ecu to the the dizzy i had to rewire the harner , and ur not getting power from ecu to dizzy. It happend to me even swapping a dizzy wont work. its your power to ur dizzy. So check ur harness from ur ECU to dizzy. Once thats fix it will work. I had ur problem.

[WilliamW]

Hey guys heres an update. I found out what it was and it's something stupid. Somewhere in my wiring harness where it goes through the firewall there was a short . one of the power wires going to the distributor was scraping the metal of the body. That's why there were no breaks in the wire with the power off because it was still partially intact. Only a little bit was grounded and when you moved the wiring harness just right it would be OK. But I had to run new wires and all that jazz. But on the bright side, i got an extra coil/igniter out of my old dizzy.
Good News.
My car runs.

Bad News.
It's leaking antifreeze.

Heh, what do you know, solve one problem and another pops up.

[Heavyhitter92]

check your ignition module. i had the same prob last week my car was running for about 5 min and it just shut off changed the ign module and she started right up disregard i didnt finih reading post

[NAiL05]

check your ignition module. i had the same prob last week my car was running for about 5 min and it just shut off changed the ign module and she started right up disregard i didnt finih reading post

He already solved his problem. If your leaking coolant/antifreeze pressure test the system and it will find the leak pretty damn quick =D.