I was driving my 1990 CRX HF back from where it was abused for 6 months (don't ask)...

Died while going up a hill... Stock car here. Got to a semi safe spot... would restart... idle... bog under gas, and die... then idle rough, die... and then just spin. Fully up to date with service...

Had to tow it home (unsafe to diagnose on the highway with cars shooting by).


After replacing main relay, etc... I got a code 8 after draining the battery and failing to start it so often...

The darn set screw for the distributor rotor came out, and the rotor was free spinning! Replaced the rotor (and put a screw in it), and it fired right up!

So always check the easy stuff first... (I noticed I wasn't get spark and went to investigate).

Just putting this out there for those who search. I searched Code 8 (TDC) and didn't get anything besides 'replace the distributor', but it got me in the right location.

 

At least your car started AT ALL. My car died while I was going 60 down a hill, was awesome. Thought it was out of gas, then maybe timing belt ripped. Tow home, start rippin **** apart. I look at rotor/cap, ****ing screw is not even there anymore. Replaced $7 at kragen.

 

Where would it go? The cap is sealed with a gasket to keep water out. It probably fell out when you pulled the cap off.

 

My screw was in the little black plastic housing the goes 'underneath' the rotor. Saw it drop into the grass when I pulled it out (didn't even think it was still there).

Rotor needed replacing anyway. New screw had a split/tension water, so it's not going anywhere.


and if it died completely I would have checked for spark/air/fuel sooner...

 

Had same exact thing happen on my old 88 dx. I just wasnt as lucky. The screw launched out and smashed thru the ignitor.

 

Wow... Do I have a story about this. I drove to New York from Kentucky in my 1991 Honda Civic Hatch to visit family up there. No problems the whole way up there. I went to visit the city for the first and only time with my uncle and my battery light came on. I never had any problems in the city but as soon as I got back into upstate New York my car wouldn't start. I checked the battery voltage and it was at like 8 volts. Took the battery to the only auto parts store in the town and they confirmed the battery was bad. I bought a $90 65 month battery and installed it. The light did not go out. I proceeded you check the alternator and found the the voltage was the same as the battery. The nearest alternator was an hour and a half away and $100. So I made the trip and replaced the alternator, which really wasn't as hard as i thought it would be with two people. Then, a week before college started I was at the gas station and after filling up my car wouldn't start. Obvious Main Relay, A new one was going to take a day to come in. After I get the main relay for $65 installed starts like a charm and doesn't throw any more ECU codes. I was coming back from my cousins house going to my grandparents house and this Jimmy wants to race. So we do like a 35 MPH pull and i didn't stop after beating them. The biggest raccoon runs out in front of my car and i clip it with my right front side. It heated up but didn't overheat i looked at it in the morning and had i cracked radiator. No junkyards and no Honda's in this town! I went to the Auto Parts place in town and ordered a $90 radiator that would be there the next morning. Installed the radiator after pulling the front bracket out some and left for home the next morning thinking there was nothing else that could go wrong. 300 miles into the trip my car backfires and spits and sputters and jerks going down the interstate at 75 or 80 MPH. I pull over and tried to start it and it made a noise like i have never heard. I thought i had jumped time. So i got it towed for $50 to the nearest town and spent the night at a hotel for $80. I didn't even wanna look at my car. So my dad drove 700 miles with a trailer to trailer my car home because I moved into college on Saturday. We got back home Friday night and I packed everything up in my moms car. I left for college Saturday without my car. Then about two weekends later i had time to go back home and work on my car. That's when I found out that it was only the set screw in the rotor blade that fell out. I had an extra dizzy laying around and just used that set screw. It started right up! That is my crazy road trip to NY from KY and back or at least half way back. I'll fly from now on! LOL

 

HAHA what a ****ing trip! Glad nothing severely bad happened in that story. But yea stick to flying

 

either that or it wasn't there in the first place. Noticing the jimmy-rigging the previous owner did to everything makes it think it wasnt there in the first place and just held their with chance/luck.

 

I had the same thing happen to my 91 Si and I was 40 miles from home. Thanks to GEICO, for towing it straight to my curb.

My dist. was sealed properly and there was no rotor screw in THERE! This was a jerry rigged car that I bought for $600 because the fool had driven the car to his "friend" had changed the timing belt. His friend brought the car back on a tow truck! Well the crank and cam were 2 teeth off. I re-set that and drove it for 1 month but the idle was never smooth. I just thought it was other things. I was getting Code 1's 15, 16 that would come and go then the rotor screw fell off. I spent 2 weeks tracking it down and was ready to buy a rebuilt
distributor.

I could find another metric screw so I re-drilled and tapped. The beyptch not coming out - it is locktite and a nut on the other end.

Hahahha , can I join the dizzyscrewedcrew?