hello everyone, i have a GSR in my 88 crx. got a p28 ecu, getting ready to get it tuned in the near future but i have a question. when im at full throttle and my rpm's are around 4k or higher the Tach needle starts jumping around on my cluster. (i do have the GSR cluster in my crx) i have the right cluster and everything is hooked up right. i would like to get this fixed before it gets tuned but i have heard too many things as to what it could be from the ICM, change the whole distributor etc... has anyone on here ever experienced this? or have any insight into the matter?

and btw before someone asks if i searched, i did and i could not find anything to answer my question so i am posting this here. reason i am posting here and not in the crx thread is...well....its a GSR... thanks guys!

 

The only-thing that will cause a jumpy tach is a bad igniter, where did you get this whole new distributor.

 

Had the exact same problem a few months ago.
Heres what I want you to do:
1. Remove battery negative terminal
2. Remove distributor cap
3. Find ignitor. It is gonna be on the right side of rotor and is shaped like a backwards "L" thats been opened up to form an obtuse angle.
4. Once you have found the ignitor you will see 3 or 4 little electrical connectors (I forget exactly how many) they will have wires going to the ignition coil which is at the top of the distributor and has the longer piece that comes out with the little spring.
4. Now that you have established the ignitor and the ignition coil and you have found the short wires that connect them inspect the ends of the wires. They will have little rubber covers that cover up the female wire ends. On mine I noticed the green wire had one end that looked like the rubber was being burnt. There was brownish color inside the clear rubber little piece.
5. I took that green wire out and replaced it with a spare I had in a old distributor a buddy had laying around and no more problem!

6. I also went back and took small pliers and squeezed each femals wire end down some, NOT ALL THE WAY SHUT, just enough to ensure a tight fit on all the male ends sticking out of the ignitor and coil.

When doing this I suggest only removing one small wire at a time and inspecting so that you dont get confused or mix them up. Also you may need to remove rotor to access all of them.

Let me know if this solves your problem. It seems like alot from the book I just wrote above lol but it only took like 15 minutes for all this.
Goodluck!

 

thanks so much fellas! ill see about looking at it sometime this week. its cold and raining today so i may not get to it this afternoon. and to answer your question B_Swapped93 i have had the distributor on the motor since i got the GSR swapped into it back in 2012. everything was fresh when i did the swap (fully rebuilt motor new distributor, etc etc etc....)

 

Actually only two(2) if the four(4) leads at the ICM go to the coil, the yellow/green goes to the ECU/ECM and the blue is the tach signal.

If the tach is the only problem, [engine is not effected when tach is bouncing around] then the problemis most likely, as mentioned, loose terminals, unplug the blue lead and tighten as b20vteg757 mentiones, if that does not solve the problem replace the ICM.94

 

Yea its been a while since I dug in the distributor. I do remember mine was that green wire as mentioned above. The connector on it was brown/burnt on the clear rubber little connector cover. Let us know when you fix it and what it was

 

Loose connections cause resistance, resistance produces heat, heat burns things. 94

 

I actually posted this same problem here about 5 months ago lol.. It's the igniter trust me!! Listen to these guys^^ they know their sh**!

 

good looking out guys...i will get to it this week...its about 40 degrees here on the MS gulf coast and raining....so yeah, call me a poon but i don't like this weather! lol i don't know how anyone does it up north....my CRX is my baby but i only drive her when i want to seeing as how i just bought a 2010 TSX back in september...so it's not like i have to get her back on the road immediatly. but i will get this issue sorted out before Feb.22 (hopefully) so i can make an SCCA autocross event thanks again guys! ill try and post some pics too when i finally get around to it

 

Igniter or check your ground wire at the thermostat housing.

 

alright guys after taking off my cap i first noticed i have some oil that leaked through the distributor....the wires all seemed to be connected and snug...so the ICM could be bad but with that oil leaking through im thinking im better off just replacing the whole distributor and solving all those problems...from what i understand, and correct me if im wrong but you cannot change the seals on the distributor correct? at least the one's on the inside? here are the pics....








my next question is...does anyone know the part number for a GSR distributor? i did not see one in the usual spot...also what year should i look for at say AutoZone when searching? just a 94-96 VTEC? or do i need a specific part number? i know some of these B-Series distributors can be touchy if not the correct one... thanks again guys!

Autozone link:

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par.../N-j589pZ9n80u

 

and here is a link for a 1994 integra DOHC VTEC distributor off autozone

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par.../N-j0tjuZ9n80u

 

lol also, i want to add that i have a USDM GSR...is the B18C1 NOT the B18C

 

http://rockauto.com <Good site to order from. Btw.. Yearr? Acura Integra GS-R?

Also. I'm not 100% sure since I'm still learning but.. I think you can just replace the igniter without replacing the whole dizzy along with the outside seal that keeps oil out.

 

its the internal seal....it's leaking through the distributor to the cap

 

not acura integra....i have a GSR in my 88 crx

 

You have a GSR motor don't you? Are you running an obd0 dizzy on it?

 

Yes, but the the engine is a swap from a Integra right? What year is the engine?

or does CRX come with a GS-R engine? I ask because I'm new to honda's.

I think its the outer seal that prevents from oil leaking in. Or do you see a seal internally?

 

Replacing igniter isnt hard. 3 screw and a couple wire clips. But like I said it may be a poor connection wire to coil or igniter

 

my crx has been converted to OBD1 and i have no idea what year car the engine came out of... all i know is when i look for a new distributor, the 94 GSR one's are cheaper than, say, a 98' GSR...so whats the diff

 

The only difference in distributors is the plugs. Theres a one and a two plug. Look at yours then then look at pics before you order one and make sure the plugs are the same. But before you go ordering a new dizzy did you even take the cap off and check what I told you?

 

i did take it off yes. i submitted pics above to share what i found. my internal seal is leaking oil into the cap. and from what i could tell all of the wires were fit and snug i pulled each individual one...the icm could be bad...i did not take the ignitor out though...but with the internal seal leaking im thinking to just replace it is my best bet...if that leak gets worse...i dont want those probs...

 

So you have an obd1 setup. The year of the motor doesn't matter. What matters is what distributor you are running. Only makes sense that you are running an 0bd1 distributor which is 94-95. You cannot run a obd2b dizzy on an obd1 harness unless you have the conversion clip.

So from what you have provided, you need an obd1 gsr distributor.

 

X2

 

sweet thanks guys