ran into a rather unique starting issue that I've never heard of before

So, an interesting thing happened today (and it completely ruined the entire day).

I pulled one of the plug wires today (trying to diagnose another issue I've been having lately) and when I pulled the wire, as expected, the car stumbled a little bit, but it didn't die. Thankfully...

HOWEVER, when I put the plug wire back on, IT DIED!! Now the damn thing won't start at all. It'll crank, but won't start. "Pissed off" isn't the correct term for it, because I need to get this thing inspected to be legal.

Ideas?

Wow that's bizarre... I wonder if it's an issue with the coil? Are you getting any spark?

Check ur crank sensor

yeah. i pulled the distributor cap off and cleaned up all the contact points, even though they looked fine. Never hurts to clean up the points. Still, nothing.

My friend thinks its the Main Fuel Relay, which doesn't make sense since its almost brand new. I ordered a brand new OEM MFR about 2 years ago, and the car has barely been used in the last 2 years (almost COMPLETELY unused last year).

I'm thinking it somehow flooded when I pulled the plug. Is that possible? It doesn't make sense though, if it is, as I've done this numerous times before when doing various troubleshooting techniques and NEVER had problems with it.

I noticed something, though. Sadly, the plugs were soaked in oil. It was mainly on the threaded part. Definitely ruined my day because I had so much to do today, and won't have any more time for a while. I've lost an entire day due to this shit. GREAT.

If this happened because you pulled a spark plug wire, I would check for spark. It's likely that you could have burned up the ICM and/or coil. It is not unreasonable for Integras to do this when the coil pack charges but doesn't have any where to discharge.

dc2GS-R said:

If this happened because you pulled a spark plug wire, I would check for spark. It's likely that you could have burned up the ICM and/or coil. It is not unreasonable for Integras to do this when the coil pack charges but doesn't have any where to discharge.

Click to expand...

Agreed.

The thing that has me puzzled, is that it didn't die until I put the plug wire back on.

I'd still start there considering you were messing with ignition components while the engine was running. Check for spark, if there is none then test the components with a multimeter.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... <--- note the sadness...

After doing some trial and error, I've established that it almost HAS to be the ICM and/or Coil as mentioned before. So, I went to remove the cap/rotor button, etc. to go ahead and take those parts out and ran into a stupid road-block...

The fucking retainer screw that holds the rotor button on has a stripped screw head. Any ideas how to get that fucker out so I can get this shit out and replace it with new ICM and coil?

A impact driver or bust the rotor off and see if you can fit vise grips in there

I'm attempting to save the rotor, as it is in decent enough condition. Only about 8,000-10,000 miles on it and the rest of the cap. I have to go get my drill from my dad's house (left it there from when I was using it to install my side-markers). I have a few different sized bits that are meant to dig into stripped screws. I'm gonna give that a shot first. If nothing else, since its not a whole lot more than the parts themselves, I might just get a brand new distributor

a refurbished dist is 230 bucks at advanced. take a pair of really good needle nos pliers n unscrew it mine was the same way n it worked

I just ordered a BRAND NEW distributor for a dirty, secret price hookups = win

HOPEFULLY be here by this weekend.

Sounding good Jake. I would have said to notch it with a dremel or something, but is seems as you have the problem solved.

yeah, I figured, since I was gonna have to replace the rotor button due to it being necessary to get it off in a manner that wouldn't leave it salvageable, I figured the cost of replacing the parts individually was just too high when I can get a distributor for almost $50 cheaper.