Hello, My 1990 acty HA4 unfortunately died will driving home a few weeks ago. Once I got it back in the garage I immediately tried everything I could find on this forum to help diagnose my issue. I have already replaced the distributor (Rebuilt OEM), plugs, plug wires, coil, condenser & ignition switch however my problem still exists. My battery also tests good and have even tried swapping it with another and still no luck Edit: I also changed the 40amp main fuse by the battery and checked the fuses by the steering wheel with no luck as well When I go to do a spark test I get a single spark on the first plug only before no more sparks occur. I then tested voltage at the coil before the distributor and I get a single spike of 19 volts when cranking then it drops to zero. Same thing happens if I plug a spark plug into the coil directly skipping the distributor a single spark then nothing until I try to crank again. If anyone has any ideas to help me further troubleshoot id greatly appreciate it. Thanks, Wayne
I don't have a honda but in general these carbed motors usually have electronic ignition that uses hall effect sensor in the dizzy and a small tranistor like device called an ignitor or ignition control module. Sounds like the coil is not getting triggered correctly from the module or from the hall effect sensor in the dizzy. The sensor tells the module when to trigger spark and the module in turn (usually) pulls down the coil negative to trigger a spark to the dizzy which throws it to whatever plug the rotor is on at that time.
Yes I did brand new one came with the rebuilt distributor. Even tried taking an ICM off my other running acty with no luck as well
I replaced the ICM when I replaced the entire dizzy (aka distributor had to look that up haha) and I also replaced what honda calls a condenser that was attached to the coil this one to be exact https://tinyurl.com/yc4j946n I am currently tracing wires back to the ignition to see if there is some sort of issue along the way. I am running out of ideas When I replaced the ignition switch my friend who was assisting me swears he saw multiple sparks one time but then it stopped again. However we cannot get this to repeat and have tested the ignition switch on my running acty and it works just fine.
It could be electrical, like bad grounds. Is the engine getting a good ground. My van has ground leads runing all over the place; on the engine, on the frame and body.
I think that condensor is just a way to keep the ignition from making noise that interferes with the radio but I could be wrong on that.
Bump. Anyone else had this issue and fixed it? I’ve replaced the entire ignition system with no luck.
Hmmm, is the coil tied to the fuel pump somehow so it won't fire if the pump is not working. Often it's the other way around (for say a Suzuki), the pump will only run if the coil is triggering. Just thinking out loud here.
The pump is working. It is clicking and it’s also spitting fuel out. I double checked just to make sure. So we can check that one off the list. I’m just hoping that there’s some fuse (Besides the turn signal fuse) or some kind of relay that might be bad. I’ve also checked all the grounds to make sure they are not the issue.
Also, to your point, I am testing the coil directly because the issue seems to be pre-coil. Both the distributor and the coil do the same thing. I get one arc as the key is turned over and then nothing endless cranks after that until it is started again. And even then, sometimes it won’t even spark the one time.
Is the coil getting power with the ignition switch in the run position? Could be bad switch or connection.
Did you replace the ignition wire from the coil to the distributor? I've recently had issue with my ignition coil (gone through 2 of them) and I believe tracked it down to a bad ignition coil wire.
Yeah the coil is getting full 12v power in but not putting that power out. And I tried three different Coils two of which were brand new with no change. Is there some other switch that enables the coil to output the power that I’m aware of? I’ve checked all fuses and relays that I could find.
I did try the distributor coil wire. The problem is the Power is not coming out of the coil at all. But it is going in. And the coil itself is not bad because I’ve replaced it with three different coils, which were brand new. Was working condition pulled.
I also bench tested the coil to make sure it was functioning properly and it is. So it seems like something is preventing a coil from “Activating”.
Hey, sorry for the late reply. I still haven’t fixed this issue. Haven’t had the time to work on the truck recently. My next step will to be replace the wiring from the ignition to the coil.
sounds good. Let me know how it goes! I’ll keep you posted as well with anything. I’m trying if it works.
I know you said the coil is getting 12v, but check voltage while cranking. On most ignition systems if the voltage drops below 10v there is no spark. So initially you get one spark when cranking, then the voltage drops too much and no spark. Could be weak ground, low battery capacity (not fully charged, low cell, etc). I have seen a lot of this. Not saying it’s true in your situation. I hope you get it resolved soon.
I appreciate that context! I will definitely double check while cranking to see if there is 12 V coming out of the coil while cranking. Also, I made a weird breakthrough.. I noticed the distributor itself arcing slightly when the car is on and everything is plugged in. When I had removed it, it would lightly arc on the One of the bolts for the starter Whenever it came in contact with that bolt. I didn’t notice it doing this anywhere else, and I did also notice that when it would happen that distributor was hanging low, which makes me think there might be some sort of wiring issue and the distributor hanging low pulling on the wires a little was somehow letting it get continuity. Also, when I would crank the ignition while it was touching that bolt hanging down the gauge would go crazy, which it has not done at all since it had the issue. The tachometer has been dead. So hopefully this Progress leads to a solution. I tried jumping that ground to the bolt that it was arcing on but it didn’t change anything. This also leads me to believe it may be the coil wire, but I’ve also swapped that out with a different one and it didn’t make any difference, but it’s worth a shot getting a fresh one in the event that it has a short.
You can always check your coil wire with an ohm meter. Rule is 1000 ohms per inch. So if you have a 7 inch coil wire then you should have around 9000 ohms. More is more bad. More with in reason, 10,000 might be ok but 15,000 probably not. You can also compare original wire to new ones.
That’s a good call. I’ll check it just for good measure. I’m thinking that it has a short in it since it seemed to be intermittently working when it was stressed or bent to a certain way.
Still battling this issue, if anybody else has any input. It’s a sure single spark on the first crank every time you crank the ignition and then it instantly has no spark.
