The shittiest thing happened yesterday. So I am on 89A in Arizona between Flagstaff and Sedona and just hit the switch-backs to go down into the canyon, when the car started to act really funny. I down shifted into 2nd gear and tried to step on the gas and nothing happend. When I say that nothing happend I mean that the engine didnt react to the gas at all. I was like wtf. So I took it out of 2nd and put it into 3rd and the same thing happend. So then I put into nuetral to see if I could rev the engine and the car just died. I am coasting the whole time down hill. So not knowing if I should pull over without a phone insight I decided to try to make it down to the bottom of the canon. So I put the car back into gear and the engine came back on and I could use the gas and the car was sputtering like crazy. I could not go any faster than 30mph. You could hear all kinds of popping sounds comming from the exhast everytime I stepped on the gas. The car actually acted normally about twice before we got to the bottom but it went right back to what it was doing earlier. So I finally made it down to the bottom of the canyon and turned into a parking lot and the car died. Then a hell of a lot of smoke started to billow out from underneith the car and some of the carpet melted just behind the emergency brake. Again WTF? O.K. first impression is that the cat suddenly clogged and was backing up the engine and that the exhast piping got over heated and started all the smoke and melting the carpet. So I checked the ecu and it was giving a code 1 (O2 sensor right?). So I was like thats got to be it. So after I got the car towed to my house I went out today to see if it was the cat. I got that **** off and it was all messed up inside, but not clogged, I could still see through it. Tried to start the car with the cat off and it wouldn't start. I was talking to a friend earlier and he said that it might be the infamous distrubutor. He said that it would have the same symptoms as I was describing to him, but he couldnt explain why the exhaust got so hot. I should also mention that the car was not overheating at all. So after taking off the cat and gutting it and putting it back on and it still wont start, I am thinking that it might be the distributor. I need to hear some opinions as to what makes the most sense. Thanks

 

From what you have said I am thinking it is the distributor. As for the why the exhaust got so hot I have no clue.

 

That is completely throwing me off also.

 

the cat being semi-clogged might have just been a mere coincedence.

 

well, maybe the exhaust got so hot simply because of the poor firing. as you said, it was popping out the exhaust, which could be attributed to backfires (unburned fuel hitting a hot spot on the exhaust and exploding). The hot exhaust may have also fried your o2 sensor.....

 

alright well first of all i would check the distributor itself, and make sure the unit itself isn't loose. that could cause major stuttering and stalling. and if you're on the twistie turnies, it could jiggle the little gear in and out of the cam.

the exhaust shouldn't have melted your carpet/plastic, UNLESS it was pushed so close to the body it was touching it, like the resonator probably. and if the cat was stuffed up, it would cause the rest of the piping after it to be cooler if anything different. since less gasses are getting through.

the ignitor, code 15, would cause it to stall for a split second, then cut right back in. the loud popping i would only assosciate to timing. so my theory on the dist. comes back. the EACV would also cause it to stutter, pretty badly at that, but shouldn't pop. unplug the EACV on the back of the intake manifold and plug it back in. but that would be a code 14.

check the dist. FIRST tho, it sounds like it HAS to be timing-related.

the smoke....couldn't tell ya....i REALLY REALLY REALLY hope you didn't blow that thing up.... .

good luck

 

up

 

yikes what if it was a burnt distributor. as it was stated above check it inside. how about your timing slipping 5 tooth??hehhehehe......my friend had a similar problems a few weeks back. hope this helps.
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[Modified by vsual, 2:28 AM 3/21/2002]

 

Finally something I can answer!!

I had the EXACT ('cept for the melting carpet) same thing happen to my D16A. The distributor was dying and it killed my CAT, the guy said the car misfiring was dumping extra fuel in the exhaust and it was burning in the cat, the cat was glowing RED! I had to replace the distributor AND everything from the CAT back! All the Catguts got in my exhaust when they melted.


[Modified by cspu, 3:27 PM 3/21/2002]

 

I'll bet anything its the cam or crank angle sensor. I'll also bet the O2 sensor is fine. The ECU probably thought the O2 was bad because of the readings it was getting while raw fuel was being pumped in to the exhaust and then exploding from the heat. I'll bet that if you replace the distributor, its fine. This is exactly what happened to my ZC one day with the exception of the melting carpet. Even my exhaust got really hot, but I stopped right away, so it never got hot enough to melt anything.

I did have an accord that ran so rich the cat would get white/red though. It stayed warm in the winter (you couldn't touch metal part of the e-brake).

 

Having had a car with a cat that clogged then as a result almost melting down I experienced the Same identical symptoms. If it got so hot to melt the carpet it is a melted down blob for sure. Check the normal stuff like fouled plugs, distributer , ETC.


[Modified by virginia_dude, 7:54 PM 3/21/2002]

 

o.k. so I took off the cap on the dist and the rotor was destroyed. so I replaced that and it started right up with no problems, but the dist was making a little funny noise. I drove it maybe a total of 5 miles when the same exact thing happend again. I assume the rotor is gone but I havent looked again. What do you think could be causing the rotor to go bad. I really hope that the dist is not bad. And thanks for all your help.

 

Remove the dist. from the engine and make sure that the shaft that the rotor attaches to is tight, and that it turns without grinding or wobbling. It sounds as though you have a bad set of bearings in the distributor case, as this is the only thing that can destroy a rotor that quickly (aside from anything super noticable hanging or broken inside). In most cases if the bearings are bad, it is just easier to buy a new distributor.

 

I Agree with CRX-RX . You got some lind of distributer problem if your cap got destroyed that quick, or at all. Of you have nothing loose floating around in there then you have some sort of movement in the shaft either axial or transverse, either way you'll be putting a new disributer on the car. Along with a new CAT.

 

Yep, new Dist is what you need. Mine was making noise the day before it died, it was the bearings. When I took the cap off there was a red "dust" covering everything inside. The rotor was fine, but only for 1 more day.

 

Get yourself a new or used 89 Integra distributor. The same exact thing happened to my brother's ZC. He got a new one from Autozone for like 225 plus tax.

 

Thanks everyone. It looks like I am going to have to mow a few more lawns to shell out the cash for a new dist. I should just save up a couple more hundred dollars up and just buy a new ZC. If anyone has an extra 88-89 teg dist laying around and wants to sell it, email me. Smokinsax@aol.com Thanks again.