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California98Civic · 08-10-2012, 08:05 AM

Suspect the ignition coil too. I had a similar problem last fall in my 98 DX. Turned out that the ignition coil failed once it got truly hot from some run time. My coil tested within normal range once I warmed the car up to the point where the cooling fan came on. But the car failed again when driving. I noticed both failures were after roughly similar time/miles from a cold start. So to simulate the fail situation (took forever to come to this procedure) I stayed home and simulated the 15 mins driving time at my usual roughly 1800-2200 RPMs by simply holding the throttle in my driveway. Failed again, and this time the coil failed the test too. The igniter was bad as well (aka the "ignition control module"). I got a replacement distributor at Autozone with a lifetime warranty. No trouble now for about 8 or 9 months.

Honda-tech.com has some great people on it who can help (also has packs of roving kids). "Test, don't guess," was the best advice I got. Patient testing saved me from throwing a (used) $100 ECU and a $35 MAP sensor at the problem. Both of those parts turned out to be unnecessary, but the 96-98 Honda Service Manual suggested they could be the problem so I checked it out.

08-10-2012, 08:05 AM	#3 (permalink)
California98Civic Cyborg ECU Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Coastal Southern California Posts: 6,299 Black and Green - '98 Honda Civic DX Coupe Team Honda 90 day: 66.42 mpg (US) Black and Red - '00 Nashbar Custom built eBike 90 day: 3671.43 mpg (US) Thanks: 2,373 Thanked 2,172 Times in 1,469 Posts	Suspect the ignition coil too. I had a similar problem last fall in my 98 DX. Turned out that the ignition coil failed once it got truly hot from some run time. My coil tested within normal range once I warmed the car up to the point where the cooling fan came on. But the car failed again when driving. I noticed both failures were after roughly similar time/miles from a cold start. So to simulate the fail situation (took forever to come to this procedure) I stayed home and simulated the 15 mins driving time at my usual roughly 1800-2200 RPMs by simply holding the throttle in my driveway. Failed again, and this time the coil failed the test too. The igniter was bad as well (aka the "ignition control module"). I got a replacement distributor at Autozone with a lifetime warranty. No trouble now for about 8 or 9 months. Honda-tech.com has some great people on it who can help (also has packs of roving kids). "Test, don't guess," was the best advice I got. Patient testing saved me from throwing a (used) $100 ECU and a $35 MAP sensor at the problem. Both of those parts turned out to be unnecessary, but the 96-98 Honda Service Manual suggested they could be the problem so I checked it out. __________________ See my car's mod & maintenance thread and my electric bicycle's thread for ongoing projects. I will rebuild Black and Green over decades as parts die, until it becomes a different car of roughly the same shape and color. My minimum fuel economy goal is 55 mpg while averaging posted speed limits. I generally top 60 mpg. See also my Honda manual transmission specs thread.