Car problems

[Irish4thgen]

Hey All
Am having a problem with my prelude. It's a imported jdm into ireland h22a
I noticed recently that it would kinda stutter a bit when puttin the foot down but only for 1/4 to 1/2 a second and would be ok then. about a week after that while i was coming home from work it happened again and about 5 seconds later the engine died totally.
I can turn the key and the engine turns over. But it will not spark at all. I relaced coil at this point but no joy.I noticed that the CEL light is NOT lighting when ignition is turned on,Before it would light for 5-10 seconds and go out with a click.
I Have had new alternator put in within the last 6 months and a timing belt + tensioner done after the old one broke(no damage luckily) about 4 months ago.
Has anyone any ideas as to what Could be wrong

Cheers

[Bender's Lude]

I'm not exactly sure but for me it was the distributor, I had condensation in the cap causing misfire.

[mattliston]

after cranking remove the plugs and see if they are wet with gas.

if not, thats a major problem. clogged filter, bad fuel pump, or a very leaky fuel line.


if its getting gas, go one by one checking for spark with a buddy. test the same cylinders a few times to see if its changing form existing to non-existing, or if its changing from weak to strong.


if it fluctuates, its possibly a bad cap and rotor.

[ATISTANG]

if your not getting spark then it is most likely your distributor

check all the connections going to it

take your oil cap off and if you can see a cam or rocker arm or something, have someone crank the engine and see if the cams are rotating just to rule out a timing belt problem that could be a result of improper installation

[mattliston]

and if timing belt were somehow off the cam aers, that would have made itself fairly cvlear lol

pistons dont kiss valves quietly lol

[ATISTANG]

Originally Posted by mattliston

and if timing belt were somehow off the cam aers, that would have made itself fairly cvlear lol

pistons dont kiss valves quietly lol

actually at an idle they usually do, and sometimes the engine will crank fine afterwords

maybe you need some real world experience

[mattliston]

set your timing to 15-20 degrees off to simulate belt slippage. Im sure you can figure it out if you listen. I have sharp hearing. metal on metal is pretty clear.

[ATISTANG]

Originally Posted by mattliston

set your timing to 15-20 degrees off to simulate belt slippage. Im sure you can figure it out if you listen. I have sharp hearing. metal on metal is pretty clear.

duh ok, i'm gonna go do that, i'll brb

[mattliston]

Originally Posted by batateam

....

die

[RedWabbit]

yall missed something very important. if the cell doesn't light up like it normally does when you first turn the key to start. check the bulb, if the bulb is good if memory serves me correctly it means the ecu is fried. do some more research on it though.

[mattliston]

does the CEL light up if the 2 pin "diagnostic" cables are shorted?
maybe something is shorting those together.

anyone with a 92-00 civic wanna try this and confirm?