jhsu

Yesterday afternoon, my 1988 Honda Civic stalled twice. It stalled as I began to back my car out of the parking space in the apartment parking lot. It stalled a second time on the street and lost power in the seconds preceding this second stall. Fortunately, I was able to restart the car both times and drive it to the repair shop.

The repair shop says that the the igniter is bad. The repair shop also thinks that the distributor is bad and that a bad distributor caused the igniter to fail. The shop is quoting me $540 to replace both the igniter and distributor (including rotor and cap).

My questions:
1. Does the repair shop make sense?
2. How does one tell if the distributor is bad? Is the distributor really shot, or is the repair shop trying to rip me off?
3. How exactly do the igniter and distributor work with each other?
4. Would this igniter be covered under the recall? If so, can I have
the repair done for free from a non-dealer repair shop?

Jason Hsu, AG4DG
forums@jasonhsu.com

Urban Business

my 88 hatch would do the same thing. backing out of an inclined drive way shifting into 1st, or coasting down a hill in neutral. change your plugs and wires 1st. i did, **** went away. if your dizzy is super shot it will seem like its miss firing under heavy load. if its an civic si the dizzy is aprox 180$ from a part store (thats prolly really high). what wou could do is replace your cap and rotor and see how that works. wasnt aware there was a recall on the dizzy on an 88

basemies

pick up the parts from a junkyard and do it yourself. you'll probably save at least $450.

Chiovnidca

quote:
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My questions:
1. Does the repair shop make sense?
2. How does one tell if the distributor is bad? Is the distributor really shot, or is the repair shop trying to rip me off?
3. How exactly do the igniter and distributor work with each other?
4. Would this igniter be covered under the recall? If so, can I have
the repair done for free from a non-dealer repair shop?

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I thought I replied to this one already. Oh well here goes again.

1. I don't know, I didn't talk to them.
2a. By inspecting and testing it.
2b. I don't know, I'm not able to check your distributor.
3. The igniter tells the coil when to fire and the distributor sends the spark to the correct cylinder.
4a. What recall? There used to be a product update campaign, but that has expired a long time ago.
4b. If there was a recall, it would have to be taken to a Honda dealer.

BTW $540 is a little on the high side.

Scotty_1988crxsi

yea dude that shop is crazy 550 just to replace a dissy, the igniter is inside the dissy and he wants to buy an new one that already has a new one in it hes trying to get you son, but that could be very possible happend to me 4 times already.

hatchet_honda

$540 is absolutely insane to replace a dizzy!!! and the igniter is part of the dizzy its inside of it sooo yea your gettin ripped off. i had a bad igniter on my 91 hatch and it wouldnt start at all soo im thinkin maybe the cap and rotor are causin the stalling. take em off and have a look before you go spending a fortune to have a shop remove 3 bolts and replace a dizzy

fcm

Hmmmm, $540 to replace a distributor...
http://search.ebay.com/search/search...tor&category0= that looks like about $400 in labour, and that assumes the problem is the ICU...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/88-93...spagenameZWD1V

I have never known of an ICU being intermittent, they work or they don't, maybe just a poor connection.

For an intermittent problem like yours, a loss of power then stalling and then working again I would guess a fuel problem and a far more common issue with older Honda/Acura is the PGM-FI Main Relay, and it is the first thing I would look at, try the fix...
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/mainrelay.html 94

ALLxMOTOR EG

go to the yard

Evs-One

I'm sure the car was fixed 7 years ago

ALLxMOTOR EG

whoa i forgot to check the date

ALLxMOTOR EG

closed!!!

teamworxek9

iTrader: (5)

500+ seems real high. You could get a dizzy and do it yourself for aroung $300.

fcm

Doh!!!
I wish HT could put a "stale-date" on older treads, say after no posts on tread for 60 days the post date would turn red instead of being black 94