Tony Ignatz

I will apologize in advance for the lengthy post, and I have done about 4 hours of internet searching, including this forum prior to posting.

Here's the situation with my 1989 Civic Si.

Since I have had the car, there have been periodic times that the car would crank but not fire up. However, before today, if I kept trying, it would always work within 5 minutes. So, today I think the same thing will happen, however it continues to crank but not fire up. So, I begin to check everything.
-The fuel system seems to be working fine, there seems to be no fuel delivery problems. Immediately after cranking the car for a little, I removed a spark plug, and sure enough, there was fresh fuel on it. This leads me to believe that there is a problem getting a spark.
I took off the distributor cap, and there was some carbon bildup between the 4 receptors, and there was definitely some carbon at the top, where the retractable metal piece fits into the coil, when put in place. I blew out both the coil and the cap as well as I could, checked all the spark plugs (that I replaced less than 5,000 miles ago), replaced the cap and plugs and wires, and tried to start the car again, same problem. It sounds healthy as it cranks, but there's no ignition. Being pressed for time, I went to Autozone and purchased a new distributor cap, rotor, and plug wires.

Now.....

How do I change the rotor? The one on there now seems to be loose, and have a decent amount of play when I touch it. Is this normal? If not, is this bad? (lol)
How do I replace this rotor?

Next.....
What order do the plugs attach to the distributor cap??

If I'm looking at the cap from the passenger side of the car, if looks like this

O O (top row, closer to hood)

O O (bottom, closer to ground)

where the plug wires should attach to the distributor cap.


NOT that I am sure that the cap, rotor, and plug wires will be a full solution for my starting problem, I would like to be sure that I install these pieces that I have already purchased correctly. I'm thinking that I may need a new distributor altogether.....
But for the time being, if anyone could provide insight on the installation of the rotor and the placement of the plug wires, that would be a great help to eliminate possibilities of the problem.
I read somewhere about an ignitor, but I can't find anything from searching, neither on forums, nor on parts websites. Is this a possibility? I think that I have eliminated the fuel delivery chain (fuel pump, filter, injectors) as there is fuel going to the plugs and I can definitely hear the fuel pump working when I turn the key to 'on', just before the cranking position.
So, short of replacing the costly distributor as a whole unit, could there possibly be anything else, judging by my symptoms, that would render the car helpless as it is?

Thank you to any and all who read and respond.


-Tony Ignatz
STS #133
CCR/SCR/SEDiv

7PSI CRX

The #1 cylinder is on the Drivers side of the car.

Heres how the wires attach to the cap.




The rotor has a screw holding it to the distributor shaft.

Remove the cap,
put the car in 4th gear,
push the car untill the screw gets to a point where you can reach it with a screwdriver. (Or allen wrench in some cases)


Was it carbon you cleaned from the inside of the cap, or did it look like a brownish rust-colored dust?

Tony Ignatz

thankfully, my spark plug wires are marked with cylinder numbers, I omitted that from my last post. The longest plug wire is the #1 cylinder, to make sure we're on the same page.

If you posted a picture of how the wires attach to the cap, I sadly cannot see it, and would greatly appreciate it if you could email it to me at tony_ignatz@yahoo.com

After I remove the rotor, how should I place the new one, as I am under the impression that there is a specific point that the rotor must be lined up in accordance to.

It was getting dark when I took off the cap, so I'm thinking it was carbon that I saw in the cap.... I'm leaving work right now and I'll be able to check it again in about 30 minutes, I'll know for sure if it was rust-colored dust...which I am about 85% sure it is not.

Thank you very much for the response.

-Tony

sleepy_hatch

Hey man, I have a brand new TD-02U distributor. for an 88-89 crx si. I put it on my 88 si crx only for a month then I blew my engine. So it's justa spare part I'm trying to sell. Also it has a three year waranty I think. But it's in great shape. tell me what you think??

Tony Ignatz

jpcrx-si,

If this distributor you speak of works for my vehicle, and I do not fix the problem today with the cap, rotor and wires, then we're in business!!

Anyone else with insight on my first post? I'm going outside right now(as I just woke up...damn night shift) to take off the old cap, rotor and wires....

Thanks.

slypest

Thanks to the 5 posts a day rule, I had to make another account to continue here.

This is Tony Ignatz.

So, I installed the rotor, new cap and wires. I noticed something, in full daylight....
Inside the dist. cap, there is that metal retractable piece that goes into the coil.(when attached to the dist. itself) I noticed when comparing the old and new ones, that the plastic around that metal retractible piece had been all but melted off of the old one. I then remove the coil, and inside where that piece on the dist. cap goes, was also melted and corroded plastic. I used a pen with tissue on it to clean it out inside the hole as much as I could, then I put everything together.

Nothing, same as before. Car cranks over nicely, doesn't fire up. Visually, that dist. coil is what needs to be replaced. Is this possible without getting a whole new distributor? If not, I need a new distributor.

Thanks in advance for any insight....

slypest

Bump, please help.

EF4lyfe

i will sell you mine for a decent price

slypest

How much? Could you please email me with info to

tony_ignatz@yahoo.com

Thanks.

slypest

Bump, please, someone email me @ tony_ignatz@yahoo.com with a price for one of the distributors that you nice people have offered to sell me.

Again, slypest is the same as Tony Ignatz....this is me....

Tony I.

BUMP!!!!!!!