how do you know when your rotor has gone bad?
 

well... i was reading the car manual and seeing what needed to be done for car checkups... i replaced almost everything (wires, cap, plugs)... and the only thing i need to replace is my distributor rotor. Well, some unusual things started happenening and i was wondering if it was a rotor issue. my car is at 50k miles btw, i've owned it since 30k and the rotor has not been replaced yet. Anything before that, i dont know...

the other week, i was driving, and kinda stepped on it to about 5k rpm... and my rpm started to kinda boggle/jump up and down... i was like wtf??? and stopped the car.. and it didn't happen anymore. what could this be?

last nite... my car wouldn't start up!! it would crank.. but it just wouldn't start. It's not a battery issue, bcuz radio, windows, everything was fine. And i had plenty of gas. well... i made sure all my wires and stuff were on tightened. Still didn't start up!! So i took off the distributor cap and just looked around, made sure the rotor turned when i cranked the car. put the cap back on... and voila! my car started up!! but when driving, it started to like boggle at low rpms. the idle was weird too...

this morning... started the car.. drove it.. everything seems fine! this car is pissing me off. i also have a aftermarket igntion.. MSD digital 6.. but i doubt the digi6 is the problem...

Re: how do you know when your rotor has gone bad? (vietboixstunnah)
 

I would just take a look at it, see how it looks. The distributor cap is held on by three 8mm bolts, just remove them, pull the cap, and have a look-see.

Re: how do you know when your rotor has gone bad? (StyleTEG)
 

what am i looking for when i'm looking at it?

Re: how do you know when your rotor has gone bad? (vietboixstunnah)
 

Do you have a multimeter ?

That could be a number of things from cap/rotor to bad ICM/ignitor.

X2

Re: how do you know when your rotor has gone bad? (vietboixstunnah)
 

if you have your cap out, you may as well replace the rotor at the same time.. it is just one more screw on the rotor.

Re: how do you know when your rotor has gone bad? (vietboixstunnah)
 

I think your digi6 fried your ignitor/ICM. It could just be your rotor, but I doubt it. I had the same problems with the digi6 so I took it off. It cured the problem momentarily, but it eventually came back. I haven't fixed it yet, but I have tried two new rotors already. There is too many people having ignition problems when they use aftermarket ignitions. No coincedence there.
BTW, to inspect the rotor, take a look at the tip. If it is chewed up and carbon tracked you should replace it. Let me know if you fix the problem.

Re: how do you know when your rotor has gone bad? (Dutchie)
 

I think the above ways of checking are perfectly legitimate. Here are some less useful tips:

Your rotor may have gone bad if...
...it smells funny, or has blue mold growing on it.
...it refuses to clean its room or do its homework.
...it gets caught holding up a liquor store.

Re: how do you know when your rotor has gone bad? (VTechie)
 

rotor can be felt through by just braking the brakes. just drive around and if the brake pedal feels like its "going up and down" and the steering wheel tends to shake a lot then you should just have a place re-grind them.

Re: how do you know when your rotor has gone bad? (NAgs-R)
 

oops....i didn't read i correctly sorry. the guys above gave some good tips. my bad http://images.zeroforum.com/smile/emcrook.gif

Re: how do you know when your rotor has gone bad? (NAgs-R)
 

Lolz he's talking about the distributor cap and rotor

anyway at 50K I'd change it anyway.. you had the cap off the rotor is just 1 more screw... the cap and rotor together only cost about $30 and you had the cap off already might as well change it... look for carbon build up, corrosions, burnt contacts, etc... but at 50K I'd just go ahead and replace it...

Re: how do you know when your rotor has gone bad? (vietboixstunnah)
 

You could have just got some bad gas. Also, the problem could lie with your fuel filter or fuel pump. I used to have a Neon that acted the same way. It needed a new filter and pump.

Used to have a 96 Integra SE. http://images.zeroforum.com/smile/acura1.gif

Now I have a 2002 Civic SI http://images.zeroforum.com/smile/h-emblem4.gif http://images.zeroforum.com/smile/emsmile.gif http://images.zeroforum.com/smile/emsmile.gif http://images.zeroforum.com/smile/emsmile.gif http://images.zeroforum.com/smile/emsmile.gif

2.0 DOHC and 160HP.