No Spark

[TheCheng]

I need some help here.
I have a '98 CRV 4WD 2.0L 4 A/T. I'm in Costa Rica so it will be a Japanese version with no fancy CA emission additions.
I did a head overhaul - skimmed head/valve overhaul/camshaft alignment.
New waterpump / timing belt / valve adjustment
Put everything back together and it started first time, no problem.
Driving off, the engine vibrated as soon as load came on, so I pulled off the HT leads one by one and established that No.3 cylinder was not firing.
I switched No.3 injector with the one from No.4, and No.4 was not firing. OK the problem was with No.3's injector.
I fixed that (stuck needle) and the engine fired up OK. I pulled the HT lead from that cylinder and the revs dropped so it looked like everything was good, Just to be sure, I pulled the lead again and the engine stopped.
Now I have no spark at the plugs - any of them.
The coil checks out OK as per the resistance readings in the manual. I fitted a new distributor cap , checked all the connector plugs, Ignition fuse is ok, but still no spark.
The engine cranks over fine, battery good.
Any ideas? Is there anything in the ECU that will shut down the engine if a cylinder is not firing? Any reset I should do?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.......

[illegal]

did u change the rotor when you did the cap? How are the pligs? Did the coil have any "hot" spots on it? Any engine lights?

[TheCheng]

No, I did not replace the rotor but it is in good condition - no burning, cracks,or significant wastage of the arm. The engine was running fine (apart from the missing cylinder) with no check engine light, then suddenly stopped when I played with the HT lead.
The coil also looks in very good condition and the resistances are within limits.
I suspect that messing with the HT lead may have caused a fault in the ECM and made it shut the engine down. I am going to try the reset procedure and see if that does anything.
Thanks for taking an interest! Any other suggestions will be most welcome.

[TheCheng]

Well, the Radio back-up fuse removal for 10 seconds didn't do anything so....
back to square one.

[GTCB-chris]

i thought to reset the ecu you wanted to remove the ecu fuse? unless you are talking about something different

[lizzurd]

i thought to reset the ecu you wanted to remove the ecu fuse? unless you are talking about something different

Pulling the radio back up fuse is the correct procedure.

[TheCheng]

Thanks for the back-up there (no pun intended!) Lizzurd. I just did the ICU checks again and they all came out OK, but I can't believe that just messing with one HT lead could damage it. It is only on the signal circuit, not the primary HT side, so it should not have been affected by what would effectively be the same as a duff spark plug or HT lead.
If I turn on the ignition, the MIL comes on for the requisite two seconds and then goes off. According to the workshop manual, that clears a whole load of possible faulty components. I think something has fell off somewhere......

[Buffalo4]

TheCheng
Did you ever get it figured out?
I know that if you pull off a spark plug wire and don't have it grounded while the engine is running, you can cause the ignition coil to arc and short itself out. It can still show 'good' with an ohm meter check.
I used to use the method of pulling a spark plug wire off a spark plug while the engine was running to troubleshoot a bad cylinder or spark plug, until I read about this on a Honda forum.
Even cranking an engine over to do a compression check without grounding out the spark plug wires or disconnecting the connector feeding the distributor can destroy your ignition coil.
Heck, the old cylinder type coils never had this type of problem.
Buffalo