How do u know when a distributor is going bad or is bad in a 1990 Acura Integra. What are Sign to look for?

 

You may get a CEL but no code. or the car just may not start.

There's no really way to know the distributor is bad unless you remove the unit from the car. Take the distrib. cap off and inner cover. Remove the ignitor coil and ignition control module. each will have a set of wires running into it. The bigger one, which is the ignitor coil will have a positive and negative. Use a voltage meter to see if you have a good circuit running through it. if you get no reading then that unit is bad. you can also try and test the ignition control module. there are 4 prongs. one of the connectors will lead you to the other end of the ignitor coil, that wire should be the positive one. To test just place your positive probe on that prong and the negative to the others. To replace them, go to ebay or Honda directly, they can be expensive. If you have a mechanic connection he can get them for cheap usually.
Good luck. while your doing all that. Replace the rotor and cap. and if you haven't replaced the wires and spark plugs, might as well do that, too. One final piece is to check your rotor assy. for oil leaks. You can buy the seal from Honda..those are usually cheap. Now if your entire rotor assy. is seized and won't turn, then you'll have to get the entire distributor rebuilt....your better off buying a new one.

 

Thank u for the info i will have sum1 check it just tryna make sure im in the right area. i am told that the distributor holds a few pieces (ignition coil, cam sensor, etc.) If one of the pieces are bad would the car still start and drive for awhile and then shut off or will it just not start period?

 

The motor will crank, but will not keep running. You may get an occasional start but as soon as the motor warms, it will just shut down.

 

I got a crazy story. I was cruising down 99 coming back from Manteca and all of a sudden my car started cutting out and I couldn't give it gas and then it died so I pulled over. I popped the hood and was trying to find what could have been wrong. The starter would turn over and the car would crank and sometimes start but died immediately. So I was sitting in my car trying to call people for a ride for about and hour then this guy rolls up and ask if I needed some help and this guy didn't seem like he knew anything right. This guy pops my hood and hes just jamming looking at everything thing chain smoking like a pack of cigs with in 10 minutes. Anyways this fool takes apart my distributor not sure what he did but he put it back together and my car fired right up and ran better on top of that. I asked this guy I was like " Damn bro you work on Hondas or what? " he smiled and just lifted up his shirt and had the biggest Honda emblem tattooed on his stomach ha ha. That fools down! He saved my *** a lot of money.

 

Damn my luck not that good. I'm always on a lonely backstreet when sumthing happens to my car.