Honda Repair: Ignition Coil Keeps Failing, spark plug wire, filter cap


Question
I have a 92 Honda Civic 1.5 16 Valve DX. I have replaced the ignition coil coming up on 4 times this month. The first time I replaced the ICM also. Here's the catch. After the first replacement I left a spark plug wire not entirely connected to the distributor and drove it quite a ways this way. I noticed this after the 2nd coil went out. So I figured that this is what had caused the coil to go bad, but since then I have been through one more and the one in there is showing signs of going out too. When I replaced the ICM & Coil the first time I also replaced, plugs, wires, air filter, cap & rotor, and battery. I checked the ohms resistance in the plug wires to be sure that the incident I had with them hadn't caused too high of resistance in them. They were fine. I found a wiring diagram of the Ignition and there isn't a whole lot there that could be causing this. I took it to the mechanic three times now for him to say "I dont know", and "I hope it's fixed". I did test the blk/ylw wire to be sure that I had power to the distributor and that was fine. I don't have a tachometer in the car. I am really wondering why the first replacement coil lasted about 300-350miles, and the rest 20-25 miles. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I can't really afford to keep taking it back to the mechanic's shop here in town and getting no answers. Thank you.

Answer
Linda, I would suspect the Distributor itself as the main culprit. Replace the Distributor with a used one from a Honda recycler company. This Distributor should come with a warranty so this way when you replace it and the problem still exists you can return it. If the problem remains I would check all Engine grounds (-). There should be 3 in the engine bay. A loose ground could be causing the issue as well. If the problem still exists try purchasing a used ECU from the same place as you purchased the Distributor. After that there would only be a few more areas to check but slight possibility.