I ordered a replacement ignition rotor for a 1998 F23A1 Accord from rockauto. The Bosch aftermarket replacement they sent was in a box labelled Bosch 04313. The rotor inside the box didn't fit, however. Whether it was the right part # but the wrong part in the box, or a Bosch 04313 just doesn't fit this application, I don't know. There is a number on the rotor itself (8111 245EA), with the Bosch logo, but I couldn't tie that to any number on the box or elsewhere.

Oh well, no biggie, it's like a $5 part. So anyway, the next thing I tried was my local parts shop (Repco). They don't stock the Bosch, they stock the Champion brand line of ignition parts. Fine, let's see what they come up with. The part they came up with (part #JR 402) didn't fit either (although it was different to both the Bosch part and the original Honda part.) If the Champion part had been installed, it would actually be 180 degrees out of sync with the Honda part -- the contact was pointing the wrong way! Weird. (I suppose I could have rearranged the wiring order from the distributor to the spark plugs to compensate, but seriously...)

So, I've ordered the genuine Honda part from TASAuto in the US, which should be be 30103-PAA-A01 (and that was the part number Honda gave to me when I phoned them with the VIN.) So hopefully _that_ will fit, or the mystery deepens further.

Anyone else come across this sort of weirdness with aftermarket ignition parts for the 98-02 series Accords? The original part is actually made by Hitachi, IIRC.

BTW, before anyone asks, the reason I didn't buy a Honda part from my local Honda dealer in the first place is because they want over $60 for it. Really. That's just for the rotor. I kid you not... they sell for about a third of that in the US -- and even that's probably outrageous pricing for what it is.

 

I know this doesn't necessarily account for the rotor being 180 degrees off, but after some weird issues like you described, I always now buy matching cap and rotor from the same vendor. Because on multiple occasions I have replaced one of these parts (on various different cars over 20 years) and have seen a rotor hit the terminals on the cap and break the terminals, and I have seen a car not start because the rotor was so far away from the terminals. Imagine just doing a simple tune-up and then the car not starting due to no spark. So you are not alone. Good luck, hope you get it fixed.

 

Good advice -- when the part arrives from TASAuto, I'll be attempting to match a new Honda rotor with a new Bosch cap. I'll keep your experiences in mind if I encounter problems.

Except on fairly rare occassions, I've not had problems with aftermarket parts fitting properly, at least on other cars. Sometimes the quality is somewhat iffy, and sometimes the fitment could be more accurate, but I can't recall too many times when parts just didn't fit -- period!

 

Yeah, after being stung, even when I go buy a new cap and rotor of the same brand, I still pull out the rotor and place it into the cap and cneter it and look at the gap between the rotor and cap terminals now. Another thing I have seen is that the little metal pressure clip that is inside the rotor sometimes stays on the shaft when you pull the rotor off, then a new rotor won't go back on the shaft because it acts like the shaft is too big. I have also seen the spring loaded terminal on the cap break(actually fell off) just a spring hanging down.