[Hondaking]

Yeah it tested bad when it was cold and when it warmed up and the old one I had tested good when cold bad when warm so I'm thinking when the car did turn on at that one point and then cut of it was cause of that icm that when it got warm it quit working

[TxGreaseMonkey]

Yep. That's why so many cars die when they warm up--ICMs and coils breakdown under load (heat). If the sensors in the new distributor are fine, your Honda should start with a new ICM and coil.

[Hondaking]

Yeah I found another icm I had laying aroun but it's a #mc-8541 and the one from my car is a mc-8132 will it work on my car even if there different numbers

[TxGreaseMonkey]

I don't really know. I checked it out and it looks like it should work.

[Hondaking]

O well it tested bad also so that's not going to work I'm about to test the coil and ill let u know what it comes out to

[TxGreaseMonkey]

OK

[Hondaking]

Were on ohms do I put the knob at 2000k 200k 20k 2000 200

[TxGreaseMonkey]

Primary Winding: Set multimeter to 200 ohms

Resistance [between (+) and (-) terminals] should be 0.6 to 0.8 ohms.


Secondary Winding: Set multimeter 20K ohms

Resistance (between A (+) and secondary winding terminals) should be 12.8 to 19.2 k-ohms.

[Hondaking]

Ok so basically I connect the red lead and black lead to the positive and negative from the coil and read it from 200 ohms then 20k and that's my primary and secondary tests?

[TxGreaseMonkey]

No. Connect Red to A and Black to B.

Then Connect Red to A and Black to where the spark plug wire attaches.

[Hondaking]

There's no label that says a or b its just a plus or a negative and when you say for the secondary connect the black to where the spark plugs connect are you talking about the cap

[TxGreaseMonkey]

Primary Winding: Set multimeter to 200 ohms

Resistance [between (+) and (-) terminals] should be 0.6 to 0.8 ohms.


Secondary Winding: Set multimeter 20K ohms

Resistance [between (+) and secondary winding terminal] should be 12.8 to 19.2 k-ohms.

Secondary winding terminal is the terminal that the high voltage comes out of.

[Hondaking]

There's no label that says a or b its just a plus or a negative and when you say for the secondary connect the black to where the spark plugs connect are you talking about the cap

[TxGreaseMonkey]

Re-read my last response.

[Hondaking]

Well the primary came out to b 1.1 ohms but I'm sorry I still didn't understand the secondary winding is there a way u can explain it more like where does the main voltage come from is it from the coil or somewhere else

[TxGreaseMonkey]

I'm looking at a picture of your coil. Attach one lead to + and the other to the inside of the big hole (opening), which is where the high voltage comes out of.

[Hondaking]

Ok well the second winding is reading 12.14 but the first as I keep reading it it kind of jumps up to 1.4

[TxGreaseMonkey]

Primary resistance is too high and it will only get higher with heat. If you are outside of specs, when cold, I think you should replace the part.

The frustrating part of bench testing ICMs and coils is when they test fine but they breakdown under load, which often can't be tested for. I don't trust old ICMs and coils. They are two of the biggest problems we have on this site for Hondas. Next, is bad distributor housings. Basically, then, your original distributor was a mess.

[Hondaking]

So my coil does not need to be replaced

[TxGreaseMonkey]

No, it likely needs to be replaced.

To me, your original distributor housing, ICM, and coil were all bad.