hey all

developed a misfire a few days ago on my civic, did an ignition tune-up (plugs, wires, cap, rotor) and checked timinig (it was ok). misfire gone.

next day, got a bad sudden misfire on the highway, car stalled, started back up, all good. few hours later, started the car, ran for 30 seconds, sputtered, stalled, wont start back up, cranks, no start. checked it. no spark.

next day, started back up, drove it 17 miles home, no issue at all.

i'm guessing bad distributor or bad ignition control module. i bought a reman'ed distributor which i believe has a new ignition control module in it, so i'm gonna try that for now.

any ideas from anyone?

car is a 1994 Honda Civic DX, 5 speed. all stock, no mods.

 

Do you have any friends with a civic dx? I would say swap the distributor with a known good unit, It is pointing towards the ignition module.

 

unfortunately no friends with civics to try swapping with. i'm hoping the new distributor will do the job.

 

update!

i replaced the distributor. it's been about 4 days now. seems to fix it so far!

 

I ran into something similar to yours. Traced it to the battery cables, then the grounding bolt from the fuse box. The grounding bolt was lose, so if it was sitting right my car would start. Other times would not. If I shook the cables it would start then sometimes not. Replaced the battery terminal clamps and worked for a few days then not. Then noticed the bolt just barely screwed to the chassis. Tightened it down to 5 ft/lbs and no problems since.