Can a faulty ignition switch cause other parts to fail? The reason I ask this is that my son's car stopped running and I replaced the coil and it ran for about 2 weeks, died, and then I replaced the ignitor and it is running again but I have to turn the ignition switch 2 or 3 times before it will crank. Almost seems as if the battery is dead, but it isn't. Any ideas? My son has bought another car and I want to get 89 CRX fixed and sold!

 

the distributors go all the time in these cars, so it was prolly just worn.

 

It could possibly if there was somekind of really loose connection in there causing somekind of power surge, I have seen the same thing from a loose connection in the distributor also so check all your connections on the coil and ignitor and make sure there tight, But yea these older distributors will go sometimes...

 

the ignition switch can cause intermittent starting failure, and can cause your car to die, which manifests itself as a faulty coil or ignitor.

i just went through some downtime with my car, and it ended up being the ignition switch, after i replaced the coil, ignitior, alternator, and resoldered the main relay.

there are some pictures in the thread that kinda gives you an idea what happens when they fail. there is also a test sequence you can go through in the helms or in the honda manual for the ignition switch and also the distributor, which will most likely give you the answer.

here is the thread on it.. https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1858195

 

A quick, cheap, and easy thing to try: Clean up the battery terminals. Get a wire brush, or a battery terminal brush (available from Pep Boyz or whatever parts place is near you) and make them things shiny! Don't forget the inside of the clamps that go on the terminals. I've fixed a couple of starter problems that way. (And I've not fixed more, but it's real cheap and takes five minutes, so you don't lose much if it don't work!)

Safety practice: Always disconnect the ground (-) first and reconnect it last!

--DD

 

I'd say it's either going to be a main relay issue or an ignition switch issue since you've replaced the ignitor/coil already.

Pull the main relay, pop off the plastic cover, and look VERY closely at the soldered terminals on the boards. What you're looking for are ring shaped cracks around the "volcano" of solder that circle the lead being soldered to the board. Difficult start conditions in warmer weather are a tell-tale sign of main relay issues.

Some people reflow the solder onto the joints - I have done this and you have to be careful to not drip ANY solder through the board onto the relays (the boards are soldered upside down in the factory). Instead of risking it, now I just replace the relay...I believe it's about $45 from Honda.