July 3, 2005 ~ 9:30PM - After a good meal with good company, at SanSu, Anne and I get in her car (a '90 Honda Civic Si 1.6L hatchback) to drive home. It does not start. (Sounds like no fuel or spark, it's getting dark. I look for obvious things, but I can't really determine what exactly the problem is).
9:46PM - Call AAA. Tow-truck from Wood's Okemos Marathon arrives shortly with two good natured employees. They tow the car to my driveway.
Later - Anne googles "my honda civic won't start", the first link is a good place to start (yes, I am feeling lucky). Check for ECU codes in the dark, but there aren't any. Stay awake for a while obsessing about it. Decide to sleep and do more in the morning.
July 4, 2005 Morning (~8:00 AM) - I find and remove the main relay. Re-solder two posts that are obviously not so good. Put the main relay back, but it doesn't fix it. Remove the main relay and re-solder most of the rest of the posts. This also doesn't fix the problem (but it may solve an unrelated problem where the car would sometimes not like to start again after running and being off for a short period of time). P offers to help me diagnose further after he goes to buy kiwi from Meijer. Since I am supposed to have people over later, I go with him and pick up some food. The link Anne found did have some test procedures to check ignition wiring, so I decide to try that. I remove the distributor cap and it doesn't look too good inside (there is lots of corrosion on the cap and rotor, and the coil doesn't look good). The voltages all check out fine, though. I decide to just buy lots of parts. After calling around, I can get a new rotor, cap, coil, and ignition control module by visiting two different NAPA stores (one has only the coil, the other doesn't have the coil, but has everything else). P drives me around so I can pick up parts.
Just before noon - I remove old parts, and I install new parts. The car starts up right away. P leaves for his 4th of July celebrations. I pick up Anne and go to Mejier again to buy some stuff I forgot. I notice that the tachometer is sluggish and jumpy. The car also feels slower.
July 5, 2005 evening - I look online and notice that the OEM ignition control module is an $800+ part. I get the old one out of the garbage (I didn't think it was the problem, but I didn't want to have to go back and forth for parts).
July 6, 2005 9:00 AM - I remove the distributor cap and rotor to swap the OEM ignition control module for the NAPA one. Of course, in the process I crack the distributor cap. I rig it back together with the OEM module installed and the car starts up. The tachometer is back to normal. A quick drive to NAPA to return the ignition control module (I think it's defective, but I noticed the guy wrote 'not needed' on the return form) and pick up yet another new distributor cap follows. I remove the cracked distributor cap and install the new new one.
Car runs fine.
