jmwhonda

Hi guys. I have a 96 Honda Civic EX and all of the sudden it won't start. Battery and starter seems to be working fine. Couple of Jack of all Trades looked around and said there was no spark at all. They all told me that it was most likely the distributor. Fuel pump appears to be fine. Spark plugs were dirty and had fuel at the bottom. Autozone guys told me to bring the two components from inside the distributor to have them tested but that rotor, MAN THERE IS NO WAY to pull that thing out there. Went to Autozone and asked them to show me a rotor. The ones they have have a hole for a screw in it. Mine doesn't. Rotor just doesn't seem to be secured by a screw or anything. I asked a friend to try to start the motor 4 times so I could see the rotor rotate and there is not a screw anywhere. Autozone guys said there should be a screw. 4 guys have checked this rotor and we couldn't find a darn screw. What's up here? Did Honda did this on purpose so people buy the whole distributor deal instead?

My question.

1. How do I get that rotor out?

2. I'm thinking to replace the whole distributor. It cost $300 at Autozone if I don't bring the old one back. Somebody at Autozone told me that replacing the distributor was easy as it was some plug and play deal with these Hondas. Is that true? Some Jack of all Trades told me a whole bunch of s..t about timing belt, cylinders and other crap keeping me off from doing it myself. Autozone guy seemed to know what he was talking about. Is it easy to change the distributor in this Honda?

I'd appreciate if you can keep the technical speak to the minimum. Thanks guys.

E-PiLLs

mine didn't have spark because the belts snapped, check all your belts

jmwhonda

Seem to be ok somebody just told me. Rotor turns. Correct me if I'm wrong.

97_ek_coupe

The entire distributor? Theres only three bolts holding it in lol. It really is plug and play. When you put it in, look inside the hole from where you take it off, theres slots for the distributor. It only fits one way, just make sure you insert it correctly and voila.

StreetsideStig

I might be wrong about this, but you'll have to get that rotor off before you can pull the distributor.

If there's no screw, try just pulling gently. I've never heard of a snap-on rotor in these, but I learn stuff every day.

EKSedAndy

You do not need to remove the rotor to change the distributor, you only need to remove it if you want to test/change the coil only. To remove the distributor you just need to take off the three bolts holding it on, 12 or 14 mm, I forget which. Mark where it is and try to line up the new one since it rotates to advance/retard timing. You will still need to set the timing properly but this should get you in the ballpark.

The distributor is common, but if you don't want to waste $300 on a hunch you should try to find a friend that has a 96-98 Civic and swap his on to see if it starts, would take you literally no more than 15 minutes.

jmwhonda

Thanks for that. Do you have any idea how to get that rotor off that thing?

jmwhonda

Is this an easy thing to do?

EKSedAndy

It's just the ignition timing, so it'll just make you run like a bag of turd and underpowered. Mark or scribe the position of the old distributor and put the new one in the same position and you'll be in the ballpark. Checking the timing is not hard to do, you just need to buy or find someone with a timing light. But putting your new one on in the same position should get you up and running atleast.

97_ek_coupe

I just looked on youtube, theres a video there for you that will make things very easy for you. Look up "how to change distributor rotor civic" and it should pop up(sorry, im on my phone). Its rather simple, just remember whatever wires you remove must be put back exactly at the same place, so label them if you have to. The firing order cannot me mixed up.

jmwhonda

Ok, the coil and ICM were both bad, said the Autozone guy. Was going to be $113 plus $79 for both components. I ended up buying a 1997 distributor for $75 at a junkyard. Car starts fine; except that the ABS light now is on all the time. What could be the problem? I took the battery twice out of the car to charge it because the first time I installed the new used distributor the car didn't start. What is triggering this ABS light? Had never seen that before with the old distributor. Something happened after the new distributor installation. Thanks guys.

EDIT 6 YEARS LATER: I can't believe I'm updating this thread 6 years later but I want others having similar problem and reading this thread know what the problem was back then.

Autozone guys were wrong. Distributor worked fine. Car just needed distributor cap and rotor replaced. Could've cost me a few dollars. Instead I went and bought a used Civic 97 EX distributor at a junk yard for $75. The ABS light problem was the ABS wire connector to the battery had disconnected/broke off from the + battery terminal. Had removed the battery several times then and that caused the ABS connector to break. Easy fix.