So I was driving my 90 DX Hatch today from Detroit to Philly, for about 400 miles everything went fine but then out of nowhere the engine started sorta cutting out. It would make a little pop, it sounds like it might be misfiring. I pulled over and my shitty ebay ram air intake was not connected to the DPFI manifold. I reconnected it, drove a few hundred yards, accelerations was way down and it started making noise again, I pulled over again, the intake was off again so I duct taped it on, started off again same thing, same noise. Pulled over, the intake was still connected so I'm assuming the intake disconnecting was not the cause but a symptom. I got towed to a garage, which won't be open until tomorrow and I am in a shitty days inn. I was thinking it might be a problem with the dizzy. The engine has 208,000 miles, it was rebuilt at around 180,000 miles and I know the distributor cap was replaced. I changed the spark plugs recently, all the fluids are full, the ECU is NOT throwing a code and the car isn't overheating. I don't know much about engines, but any ideas would be helpful, I might be able to point the mechanic in the right direction.

 

Sounds like a bad coil/dizzy/main relay.

 

sounds like the car is backfiring out the intake, blowing the intake off, maybe the rotor on the distributor has come loose

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by grog &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sounds like the car is backfiring out the intake, blowing the intake off, maybe the rotor on the distributor has come loose </TD></TR></TABLE>

Possibly a burnt valve too. But hope and start with the dist rotor, then next the Igniter.

 

Where are you, possibly a fellow h-t member can help.

 

I'm in Warfordsburg PA, just north of the Maryland border. I'm going to point the mechanic toward the dizzy tomorrow. If it was just the rotor how long would that take to replace?

 

cap and rotor should fix it. $15 and 5 minutes.

 

My distributor is shot, all the wires inside were melted etc. I need a new one TODAY. If anyone has one and is nearby PLEASE give me a call 313-310-3559. I would need you to drop it off as I have no transportation. I am in Warfordsburg PA just north of the Maryland border off I-70 at the Tower Hill garage. I'm pretty desperate now, I need to get running again. If you have one don't post here as the internet is terrible and I probably won't be able to check it, please call me as soon as possible.

 

You might just need to die and buy a remanned one from Autozone or where-ever (Pep boys, ugh) and deal with it. They got you by the short hairs...

 

bump for an h-t'er

good luck!

 

Can anyone confirm what the exact part number for the distributor is? They're showing two different distributors for my engine and can't find the number on the my current one. It's a 1990 DX Hatch 1.5L. Or where on the distributor would the part number be, it's pretty dirty.

 

the td-01u is the distributor for your car. There is a 7 wire and a 9 wire distributor, and you need the 7 wire.

 

Well I ended up towing my car unfixed to Philly with a Uhaul and I'm going to do the work myself. I guess I'm now in the market for a used dizzy. Thanks for the help everyone, now I know what I need to do.