Problem:
Wife was less than 1 mile down the road and the car just quit. Couldn't get back started. Engine cranks, but won't turn over. We've bought this car new in '92.

Fuel:
- turned ignition on, heard relay click, and fuel pump hum for 4 seconds.
- plenty of gas in fuel tank

Other:
- Oil dip stick looked clean (no sign of water)

Electrical:

- Checked for spark:
- removed driver side spark plug, re-installed cap onto plug
- grounded plug to engine and cranked.
- no spark could be seen
- repeated this with neighbor Terry

- opened fuse box under hood
- IG 50A fuse looks good
- didn't see any others related to ignition

- Coil:
- removed 4-pin connector and terminal cap. Connected ohm meter.
- checked primary A to secondary tower terminal - OK ohmage within range.
- checked primaries A to C - OK (actually shorted 0.0 ohms)
- checked secondaries B to D - OK ohmage within range
- replaced connector and terminal cap.

- Rotor:
- removed dist. cap. removed rotor.
- had to pry hard, causing some damage to plastic, but still functional.
- no worn out looking pieces and no cracked pieces
- edge terminal looked a little darkened, but good enough to work well
- shiny metal ridges of the terminal were visible

- Igniter (or ignition control module (ICM) inside distributor):
- did not remove wires
- was able to put voltmeter probes on small exposed part of terminals
- turned ignition on.
- black/yellow saw battery voltage
- wire closest to front of car saw battery voltage
- wire closest to firewall saw about 1 volt less than battery voltage.
- book says replace ICM if voltages are OK, but not so fast ($80 if wrong)

- Self diagnostic:
- accessed the self diagnostic connector under dash far right.
- Shorted the connector with paper clip
- turned ignition to ON, but CHECK engine light on dash stayed on solid
- no diagnostic blinking occurred, but got a 1-2 blinking on the ABS light.


Buttoned everything back up.
Can anyone think of anything to try before punting (dealer)?

 

Wow.....couldnt get any more detailed than that.
I think every HAN member should list their problems and steps to try to solve like this above-----^..........

 

What about timing belt?

 

What do you expect from an engineer? I wonder if it were the timing belt, would the car be smart enough disable the engine spark?

 

Be sure to check your private message. Ask for TexasHonda. He is also an engineer, but retired. Good luck.

 

Was the car moving when it kicked out on your wife? If so, it might be your distributor.

 

if you read the long posts he tested the dizzy(distributor) so he probably knows its dizzy related.

similar thing happend to my gf's car and it was the dizzy. i would hazard to guess that its the ignitor. ignitor much cheaper than replacing the entire dizzy. i would get an ignitor from the junkyard and test.

 

Problem over. Success!
I removed the ICM and had it tested at AutoZone. It was bad. New one was $84.99.
Installed it, buttoned up the car, and it started right up.
Had to remove the entire air filter assy to access the ICM screws.
Thanks for everyone's help. I appreciated the prompt responses. Learned a lot about the car through this experience.