So yesterday my wifes car breaks down! she took me to class and i noticed when it was running i turned AC on and then stereo the stereo would turn off. like i had lose of power. so she had to get it towed and taken to a shop. today i call they tell me its the distributor cap and they want 480$ is this insane or what? i think its the main relay cause when its hot it wont periodically start.

im a just fix it myself cause a distributor cap shouldent cost no 480$ or even close to that. I hate these god damn mechanics

 

Maybe that is price of dizzy, labor, and to get it towed to the shop?

That all might add up

 

no im retarded he said the distributor not the cap. im just gonna do it myself. the price was just for diagnosing it labor and the parts. im sure i can do it myself. if not hey ill learn something so F it

 

replacing a distributor isn't hard.

quick steps....
-set No.1 cylinder to TDC
-unplug anything plugged into the distributor (make notes where everything goes for assembly)
-unbolt the three bolts holding the distributor to the head
-pull the distributor out
-put the new distributor in making sure to line up the key with the camshaft inside the head (it will only go in one way so don't force it if you have it 180* off)
-bolt the three bolts back in (if you have a pre 96 model you'll want to line it up the best you can and check it with a timing light after to make sure it's set right, if you have a 96+ just bolt it up)
-plug everything back into the distributor making sure you put the plug wires back to the correct contacts on the cap.

 

Is a timing light really necessary i dont own one. in the haynes manual i got it dont say anything about that. thnks for the rundown bro appreciate it.

oh ya mines a 91 honda accord lx

 

I pulled mine off my Civic to replace the o-ring, I just lined it up by the marks on the head and it seems fine. But it is probably best to rent one just to be sure.

 

Good info again man. I have a new dizzy coming in from Advance and I didn't know anything about the timing light, I'll be sure to get one

 

to check the timing, be sure to remove the plug in the bellhousing to expose the timing mark, or you'll spend quite some time looking for the crank pully mark

Timing should be around 13-17 degrees advance.

 

What kind of accord is it?

Distributor caps are like 20 bucks

And you dont need a timing light, at all, take off the 3 bolts of the distributor, and it will come off, just make sure when u take it off, u dont rotate the shaft of the dizzy, then just turn the new dizzy shaft until its in the same position as the old one and reinstall

 

He said it's the whole distributor, not just the cap.

Look in your Haynes manual under "adjusting spark timing" or something like that. It's sorta silly that they don't explain it during the procedure for replacing the distributor.

 

yeah thats a rip, do it yourself.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM_DC4_Fanatic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">to check the timing, be sure to remove the plug in the bellhousing to expose the timing mark, or you'll spend quite some time looking for the crank pully mark

Timing should be around 13-17 degrees advance.</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is for non-vtec right?

 

its a general honda range. I's whats recommended for all accords, inclding the F23 vtec, and the H22, so yes, it does include vtec

 

Thanks much

 

Well im pretty po'd but what can i do im trying to learn about cars and buy tools etc. i had no timing light and my wife needed a car so i said F it and took it to the shop. it was 523.16$ parts labor and diagnoses. after he puts the distributor in he tells me its my alternator! and the reason he couldent test it was cause there was no spark? im pretty pissed off after talking to a few other mechanics that tell me u can test an alternator without spark. my battery light on dashboard kept coming on and off which i beleive was my alternator. and the car was trying to crank over just wouldent catch. i turned on my cd player then my ac and the cd player would shut off.

i tried asking the mechanic to checkout the main relay as i keep hearing this is a huge problem with hondas especially in hot weather. and the car would periodically not start when its hot out then i leave it 15-20 minutes and it would start. i also had disconnected my battery +/- when it was started and it runs fine i was told if it still runs your alternator is fine? leading me to still think its my main relay.

Anyone got any ideas what else it can be cause im getting really pissed i took my car outta that guys shop and told him to eat crap pretty much. for 1 if its 2 things tell me its 2 things not just 1 and another the distributor cost 312$ i called around and couldent find one for over 216$ Sry to keep going on but i could really use some pointers or any ideas u guys may have.

thnks alot to all who have responded earlier with the great advice and if anyone knows a good mechanic in the seattle/tacoma area id love to hear about them cause ive taken my honda into about 5 shops over the past 3-4 years and they have all sucked.

Thnks again to all who contribute to this awesome site.

 

When I changed my dizzy, my ignition coil, cap etc... the whole setup, I did it myself, the labor part wasnt hard and i bought the parts from autozone. However, once i put it all back together, my car wouldnt start right, it would crank and crank and crank. Then finally it would turn on, and i let it sit and idle for about ten minutes and it would cut out. I am just not sure what i've done wrong. Any ideas?

 

welp im no mechanic but are u sure you put the firing order back on correctly? and these guys are saying u needed to make sure timing was set after installing a new dizzy. other then that im not sure. the haynes manual i was reading outta was saying to make sure TDC Top Dead center was set correctly whatever that is.

im prolly no help but i would guess the firing order is outta sequence

 

TDC (top dead center) is when the piston (typically #1 when it comes to setting a motor) is at the top of the compression stroke. The firing order is 1-3-4-2. And cylinder #1 is to the left of the belt, and cylinder #4 being closest to the dizzy. As far as setting timing, if you set the distributor right in the middle (top bolt) you will run around 15 degrees advance, which is ok for normal use.

Just to give you a visuial, I have pics of the spark plug locations, and they are numbred.

Cylinder locations:


Firing order on the cap.