after i finished my headgasket job on friday night i went to start up my car and all it did was crank. i double checked all my connections. all the sensors, all the lines, all the hoses, etc. so i pulled all the spark plugs one at a time and plugged the plug into the wire, held it to the valve cover to check to see if i had any spark. i had no spark for #1, spark for #2, spark for #3, and no spark for #4. that sounds to me like my crank position sensor. but by all means correct me if i'm wrong. another thing, where is my crank position sensor, how exactly do i check it, is there any way to fix it without getting a new one? any help is greatly appreciated. thanks:thumbsup

1 and 4 i *think* are companion cylinders, maybe your coil is bad.

well that's what i thought, except, my friend came over with a spare coil and we hooked it up and it did exactly the same thing, no spark in 1 and 4 (and yes 1 and 4 are companion cylinders). i've been reading about other ppl having very similar problems and it sounds like my two biggest possibilities right now are my crank position sensor and my ecu. what do you think?

oops, just saw your last post. Hmmm, did you try testing the coils with a ohmmeter/voltometer?

no i have not tried that, i don't have a volt meter. i know, shame on me, i def. need to get one. i'll try to find someone that has one. although like i said, we tried another coil pack and it did the same darn thing, so i dunno. i'm gonna go to bed now but please keep responding and i'll check this post tomorrow morning at about 8 am. and those of you that post, please keep checking this post to see if you can give me any other ideas based on info other ppl post. thanks.:thumbsup

anyone ever have something similar to this happen to them. what's the likleyhood that it is either the computer or the crank position sensor? help me please:bowdown

Try testing the harness itself, not on the coil pack but the part that goes into the coil pack.

The crank angle sensor, as far as i know, is on the passenger side of the engine near the crank (duh:)).

Have you tried arcing off the coil pack itself yet rather than going through the wires?

Dont remember if you said you had any codes or not, but if you do what are they. I imagine you'd have a few

do i need a volt meter to test the harness? how do i arc off of the coilpack, explain further please. thanks:thumbsup

If it were the crank posistion sensor, you'd be dead on all 4. There is no way teh CPS can send signal for just two cylinders.

Check the harness going to your coil pack.

Yeah, also check the pins on the coil pack, and harness plug, to be sure one of them isnt bent or not making good contact with eachother.

woo hoo, had the same idea as an admin and a mod. lol

Grab a fork or something and touch it to the poles coming out of the coil pack towers.

No jk dont do that, it hurts, trust me. There's a lot of power coming out of that fucker.

Begin story:

Had a honda civic(i know, i know) and was having a problem with a spark plug wire. I pulled it out and it all came out except the boot on the plug. Needless to say there was a hole in the spark plug wire and for some reason my friend decided to try and start the car. My other hand was leaning on the car, the other holding the spark plug wire.

Wooooooooooooooo...was quite a shock, lol.

end story.


Anyway yea you need a volt meter to check the harness going to the coil pack. The hard part will be whether or not it is the harness or a wire somewhere along the path to and from the harness.

Good luck man:thumbsup

If all else fails you could be driving a 1.0DOHC 2cylinder wo0t.

i tried all the obvious possibilities. my friend (lickscissors)swithched all these things with me... the cam position sensor, the crank position sensor, the coil and the computer. pretty much my only option is that either a wire is broken or had pulled out of the harness. would someone happen to know what wire going to the coil pack controls cylinders 1 and 4. HELP ME PLEASE!:shrug

ok we just hot wired my harness, from the computer harness straight to the coil harness. all three wires. it did nothing. i had no check engine light but when i did the key dance, i got code 43 which means cylinder misfire. what the hell is wrong!!:shrug ;( :wary

this is one confusing situation....ive been helping him with this project....and im completely stummped....we've tried everything that i believe it could be...what the hell else is there.....this is bothering me and its not even my car.....we've cheked/swapped all these:
1.) cps
2.) ecu
3.) cam position sensor
4.) plugs/wires
5.) coil
6.) coil harness
i think thats it.....i cant think of anything else

yea that's it, but jesus god! W T F else could it be. we both know that timing is dead on, perfect. we have everything plugged in, yet we still don't have any spark to cylinders 1 and 4. this is rediculous. i simply fear what will happen if i have to take it somewhere else. it's not like they have much more to do except test a bunch of shit with a volt meter. and if that doesn't turn up any results then they're just gonna try replacing all the things that we've already messed with. i'm callin the mitsu dealer tomorrow and see if one of those dumb asses can gimme a hand. all i know is down time sux ass. somebody help.;(

One thing to look for, is a wire harness that is around the driver side of the head, above the trans. It doesnt plug into a sensor, its like a junction plug, harness to harness. Its an easy plug to miss, and forget about. It just doesnt make much sense to have half of the coil working...If it worked fine before you pulled the head(correct?), then it has to be something that was done to it, or something that was not put back on properly, or a missed harness somewhere..

yes the coil was working perfectly fine when i began the headgasket project. i will check that junction you speak of. is that something that had to be unplugged to take the head off. i'm praying its just something weird like that. if it's not anything like that then i'm having it towed today because i've been down for 12 days now and i'm inconveniencing everyone that knows me because i'm asking them for rides everywhere. i just don't know what else it could be. xtremers that you for your suggestion. i will try that as soon as i get home today around 1.:thumbsup

well i had a question about this....the way i see it was the middle wire to the coil (red/black) is the power...then i figured the other two were signal wires.... does this make sense to anyone?...does anyone know what wire signals what cylindars? can you test this with a volt meter?.... let us know so we can get him up and running.....

You put the probes (ha) on the Outter/Inner.

Imagine the middle prong as a pivot. Put one probe on it, then another on the back one, test. Then switch it to the other side, test.

Same with the harness going to the coil pack.

ok well i'm gonna try that now. say a prayer for me.;(

ok well looks like i'm gonna have to swallow my pride on this one... timing was off like 6 teeth. don't ask how, i don't know how, but it was. i thought we had lined that up perfectly but we obviously did not. thanks to everyone who replied and tried to help me out.