The Civic has been testing my patience. I did get a lend of another distributor, which I was told was working. First I swapped the igniters and that didn't work. Decided to fit the whole distributor after and the car still wouldn't start. I pulled one of the spark plugs out, grounded it on the block and cranked the car over. Still wasn't seeing spark.
I'm fed up at this point and someone messages me to try replacing the main relay. I thought it'd be no harm since its a quick job and I happen to have an old spare. The spare actually caused my car to sputter in the past, hence why I replaced it, but it will run the car. Plugged the spare relay in and the car started on the second crank. I was surprised, but I'm not gonna question it. Just happy the car is running again.
I turn off the car to clean out my tools and mount parts back in, so they're not rattling around as I'm driving. Go to turn the key and nothing. Car's dead again. Theres a difference and its the fact that the car is cranking over faster.
Look up a Civic manual I have and checked the main relay diagram. Confirmed it has no influence on spark. I even had a friend bench test it, to make sure its not broken. Main relay is fine. The conclusion is it has to be the distributor or something spark related. The car starting that one time was coincidence... I have a new coil and igniter on the way from Japan. Both Honda items. I made sure to buy the ones that'll match the Type R distributor I have.
Anything you guys suggest I check? I cleaned the thermostat housing ground with some 500 grit sandpaper. Maybe not clean enough? The plug for the distributor doesn't look damaged in any way. Neither does the wiring harness. I hate chasing ignition issues... It would be easy to upgrade ECU and coils, but thats not in the budget right now and I've no interest in upgrading my Civic to that level.
