Juan Pablo Angel produced his 21st goal of the season when he headed home a right wing corner in the first half to raise Villa's hopes but this lead was cancelled out when Sylvain Distain, moved up to head in Michael Tarnat's corner seven minutes from time.
Villa had every reason to be indebted to Angel who had arrived back in England less than 24 hours before following international duty with Colombia in a 2-0 win over Peru.
But he could only last 45 minutes before jet-lag kicked in to force him to sit out the second half.
It was a valuable point for City but they continue to struggle with only two wins in their last 20 games.
In the continued absence of manager Kevin Keegan Manchester City's surprise decision to leave both Nicolas Anelka and Robbie Fowler on the bench failed to be justified.
They failed dismally to lift themselves in a disappointing first half when Villa also struggled to make an impact in a game seemingly dominated by referee Uriah Rennie, who persistently halted the game to the frustration of the players.
It was a fair indication of the general play that Angel's opening goal after 26 minutes was the first effort on target by either side.
Even the goal came from a corner. Angel was unmarked at the far post to head home Thomas Hitzlsperger's cross with David James completely out of position.
There was a plaintive plea from the City fans to bring on Anelka, who scored a hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Villa earlier in the season, but stand-in manager Arthur Cox persevered with the experimental line-up until the 67th minute.
Anelka took over from Paulo Wanchope who had been a potential danger, but Ronny Johnsen and Olof Mellberg dropped a defensive blanket on the City attack until Distin's late effort.
Fowler was introduced at the same time as Anelka and replaced Jonathan Macken with Villa taking off a disappointing Darius Vassell.
But Villa should have sealed the game when James blocked a Hitzlsperger free-kick only for Gavin McCann to hammer the rebound aimlessly over the bar.
City hit back to snatch a valuable point when the industrious Distin obtained a deserved equaliser when he headed home Tarnat's corner.