earl holtzclaw

About 5 weeks ago ,after a short trip my car would not start. after about 5 hours cool down it cranked . I replaced the coil and module which fixed the problen . While replacing thr module I noticed the distributor needed replacing , so I bought a rebuild which had a new control module in it . After installing the rebuild the car would not start. After much frustation I took out the module that was in the dist. and installed the one I had bought . car ran again and the rebuild co gave me a refund on their module . this worked for about a week, then no start up .I then put into the new dist . the original module that shut down when hot . the car started right up , stills huts down when hot .I took back the new module and got anothe one .No start. I migh add , the car has new coil new distributor new dist cap new wires and new plugs. Any ideas

GrumpyOne

The Gen II Civics are pretty well "old school" when it comes to ignition and the symptoms that you describe point to a faulty coil. Gen II distributors seldom fail, (has never happened to me). I should note that after market electronics for those early cars generally suck big time.

2ndGenGuy

The "rebuilds" that you can get (I'm guessing you got an A-1 Cardone distributor?) are total rubbish. I've had one come right out of the box with a seized bearing, one that fell apart in the box, and one that I put in my car that was super noisy from another bad bearing. I'm convinced that they just spray paint them silver and re-sell them. You're probably just going to have to keep sending it back until you get one that works. There's not much to them.

GrumpyOne

Yep, Cordone has a tainted reputation awright. I use Rock Auto which really is a clearing house but whatever you buy is listed by brand. Another brand to avoid is Standard Motor Parts. Not only are they pricey, the quality is suspect.

Another consideration is the growth of Chinese parts that can be iffy.

Airtex, Beck/Arnley and AC Delco are the best choices or a used distributor on eBay is a possibility. My experience with driving Gen II Civics is that these distributors seldom fail though...

earl holtzclaw

The distributor seems to be ok. my problen is the new ignition module will not fire . Ive gone through 3 of them ,one worked for a week . the old icm works but only until it gets warmed up . the one I have now came from napa.