96 civic dx - turns over, no crank - tried everything!

[the_7ucky]

New poster here, but a long time user. I've never had to post anything before (I can usually find what I need in some forum), but this time I am at a loss. Like the title says, my car turns over real strong, but it will not crank at all. Before I go into everything I have tried/changed, let me try to set the tone for everyone. I was having some codes thrown (random misfire, cyl 1 misfire, and cyl 2 misfire), and I couldnt diagnose the problem. So I took it to a family friend and shop owner/manager for over 20 yrs (so he is a reputable source), and he told me my dizzy was overheating. Made sense and I drove on it until I could afford the part. It started getting worse (sputtering and CEL flashes), so I broke down and got a new one. I parked the car, swapped it out, and now che refuses to crank. nothing nothing nothing. I've been at it for days tirelessly now and I have no idea where to go next. Now, here is a list of things I have done/replaced since the seemingly fatal incident.
New dizzy, new starter (which was bench tested and jump tested in the car), new plugs, new wires,
I have spark at all four cylinders
I have correct voltage at ignition switch, battery, starter, alternator, ICM,
I have correct resis. at ignitor
I have checked timing multiple times now (mechanical and electrical, which i know elec cant be adjusted)
I have checked for fuel at each cyl., and checked if the rail was re-priming
I have checked all fuses
I have been over every forum i can find and I own a chiltons (which isnt helping as much as the forums usually but it keeps me from running back inside)
One forum said to check the clutch pedal sensor. I do not have one, it was "paper-clip deleted" a long tima ago and wouldve posed an issue before now.

I really tried to keep from having to post ANOTHER thread, but I cant find any forum leading me to another thing to check. I may have missed typing something else I've done, but at this point any suggestions are welcome. I REALLY don't wanna take it to a shop, as I've been pretty good at keeping this car running for almost 10 years now. PLEASE HELP!!!!!

 

[Trekk]

You checked the distrib isn't 180deg off?

 

[the_7ucky]

yes i have.

 

[xxBLOOD88SHOTxx]

WAIT so the car is not cranking over it or it just wont fire?

 

[RonJ]

You're using unconventional terminology.

Crank or turns over refers to the starter turning the engine.

Start refers to when the engine runs under its own power.

You have a cranks but won't start problem.

Is spark bright white at all 4 spark plugs?

If you clear the codes from the ECU and then crank the engine for 25 seconds, are any codes still thrown?

 

[the_7ucky]

sorry about the term. mixup. its cranking, not starting.

Yes RonJ I am getting bright white at all four wires. I cleared all the codes a while ago, but I havent tried forcing them out because I dont have a scan tool thingy and it doesnt drive. but I will try and see If I cant get back to you on that one.

 

[the_7ucky]

k so I got tired of trying stuff and took her to the mechanic. apparently I had plugged the wires into the distributor 90 degrees of rotation backwards. now Im assuming the new distributor is programed to start at a different location. before i replaced the dizzy I numbered the towers where the wires plug in, and after I replaced it each wire needs to be plugged into the next tower. Ive heard of different dizzys being programmed for different wiring locations (not firing orders, the order is still the same of course, just the starting point), so again thats what I assume happened.
However, (now that Im done with my rant) I am still getting the same codes. misfire on cyl 1 and 2, no random misfire yet but that only happened once, and once cleared it hadnt come back. this was the start of the issue the first time. the only difference now is that Im not getting any of that sluggish, sputtering feeling anymore. so I guess Im amost back to square one. not really sure If I should start a new thread for this but I guess Im still diagnosing the same issue. any help dianosing the misfire issue?
Symptoms:
Cyl 1 misfire, Cyl 2 Misfire, cel flashes randomly
Attempted fixes:
plugs, wires, cap, new dizzy, corrected timing (done by the shop recently), new IACV, checked fuel injectors for consistency and good connections
The whole electrical system has been replaced. What else could cause 1 and 2 ONLY to misfire?

 

[Trekk]

Try running a bottle of fuel injector cleaner through the system. ( I suggest techron) Dirty injectors/fuel system can also give you a misfire.

Keep in mind a misfire doesn't mean a spark plug didn't fire, it means the crank failed to speed up when it should of, if a normal combustion took place.

 

[d16racer88]

If one of your codes is a p1299 its most likely your ecu. I had a similar problem yet the car ran fine but the cel would flash if i would rev past 5k. replaced the ecu and no more cel or random misfire or misfire in all cylinders.