I have a 1992 Civic
The car has had 6 Distributors in the life of the car.
It Started with the first one 4 years ago.
All was fine for 3 years.
Then about a year ago car stalled out a few times then I restarted all was fine.
a few weeks later the car stalled and could not start it it would crank and would not start had it towed to my repair shop and they said Distributor so I said fix it. They put a brand new distributor on and all was fine for about 8 months.
The car would stall and I could not start it with out letting the car sit for about 1/2 hour or more it would just crank and it seams after letting the key go back to me it would rumble and jump like it was going to start and then nothing, a few times it did start and then died again. had it towed again
They checked the computer again and said distributor. Replaced Free under Warranty
this happened 3 more times.
the last time they disconnected a Lock switch / Distributor cutoff they thought was the problem after replacing the distributor, I guess that was not it.
I'm at my witts end I can't afford a new car.
This car has 78,000 Original Miles on it and It might not look pretty any more but when it runs it runs like a champ.

 

Do you have spark? Easy way to check-- pull a plug wire with the spark plug attached and grounded to the block- crank the engine and watch for the spark plug to fire. Does it spark? if it does, the distributor is working.
Check the plugs, how do they look?
If you pull the distrib cap, does the rotor inside turn freely?
Is the engine ground good? Clean?
Check for fuses related to ignition/distributor/etc

When the place changed it...did they really change it? Did they change the entire thing (you can buy different components) When you crank it - does the tach move? If it does, and you have fuel at the rail, look into changing the coil. If it doesn't look into the ignitor module.

Its going to be hard, because starting is more then just the distributor and spark,. Id make sure your getting fuel, and the fuel pump is priming. Then start going through the ignition system. Just seems odd it'd go through 6 distributors. Seems like that isnt the issue to me, or you have to find a new shop

I mean Ive never seen a distributor go bad, every 8 months for 4 years straight. Unless its that autozone crap, perhaps.

 

I watched the mechanic and yes there was spark, the wires and plugs were changed about a year ago. The Battery was changed 2 months ago and last distributor change they changed the connectors for the Battery and cleaned the grounds. They don't use autozone, and the distributors are new. One thing that made me think also that its not the distributor directly is he said to me it took 3 distributors before one worked so I don't think it was the distributor. The mechanic thought it was the Lock switch and disconnected it and put back the wire to the distributor. the distributor were defiantly changed saw the box come in with the parts delivery van and it was marked new .
the last time it was there they even opened the computer up to make sure there is no water and speaking about that 2 things come to mind the tank was low last two times and it had rained the day before also last two times. no problems while it rains or while the tank is low each time its was filled up the day it happened.
I will be bringing it in to the mechanic again in the morning or I should say 5 hours. I'm going to speak to him about the things you mentioned.
thank you

 

Update they changed a relay under the dash and that didn't work it happened again.
Brought it back the mechanic said from his diagnostic work the last time he checked all the voltages and it looked good he said leave it and we will check it again when it happens. they are using the car for errands and when it happens they can properly check the voltages and other diagnostics when it happens.
the thing that messes up diagnoses is then the car sits for an hour or two its back to normal then it can happen again in a few days.

 

They spent 2 full work days on it and it was running for most of it and didn't find anything
I mentioned the ECM and the mechanic said it was tested and he even opened it and inspected for cold solder joints.
Where do I go from here They gave back the car and said we can't find anything wrong and it did stall on us.

 

My friend had a problem like this and it was the power wire for his amp hitting the firewall everytime you got on the gas and it kept blowing out the dizzy.

 

Thanks That was a good thought on what to check.
When I got the car back from the mechanic the next day released the car alarm door lock switch and alarm was not closing the door lock Brought it to my friend, mechanic, alarm tech, installer Dude :> and forgot he was good with electrical. he went over the car and even checked for that. Nothing found.
He asked about the gas filter I said I changed it 2 or 3 years ago he said change it now and see what happens and said the next time it happes leave the key where it was and listen for the fuel pump also when it doesn't start and keeps not starting listen for it.
So I will update everyone